The White House says even though the President’s new budget does not allot the $85 million it did in the past for Historically Black Colleges and Universities, it has increased key initiatives that serve those schools in a budget where the vast majority of Education Department programs have received little or no funding.

Yesterday, BET.com reported that the cuts in the next budget could amount to as much as a $73 million shortfall.

In an e-mail to BET.com, White House officials said, “Discretionary funding programs for HBCUS, both undergrad and graduate, received 5 percent more than twice the rate of inflation. The budget doubled subsidy in the HBCU capital financing program and will more than double the total loan volume.”

But even as the Obama administration explains how the dispersed funding ends up benefiting the schools and students more, some leaders at America’s HBCUs say they can’t afford the cuts to direct funding, especially in an economic downturn. Their schools, they stress, make up just 3 percent of America’s colleges but confer almost 20 percent of the bachelor’s degrees awarded to African Americans.

Edith Bartley, Director of government affairs at the United Negro College Fund, told EURweb that leaders at most HBCUs and their advocates are disappointed but not surprised by the White House move.

In addition to the new streams of funding, the White House says, the new budget provides $7.9 million in programs that will strengthen Predominantly Black Institutions, expands the maximum Pell Grant award to $5,550 for the next school year, and ensures that future financial aid is reliable and constant.

“The President’s proposal overhauls the inefficient and inequitable Perkins Loan programs,” the e-mail read. “Finally, the budget provides $2.5 billion for a new five-year Access and Completion Incentive Fund to support innovative state efforts to help low-income students complete their college education.”

President Obama, whom Republicans like to tag as a tax-and-spend liberal, has challenged every member of his Cabinet to slash more than $1 million per day from the cost of running the government. The president said that the federal government has a “confidence gap when it comes to the American people,” a gap that could be narrowed if it would cut $100 million over the next 90 days. Read.

Burris Getting Blasted for Contradictions
Sen. Roland Burris’ political life seems to get more precarious with every turn. Burris, currently the only African American in the U.S. Senate after being named to the seat once held by President Barack Obama, has come under fire for his conflicting stories about his relationship with then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Contradicting earlier testimony regarding his ties to the governor, Burris has acknowledged that he tried to raise money for Blagojevich, who has been impeached and booted out of office amid charges that he sought to sell Obama’s Senate seat to the highest bidder. He has also admitted, after the appointment, that he had contact with a number of the governor’s aides during the time he was being considered for the seat. But in yet another seemingly unsavory revelation, The Chicago Sun Times reports that Burris’ son was hired as a senior counsel for the Illinois Housing Development Authority by Blagojevich’s administration last September. Roland Burris II was facing a $34,163 tax lien and a foreclosure proceeding on his Chicago home at the time of the hiring, the newspaper reports. This news is just further fueling the outrage among those who are calling for the senator to step down. One of those vociferous opponents is Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.). “I told him that under the circumstances, I would resign. He said, ‘I’m not going to resign.’ I can’t force him,” Durbin said.

Obama’s Budget Battle Begins
This week, the president will send his top adviser to Capitol Hill to defend his budget and spending priorities as outlined last week. In his weekly radio address Saturday, he challenged his critics and called for the American people and Congress to understand the change he’s determine to bring about.