U.S. Sens. Tammy Duckworth and Dick Durbin, both Illinois Democrats, have joined a bicameral coalition in pressing Education Secretary Linda McMahon over what they describe as the Trump administration's illegal decision to redirect funding from Minority-Serving Institutions to other colleges.
In a letter to McMahon, the lawmakers said the Education Department reallocated money that Congress had set aside in specific amounts for specific purposes. They said increasing funding for some institutions should not come at the expense of others.
"This administration unnecessarily reallocated half of these funds in order to put out a press release leading up to midterm elections touting how much funding it was providing to HBCUs and Tribal Colleges-while robbing MSIs of investments Congress has provided them," the members wrote. "It is offensive that the Trump administration is pitting these institutions of higher education and the students they serve against each other, and going to extra lengths to do so."
According to the letter, there are more than 800 federally recognized Minority-Serving Institutions, which include Hispanic-Serving Institutions, Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions, Native American-Serving Non-Tribal Institutions and Predominantly Black Institutions. The lawmakers said those institutions serve more than 5 million students and have received congressionally directed federal support for more than 30 years.
What the lawmakers say happened
The letter states that on Sept. 22, 2026, the Education Department announced it would reallocate fiscal 2025 and fiscal 2026 mandatory funds that Congress had allocated for Minority-Serving Institutions to Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities. According to the letter, the department announced more than $174 million in additional funding for HBCUs and more than $61 million in additional funding for TCCUs.
The lawmakers said the basis for the move was a Dec. 2, 2025, U.S. Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel opinion that determined certain grants were unconstitutional. They argued no court has ruled the programs unconstitutional and that the department lacks authority to spend the mandatory funds for other purposes.
The letter also said the department redirected funds designated for Predominantly Black Institutions to grantees under a different program, and accelerated obligation of fiscal 2026 mandatory funds a full year early. The funds are available for two years, the lawmakers wrote, meaning fiscal 2026 money would not expire until fiscal 2027.
Background
According to a summary of the bill on Congress.gov, the FUTURE Act — the Fostering Undergraduate Talent by Unlocking Resources for Education Act — permanently authorized funding for minority-serving institutions of higher education and was signed into law on Dec. 19, 2019. The letter notes the law was bipartisan and permanently authorized $255 million in mandatory funding for HBCUs, TCCUs and MSIs, allocated across seven grant programs.
The lawmakers said the Education Department must immediately restore the funds and said they would welcome working on a bipartisan basis with the administration to increase investments in all the institutions.
In addition to Duckworth and Durbin, the letter was led by Sen. Mazie Hirono and cosigned by more than 25 other senators and dozens of House members. The full text of the letter is posted on Sen. Duckworth's website.
Source: the original release