Sen. Tim Scott set to unveil GOP police reform bill encouraging accountability, transparency and new training
South Carolina Republican Sen. Tim Scott explains the reforms he's spearheading on 'Fox & Friends.'
Democrats should not be “demonizing progress” when it comes to President Trump and the black community solely because they do not “like him,” said Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C.
Scott reacted to House Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C., in an interview with host Bret Baier Tuesday, dismissing a clip of Scott praising Trump for his contributions to the black community.
“According to the head of the Negro College Fund, who is speaking in front of the presidents and chancellors of the [historically black colleges and universities] HBCU’s ... he said that this is the highest funding that the HBCU’s have ever had,” Scott told “Fox & Friends” on Wednesday.
Scott said that HBCUs received an additional billion dollars in funding from the CARES Act.
“In addition to that, we passed legislation that strengthened the Department of Defense and HBCU funding. On top of that, we have opportunity zones where a number of HBCUs are located in, or continuous to, which allows for the development of student housing at a far more affordable cost,” Scott said.
Scott said that due to opportunity zones, there are contracts to create affordable student housing “under consideration” in Orangeburg, S.C.
"It's this administration that has made permanent the funding for historically black colleges and universities for the first time in America's history," Scott said in the clip. "It's this administration that has reversed the damages done by the 1994 Crime Bill with the First Step Act. It was President Trump that signed that legislation into law. It was President Trump and this administration that decided to work with me on opportunity zones to bring $75 billion from the private sector into the poorest communities in this nation, closing the wealth gap."
On Tuesday Clyburn refuted these claims saying, "None of that's true," and went on to say that "[Rep.] Cedric Richmond [D-La.] wrote much more" of the First Step Act than the president ever read.
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Scott cited the lowest unemployment rate for African-Americans and an increase in blacks participating in the workforce.
“We came into the administration with around 41 percent African-Americans owning homes. We took it up to about 43-44 percent. That two-point difference is significant when you’re trying to close the wealth gap in America,” Scott said.
“What we should not do is demonize progress because we don't like the president of the United States. What we should not do is make personal issues in the political conversations that are inconsistent from a fact pattern. This is not something that I’m saying, this is something we can all research.”
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