Defend Title VI and Fulbright-Hays!

The Trump administration has again issued a budget request for FY 2019 that calls for the elimination of the Department of Education’s International Education programs (Title VI and Fulbright-Hays).

Quickly fill out the form to ask your Members of Congress to oppose this proposal.

Last year, we sent a forceful message to Congress that we opposed the administration’s efforts. While the appropriations process for FY 2018 has not yet been completed, the Senate rejected the administration’s proposal and provided level funding for both programs and the House provided level funding for Title VI while defunding Fulbright-Hays.

Now is the time to speak out again to ensure that Congress funds both Title VI and Fulbright-Hays in FY 2019.

Enter your information to take action now!

Subject:

Please Oppose Elimination of Title VI, Fulbright-Hays, and the Wilson Center

Dear Official,

As a constituent, I am writing to urge you to support robust funding for the the Department of Education’s international education programs (Title VI and Fulbright-Hays).

I am concerned by the request to eliminate these programs in the administration’s Presidential Budget Request. I urge you to oppose this proposal.

As Congress works to finalize FY 2018 appropriations for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies, I write as your constituent to strongly urge adoption of the Senate bill’s provisions for International Education and Foreign Language Studies. Specifically, I urge support for $72.2 million, including $65.1 million for HEA-Title VI and $7.1 million for Fulbright-Hays, the same levels as FY 2017. While I appreciate that the comparable House bill provides $65.1 million for Title VI, I am very concerned that it completely eliminates funding for Fulbright-Hays with the justification that the program is “duplicative” of the State Department’s Fulbright program.

The Department of Education’s Fulbright-Hays programs are distinct from the Department of State’s Fulbright programs. While the State Department programs focus on international exchange for mutual understanding, the Fulbright-Hays programs serve a domestic agenda. As an essential overseas complement to the U.S.-based Title VI programs, Fulbright-Hays programs support the internationalization of the nation’s educational infrastructure by strengthening area and foreign language expertise among current and prospective U.S. educators. Administered together in the Department of Education, Title VI and Fulbright-Hays programs also ensure that there is a ready supply of college graduates with language expertise and deep knowledge of all world regions to serve in the Departments of State and Defense, intelligence agencies, and other areas of our government. These programs strengthen our economic competitiveness in the private sector and prepare future generations of Americans to understand and succeed in the global era.

Although representing just 0.1% of the Department of Education’s discretionary budget, these bipartisan programs work together to strengthen our economic competitiveness, national security and international leadership, and both should be preserved and funded at least at the FY 2017 levels.

Thank you for your consideration of my views.

Regards, Your Name

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Hello, thank you for taking my call! I’m a constituent from [city/town] and I am calling to express my support for Title VI, Fulbright-Hays, and the Wilson Center.

The President has called for the reduction or elimination of each of these programs in his Presidential Budget Request. I hope that the Representative/Senator will do everything they can to oppose this proposal. Do you know the Representative/Senator’s position on these programs?

Possible Talking Points:

Title VI National Resource Centers account for 59% of undergraduate and 81% of graduate enrollments in the least commonly taught languages of strategic interest.
90% of Fulbright-Hays DDRA recipients and 71% of Title VI FLAS recipients work in careers that directly utilize their foreign language and area studies expertise.
Nearly 250,000 students have graduated from a CIBER university with a concentration in international business, and nearly 300,000 executives have been trained by CIBERs.
The Wilson Center is a leading think tank, funded by public-private partnership, that provides authoritative, independent, non-partisan research and recommendations on U.S. international engagement.

In all, please try to keep the conversation to just a few minutes.