madam speaker , i rise in strong support of this amendment , which i have introduced with my colleague congressman hinojosa . 
this amendment provides an additional $ 855 , 000 in funding for grants to hispanic serving institutions , which are colleges and universities with at least 25 percent hispanic enrollment . 
the funding will be offset from the common computing environment , which is funded at $ 130 million . 
this account was funded at $ 5.6 million last year . 
the appropriations act for fiscal year 2006 funds the account at $ 5.645 million , only $ 45 , 000 more than last year 's level . 
the baca-hinojosa amendment will bring this funding to $ 6.5 million , the amount requested by the congressional hispanic caucus . 
this funding is given out on a competitive basis to hispanic serving institutions for agricultural research . 
these grants increase the ability of colleges and universities to serve hispanic and low-income students . 
in my own district , california state university san bernardino has benefited from these funds in the past . 
forty-one percent of all usda research project proposals from hsis are funded , a remarkable success rate for proposal acceptance . 
clearly , this is a great resource that needs to be further funded to reach its true potential . 
other important institutions that serve minority communities each receive more than double the funding of hiss . 
we must ensure that hsis are funded at the same level as other similar programs . 
i commend chairman bonilla for his effort to gradually increase funding for hispanic serving institutions . 
however , an inequity still remains and must be corrected . 
if this congress is going to be dedicated to providing a top-quality education for all students in america , then we need to ensure that we fully fund hsis and other institutions that reach out to our underserved communities . 
i urge my colleagues to vote `` yes '' on the baca-hinojosa amendment . 
