mr. chairman , first , i want to thank the chairman for yielding these 4 minutes to me .  one of the hazards of being one of the lowest in seniority on this side of the aisle is that we run out of time so quickly .  so i thank the chairman for yielding this time .  i want to thank the ranking member for the work he has done in the process .  mr. chairman , i represent north carolina 's 1st district .  we are the 15th poorest district in america .  we are working very hard to lift our communities in meaningful ways and it is difficult .  the one area in which we are succeeding is in the area of making higher educational opportunities more available to minority and low-income students .  i am so proud of the fact that we are beginning to eliminate the educational disparity that exists between black , white and brown .  one program , mr. chairman , that has significantly contributed to this success is the trio program .  trio programs are working .  this program is serving 6 , 200 young people in my district , a total of 17 projects .  across the country , more than 870 , 000 low-income americans are being served .  trio has a talent search program which serves young people in grades 6 through 12 .  in addition to counseling , participants receive information about college admissions requirements , scholarships and various student financial aid programs .  this early intervention program helps people from families with incomes under $ 24 , 000 to better understand their educational opportunities and options .  over 387 , 000 americans are enrolled in 471 talent search programs .  the president 's budget and the republican budget eliminates these programs entirely .  trio has an upward bound program which helps young students to prepare for higher education .  participants receive instruction in literature , composition , mathematics and science on college campuses after school , on saturdays and during the summer .  currently , 770 programs are in operation throughout the country .  this program , mr. chairman , is scheduled for extinction .  the alternative congressional black caucus budget is a responsible document , and i want to thank the gentleman from north carolina ( mr. watt )  and the gentleman from virginia ( mr. scott )  for the work that they have done in developing this great document .  this budget restores funding for trio .  it reduces spending while maintaining strong funding for national defense and homeland security .  mr. chairman , i urge my colleagues to oppose the republican budget and to vote for the congressional black caucus budget as this budget restores funding for the trio program which is a very , very deserving program .  