Congress·In Committee·S. 4167

HBCU Research Capacity Act

HBCU Research Capacity Act: New Federal Grant Clearinghouse

Mar 24·View on Congress.gov·Read full text

Next up: A senate committee

This bill is currently in the early stages of the legislative process after being sent to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions for review. It is considered active, but no future hearings or votes have been scheduled yet. There is no companion bill currently listed for this legislation.

Companion bill: HBCU Research Capacity Act: Helping Black Colleges Get Research Grants →

Legislative Progress

Senate

House

President

Law

Likely to pass

This bill has strong support from both parties and addresses a well-known funding gap. Because it focuses on organization rather than huge new spending, it has a good chance of passing.

Key Points

This bill creates a central office called the Federal Clearinghouse to help Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) find and apply for government research grants. The Department of Education will run the office with help from other major agencies like NASA and the Department of Defense.
HBCUs currently receive less than 1 percent of the 60 billion dollars the federal government spends on college research each year. This policy aims to fix that by making it easier for these schools to see which grants they can apply for and how to win them.
The clearinghouse will provide schools with advice on how to build up their own research departments. Schools can sign up for quarterly updates so they stay informed about new funding opportunities as they become available.
Major government agencies will have to review their grant programs every year. They must report to Congress on whether they are doing enough to support HBCU research and identify areas where more help is needed.

Impact Analysis

Govbase has not yet run an impact analysis on this legislation.

Milestones

2 milestones2 actions

Mar 24, 2026Senate

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

Sent to a congressional committee for expert review. The committee decides whether this bill moves forward.

Mar 24, 2026

Introduced in Senate

The bill was officially filed and given a number. It now enters the legislative queue.

No votes or news coverage recorded for this bill yet.

Source Information

Document Type

Congressional Bill

Official Title

HBCU Research Capacity Act

Bill NumberS 4167

Congress119th Congress

ChamberSenate

Latest ActionRead twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

Data Sources

Congress.gov

Official legislative information

Read Full Bill Text

Sponsor

Cosponsors

(4)

D: 1R: 3

Analysis generated by AI. Always verify with official sources.