WASHINGTON – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and other congressional leaders addressed college presidents, administrators and students representing the nation’s historically Black colleges and universities and other predominantly Black schools just hours before Democratic leaders released a bill Thursday that combined highly sought education funding and student loan reform with historic legislation that aims to revamp health care.

 “You come here at a really crucial time in history,” Pelosi told delegates attending the 36th annual meeting of the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education (NAFEO), as she described components of the “Healthcare and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act of 2010,” a bill that packages initiatives in the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (SAFRA) with health care reform initiatives that have been the focus of intense debate on and off the Hill over the past year.

“Education and health care have an affinity,” Pelosi said. “They go together. That is why we are taking this course.”

 In the Healthcare and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act of 2010, SAFRA provisions appear under “Title 2: Education and Health.” The bill provides $36 billion to increase student Pell Grants over a 10-year period. Under the legislation, the maximum Pell Grant would increase from $5,550 in 2010 to $5,975 by 2017. The bill includes $2.5 billion in funding for historically Black colleges and universities and minority-serving institutions.

 Community colleges would get $2 billion in competitive grants to develop or improve educational and career training programs. The community college provision is one of the few provisions remaining from President Obama’s $12 billion American Graduation Initiative earmarked for two-year public colleges. The bill also would provide $750 million in formula grants to states to improve college access and completion rates.