Rep. Scott: 'We’ve got to cut our debt'

Alfredia Scott, co-chair of the Congressional Black Caucus spouses and wife of Congressman David Scott, awarded 10 scholarships to rising college freshman from throughout the district Monday as part of the Congressional Black Caucus Spouses Educational Scholarship program.

The recipients came from Clayton, Cobb, Douglas, Fulton and Henry counties. Darnell Bunch II, McEachern High School graduate; Chassity Hogan, Pebblebrook High School graduate; and Jared Loggins, McEachern High School graduate, represented Cobb County.

“The scholarship is a small incentive from us to say, ‘go ahead, keep on, move on,’” Alfredia Scott told the recipients. “There’s lots for you to do and we’re depending on you to do it.”

Scholarship winners received either a CBC Spouses Education Scholarship worth $1,640 or a Walmart Strive for Excellence Scholarship worth $1,150. The 10 awards totaled $14,600. The money comes from CBC Spouses fundraising efforts and from corporate donations.

The CBC Spouses scholarship program got its start in 1988 when the spouses of black representatives of Congress decided to start a scholarship due to education funding cuts. The scholarships would be available to students living in districts with a Congressional Black Caucus member.

In light of July’s dismal unemployment report and the United States’ recent Standard and Poor's bond rating downgrade, programs like this are more important now than ever before, said Alfredia Scott.

“This particular program started in 1988 because of the education programs being cut back,” she said. “Now we have not only education, but parents without jobs, the economic impact on people. So I would think it’s more important now than in 1988 particularly because of the cutbacks in education scholarships.”

This year the 13th Congressional District had more applicants for Congressional Black Caucus Spouses scholarships than any of the 43 districts with a Congressional Black Caucus member. This could be attributed to a stagnant economy and cuts to programs like . 

After the ceremony, David Scott explained that this weekend’s bond rating downgrade should be a wake up call for members of Congress.

“We’ve got to cut our debt is number one and we need to do it quickly, but you can’t do it with just spending cuts, spending cuts, spending cuts without also bringing in more money to pay down that debt,” he said. “We are $14 trillion in debt. We’ve got to cut our way, but at the same time we’ve got to put enough revenue in targeted solely, not just from spending, but increasing revenues so we can use that money to pay down the debt. The quicker we can do that, the better off we are.”

Other scholarship recipients included Davis Nguyen, Lovejoy High School graduate; Chelsea Walker, Jonesboro High School graduate; Tyler Daniel, Douglas County High School graduate; Riana Burney, Arlington Christian School graduate; Rekeyia Sherrell, Holy Innocents Episcopal School graduate; Malik Wilson, Langston Hughes High School graduate; and Kwardel Lewis, Woodland High School graduate.