COLUMBIA - As the South Carolina House of Representatives met on Monday to consider H. 5126, the proposed state budget for Fiscal Year 2026-2027, the first day of debate was derailed by far right Republican legislators as they attempted to defund public institutions of higher education.
An amendment offered by Rep. April Cromer (R-Anderson) and Rep. Jordan Pace (R-Berkeley) would have cut $224,705,521 from Clemson University – which would have eliminated the state general fund allocation for the university and turned it into a "de facto private institution," as one lawmaker said on the House floor.
Cromer and Pace filed amendments to cut funding for The Citadel, the College of Charleston, and Clemson University on Monday. Additional amendments to slash funding for schools including South Carolina State University, Lander University, and a number of institutions in the University of South Carolina system are expected to be debated today.
The amendment to defund Clemson marked a shocking abuse of the legislative process.
In a speech, Cromer listed her many grievances with the university. On George Floyd and Charlie Kirk: "Who is the better human?" Watch Rep. Justin Bamberg (D-Bamberg) react.
Cromer later added: "Stop funding the woke. The waste. Stop lying. Be honest to the people that you represent. And Clemson, people take for granted because it's in the Upstate, that a lot of this stuff isn't happening here. The more things come to light, the more we realize that we have been deceived."
Democratic lawmakers strongly condemned the attempt to defund public colleges.
Rep. JA Moore (D-Berkeley) shared his reaction with Rep. John King (D-York) after the legislative session concluded: "A quarter of a billion dollars, y'all. That would have shut Clemson down. Not only that, they were trying to defund the College of Charleston. We have to pay attention to what's going on – Republicans literally tried to shut down one of our top universities in the country today." Watch Rep. John King and Rep. JA Moore react to the effort to 'defund Clemson.'
Fortunately for students, alumni, and all those who care about South Carolina's public institutions of higher education, the amendments were tabled and not adopted in the budget.
You can watch the debate1 2 on Amendment No. 30 via the South Carolina Legislature website's Video Archives on the Monday, March 9, 2026 1:00 pm House of Representatives video beginning at the 4:20:30 mark.