By Suzanne Perry

Washington

The Senate and House are both likely to move quickly to adopt legislation to expand the country’s national-service programs following President Obama’s call last night to send him a bill, a key House Democrat said today.

“I expect we will both pass it very shortly,” said Rep. George Miller, chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, which is about to consider a new bill to increase participation in the programs operated by the Corporation for National and Community Service.

Mr. Miller said the deteriorating economy has added a new sense of urgency to get more people involved in solving the country’s problems. “As you start to see cutbacks in state budgets and local budgets, it becomes even more important when you’re trying to hold communities together in touch economic times,” he told reporters. “We can’t afford not to do it.”

The congressman was speaking after a hearing by his committee that showcased a variety of nonprofit, corporate, and military volunteer and service projects. It came one day after President Obama, speaking to a joint session of Congress, asked the lawmakers to “send me the bipartisan legislation” to expand national service that has been drawn up in the Senate.

That measure, the Serve America Act (S. 277), would triple the number of participants in year-long programs like AmeriCorps to 250,000 by 2013, and create new funds to help charities recruit volunteers and expand innovative programs.

The House is about to introduce its own bill to reauthorize and expand the country’s national-service programs. It voted last spring on a bill to do that — the Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education (GIVE) Act (H.R. 5563) — but it lost by one vote due to procedural wrangling.

The bill would have expanded participation in AmeriCorps, a program that places people in full-time or part-time nonprofit jobs for 10 to 12 months, from 75,000 to 100,000 participants by 2012.

It also would have created several new programs, including a summer of service program for middle- and high-school students, an Energy Conservation Corps, a Silver Scholarship Program for people age 55 and older, and a “reserve corps” of AmeriCorps alumni to help during national emergencies.

Mr. Miller said a new version of the bill, with some changes requested by the administration, will be drawn up shortly. He says it will not differ greatly from the Senate bill and the two houses will work out difference in a conference committee.

Other Proposals

Separately, Sen. Chris Dodd and Rep. Rosa DeLauro, both Democrats of Connecticut, announced on Tuesday they had introduced four bills to increase service opportunities for students and older people and increase the education awards offered to AmeriCorps alumni.

The “Service for All Ages” package includes a Semester of Service Act, the Summer of Service Act, the AmeriCorps:Together Improving Our Nation (ACTION) Act, and the Encore Service Act.

Witnesses at the House education committee hearing included:

Usher, the musical recording star, who founded a youth-development charity, New Look, along with a former New Look participant, James Harris David Caprara, director of the Brookings Institution’s International Volunteering and Service Initiative Cheryl Dorsey, president of Echoing Green, a group that provides fellowships to entrepreneurial nonprofit leaders Lisa Hamilton, president of the UPS Foundation Van Jones, founding president of Green for All, a charity that promotes “green jobs” for low-income people Kenneth Preston, a U.S. Army officer Richard Stengel, managing editor of Time magazine And Harris Wofford, a former senator and spokesman for Experience Wave, a group that promotes work and volunteer opportunities for older people.

Mr. Miller said the witnesses were chosen to demonstrate the wide range of people involved in national service and volunteering.

Photos, excerpts, and other information about the House hearing can be found on the House Education and Labor Committee Web site.