February 24, 2009
President Urges Congress to Pass National-Service Legislation
By Suzanne Perry and Grant Williams
Washington
In a speech tonight to a joint session of Congress, President Obama called on lawmakers to pass a bill that would greatly increase participation in national-service programs.
Mr. Obama urged members of the House and Senate to pass the Serve America Act, which has been introduced by Sens. Orrin Hatch, Republican of Utah, and Edward Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts.
The legislation would more than triple participation in year-long national-service programs like AmeriCorps to 250,000 by 2013.
It would also create several new service programs and provide money to help nonprofit groups recruit volunteers and spread innovative projects.
“I know that the price of tuition is higher than ever, which is why, if you are willing to volunteer in your neighborhood or give back to your community or serve your country, we will make sure that you can afford a higher education,” Mr. Obama said.
“And to encourage a renewed spirit of national service for this and future generations, I ask Congress to send me the bipartisan legislation that bears the name of Senator Orrin Hatch, as well as an American who has never stopped asking what he can do for his country: Senator Edward Kennedy.”
Mr. Obama had pledged to expand the country’s national-service programs while campaigning for president. He had signed on as a co-sponsor of the Serve America Act while he was still in the Senate.
Comments
Commenting is closed for this article.
Previous: Corporate Leaders Tout Philanthropy's Benefits Amid Grim Financial News
Next: Donations to Colleges Continued to Climb in 2008 -- But Slowdown Is Forecast
I am a big proponent of community service and also of finding ways to make college more affordable for those who are academically qualified, but there is something wrong with this. The proposal I last saw was to give college students $4,000 toward college costs if they perform 100 hours of community service. But wait – if I am a “volunteer”, doesn’t that mean that I am donating my time? No – we get college students to do “volunteer” work by paying them $40/hour. In addition to teaching young adults that they should expect to get something in return when they perform a community service, it will not result in lower college costs. We’ll pay that $4,000 either in higher taxes or in higher college tuition fees, guaranteed.
— Nancy Bucceri Feb 25, 02:30 PM #
Exactly.
Just because the cost of college is lowered in an apparent way (i.e. the student pays less up front), the government can’t magically make the cost vanish. The cost will be paid for by taxpayers, but indirectly and collectively, instead of by the people using the service itself (the students).
— Bill Goodwin Feb 25, 03:01 PM #
One hundred hours of service seems ludicrous, really. You couldn’t even train a person to do many useful kinds of service in that time. Why don’t we do something like have ALL young adults serve their country for two years, the service to consist of dirty jobs no one much wants to do but that need doing, like collecting garbage or soldiering or harvesting cotton or some kinds of mining. They’d be paid at the same inadequate level that our young soldiers are. In this way, young men and women from all parts of the country and from all sorts of backgrounds would get to know each other, instead of seeing the unknown others as a vaguely hostile Them, and nobody would have to do horrible jobs for a lifetime. Then, their public service honorably completed, the young would be eligible for something like the old G.I. bill. We’d flat-out GIVE undergraduate education to anyone who wanted it, or other vocational training instead, which could include basic literacy and numeracy if that’s where the young person had need. As for monitoring, we’d direct our attention primarily to making sure the educational opportunities were genuine, with something substantive being taught. Israel does something of this sort. Maybe that would be a good model.
— Elise Feb 26, 11:50 AM #
Speaking as a two-term Americorps alumni, I can tell you there is value in the program. I did not get $4000 dollars in scholarship for 100 hours of service. I did 1700 hours. It’s a bargain if you ask me. For the work I did federal employees are paid on a much higher pay grade. Not only that but now that I’m finished with the program I volunteer on my own time and vote more and am more politically engaged than I was before I served. Ms. Bucceri brings up the point that volunteers shouldn’t be paid. I think we did to make a distinction between strict volunteering and service. Think of it in terms of the Armed Services. They are a volunteer force. That means they opt to serve their country and are given pay, tuition, and other benefits. Americorps is similar. Instead of keeping the country secure with arms, Americorps members fight poverty, educate, improve health services and respond to natural disasters. They are given pretty modest compensation for this, and it’s to benefit America. We volunteer to serve.
— Jack Hughes Feb 26, 12:03 PM #
To tell you the truth, I was so excited about the President’s commitment to service that I overlooked my own experiences managing community and campus based volunteer community service programs. First, much too much community service is “make” work. Little support exists for service learning and or contributions to sustainable efforts like Habitat for Humanity. Do the math; we’re talking about $40 per hour. What will it take to make sure there’s a big bang for that amount
— Gail Ortega Feb 28, 01:29 PM #
This idea presented by the reader, Ms. Bucceri, and written of by others here of a $4000 tax credit for 100 hours of service is confusing the issue. It is not part of the legislation that this article is written about. I would invite all readers to do research and find out what is actually in this bill.
— Jack Hughes Mar 3, 01:10 PM #
ave imperator
— decurian Mar 5, 12:29 AM #
Community service and volunteering should come from the heart,not a bribe from the govt. Nancy Bucceri zeroed in on my major concern. $40 an hour multiplied by 2080 annual work hours equals $83,200. If we as a country have that kind of discretionary money, lets put people to work full time!
— david Mar 24, 07:54 AM #