July 28, 2009
Senate Panel Votes to Restore Obama's National-Service Budget
By Grant Williams
Washington
In a break with the House of Representatives, a key Senate subcommittee has voted to provide the Corporation for National and Community Service with about $1.15-billion, approximately the amount that President Obama requested for the agency in his proposed budget for 2010.
The House of Representatives earlier had voted to cut $90-million from Mr. Obama’s budget request for the corporation, which operates AmeriCorps and other service programs.
The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education said in a statement that its bill’s level of funding “puts AmeriCorps on the path” to having 250,000 participants in 2017, a goal approved by Congress earlier this year in the Serve America Act. AmeriCorps has about 75,000 participants this year.
The Senate subcommittee recommended spending $50-million on a new Social Innovation Fund that would provide money for “social entrepreneurs” and nonprofit groups that are developing creative solutions to national and local problems.
The House had voted to spend $35-million on the fund; Mr. Obama had requested $50-million.
The Senate subcommittee also suggested spending $8-million for a new Volunteer Generation Fund and $2-million for a new Nonprofit Capacity Building Program. The House did not include money for the programs.
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