On Tuesday, the House of Representatives will consider funding for national
service programs for FY 1997 (October 1, 1996 start). As you'll read from
the following note, several amendments to eliminate specific programs may
be offered. This is a key time to support national service. If you need
the contact info. for your Representative, please e-mail me directly rather
than replying to the list. Be careful about following lobbying guidelines,
especially if you're a grantee of the Corporation for National Service.
June 24, 1996 Update from the National and Community Service Coalition:
House VA/HUD Appropriation Heads to Floor -- Amendments threaten program,
training funding, etc.
The House of Representatives on Tuesday is expected to turn to
consideration of the FY 1997 VA/HUD/Independent Agencies Appropriations
Bill, including funding for AmeriCorps and Learn and Serve America. As of
Friday (6/21), a number of amendments had been printed in the Congressional
Record and may be offered when the bill is considered. The Council for
Citizens Against Goverment Waste has endorsed the elimination of AmeriCorps
-- a program it labels a *wasteful leviathan.*
Rep. Hoekstra (R-MI) may offer a series of amendments: elimination of
funding for the Presidio Leadership Training Center, transferring Subtitle
H funding to AmeriCorps grants, denying all VA/HUD funding for training and
technical assistance contracts, prohibiting the use of funds for *uniforms,
site signs, palm cards, or any other national identity activity,*
prohibiting the award of grants to any national service program when the
grant amount exceeds a rate of $21,000 per program participant. The
training funding elimination would deny assistance at all levels, including
PDAT funding for state service commissions.
Rep. Brownback (R-KS) may offer an amendment transferring $352 million of
the bill's $365 million in national service funding to the Community
Development Block Grant, leaving Federal funding for national service in
the bill at $15 million for FY 1997. Rep. Hoestettler (R-IN) may offer an
amendment deleting all funding for national service programs (AmeriCorps
and Learn and Serve America) in the bill.
The amendments published in the Congressional Record do not necessarily
mean other amendments will not be offered from the floor of the House of
Representatives. Congress has by tradition considered appropriations bills
under a fairly open process. The only limitation of modern times has been
the total level of spending in each appropriation bill -- amendments to
increase funding for specific line items is severely constrained, absent an
offset from other program line items in the measure.
House Appropriations Committee to Complete Labor/HHS Funding Bill -- Also
on Tuesday, the House Appropriations Committee was last scheduled to
complete action on its FY 1997 Labor/HHS/Education Appropriations Bill,
including funding for AmeriCorps VISTA and the National Senior Service
Corps. While the measure froze VISTA funding at FY 1996 levels and
included a modest 3.5% increase for the senior volunteer programs, the bill
appears headed for a rocky ride. Late last week, Acting OMB Director Jack
Lew wrote the appropriators warning of a potential presidential veto unless
elements of the bill are changed. The administration took particular
exception to the planned termination of the Goals 2000 school reform
initiative and restrained spending in education and student aid programs,
including Title I compensatory education and Head Start.
For more information, contact Alan Lopatin, National and Community Service
Coalition Executive Director at 202-488-7378 or 202-488-1004 (fax).
Pamela M. Boylan
Campus Compact: The Project for Public and Community Service
Box 1975/Brown University
Providence, RI 02912
401 863-1119 401 863-3779 (fax)
pboylan@compact.org