Posted on 01/21/2009 6:43:10 AM PST by rabscuttle385
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senators Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT) today introduced the “Serve America Act,” a bill to expand national and community service opportunities for all Americans. Senators Mikulski, McCain, Dodd, Cochran, Reid, Gregg, Durbin, Wicker, Murray, Snowe, Kerry, Lincoln, Cardin, Rockefeller, Schumer, Whitehouse, Menendez, Bayh and Landrieu are also sponsors of the legislation.
The goal of the legislation is to encourage 175,000 more Americans to give a year of service to address specific national challenges such as strengthening our schools or increasing economic opportunities, thereby expanding the number of such service participants to 250,000. The legislation will also increase opportunities for individuals to serve at any stage of their life, from childhood through retirement, and will support social entrepreneurs with innovative solutions to tackle our most pressing problems.
“President-Elect Obama has called on Americans to serve, and they’ve already shown they’re ready to answer the call, with hundreds of thousands signing up to volunteer on Martin Luther King Day of Service. I’m delighted to join Senator Orrin Hatch in introducing this important bill. Our legislation will make it possible for many more Americans to continue to serve – to devote a year or longer to contribute to their country and their community,” said Senator Kennedy, Chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which oversees existing service programs. “The Serve America Act will increase service opportunities for Americans of all ages, from young people helping to improve their own communities, to retiring professionals who can apply the skills they’ve gained over a lifetime to some of our greatest challenges. It will enable many more Americans to be part of the solution to major national challenges, such as the lack of health care in our needy communities, the problems in our schools, and the energy and environmental crises that threaten our planet. With the current economic crisis hitting our families and communities so hard, it’s as important as ever that we help each other.”
Senator Hatch said, “For many years, I have advocated for increased opportunities for volunteer service. The Serve America Act represents an effective and fiscally responsible approach to providing private citizens with an opportunity to help their communities. Investing in the commitment and ingenuity of the American people is a mutually beneficial way of addressing our nation’s most pressing problems. Indeed, as private citizens begin to do more in their communities, in the long run, it will mean that the government will have to do less to provide for those in need. I’m proud to join my colleague Senator Kennedy and a bipartisan group of Senators in supporting this important legislation.”
http://s3.amazonaws.com/btcreal/855/Kennedy_Hatch_Serve_America_Act_Summary.pdf
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THE SERVE AMERICA ACT
A Legislative Initiative to Expand and Improve
Domestic and International Service Opportunities for All Americans
Senator Edward M. Kennedy and Senator Orrin Hatch
Themes
• Expand opportunities for people to serve at every stage of life.
•
Use service to meet specific national challenges. Put service to work to solve our most pressing
challenges, such as tackling the dropout crisis and strengthening our schools; improving energy efficiency;
safeguarding the environment; improving health care in low-income communities; expanding economic
opportunities for low-income individuals; and preparing for and responding to disasters and emergencies.
I. Ask Many More Americans to Give a Year to Solve Specific Challenges: Building on the success of
AmeriCorps, the legislation will create new, effective “Corps” focused on areas of national need. It will ask 175,000
Americans to give a year of service through these corps as part of a new national commitment to solve these
challenges, expanding the number of national service participants to 250,000.
II. Increase Opportunities to Serve by People of All Ages:
•
For Students, Increase Service Early in Life: Service early in life will put more and more youth on a
path to a lifetime of service. The legislation will improve opportunities for young people in low income,
high-need communities to engage in service to improve their own communities.
•
For Working Adults, Encourage Employers to Let Employees Serve, by establishing a tax incentive
for employers who allow employees to take paid leave for full-time service.
•
For Retirees, Value Their Skills and Make Service Work for Them. Many retiring citizens are ready,
willing, and able to be involved in service and have skills the public needs – but none of the current
service programs are structured with their needs in mind. The legislation will enhance incentives for
retirees to give a year of service through the Corps, and will establish “Encore Fellowships” to help
retirees who wish to transition to longer-term public service.
•
For Americans of All Ages, Increase Volunteering. Not all Americans can make a significant time
commitment to service, but many volunteer in other ways. The legislation will expand the volunteer pool
by establishing a “Volunteer Generation Fund” to help nonprofit organizations recruit and manage more
volunteers.
III. Support Innovation in the Nonprofit Sector: Social entrepreneurs who have launched innovative nonprofit
organizations such as Teach for America and Citizen Schools in Boston are experimenting with new solutions to
pressing problems. The legislation will recognize and support the role of effective social entrepreneurs in solving
our national challenges:
•
Establish a Commission to study and improve how the federal government, nonprofits, and the private
sector work together to meet national challenges effectively.
•
Apply Effective Business Strategies to the Nonprofit Sector, by establishing a network of “Community
Solution Funds” that are basically venture capital funds to help the nonprofit sector seek talent and put it
to work.
Page 2
IV. Improve and Expand International Service and America’s Respect in the World
•
Support for Short-Term International Service Opportunities: We must expand the Peace Corps so
more Americans can provide critical assistance to people across the globe while promoting America’s
international standing. But many skilled Americans are unable to give two years. The legislation will
strengthen the current “Volunteers for Prosperity” program, which coordinates and supports short-term
international service opportunities for skilled professionals to serve in developing nations
Are they going to pay these people or do they want them to do it for free?
How is this different from existing programs such as Americorp?
Can we get an AMEN from that racist preacher Obama’s swearing in?
Oh come on, Obama TALKED about responsibility.
Let them clean their own messes first.
Can we get an AMEN from that racist preacher Obama’s swearing in?
Oh come on, Obama TALKED about responsibility.
Let them clean their own messes first.
I would like to volunteer to stand watch at a planned parenthood abortuary (with my rosary surreptitiously in hand, of course). I wonder if that’s on the list.
All of these Republican courtesans should be spending every waking minute opposing the new socialist agenda. If they’re not doing that there is no purpose for The Republican Party. I’d suggest they begin by declaring war on the drive-by media.
>Unless the volunteers will be paid by the government. In which case they aren’t volunteers.
How does that mesh with the American habit of claiming to have all-Volunteer Armed Forces instead of a Draft?
The fact is, you’re right, and the other fact is you don’t have all-Volunteer Armed Forces, you instead have Professional Armed Forces.
Correction...to serve The Man, The One.
Nothing that a re-education camp wouldn’t fix.
How soon does this evolve into compulsory service?
This is the expansion of ACORN, an arm of the Dem party.
Well, they’ll probably pay them, but badly, which makes it a volunteer service. The logic is a little bit like that which causes an individual to strap a bomb to himself, set it off in a crowd, and then call himself a martyr, I’ll admit, but it is the goobernment we’re talking aboot.
The Servitude in America Act.
It has such a Democrat ring to it, don’t you think?
COSPONSORS(20), ALPHABETICAL [followed by Cosponsors withdrawn]:
(Sort: by date)
Sen Bayh, Evan [IN] - 1/16/2009
Sen Cardin, Benjamin L. [MD] - 1/16/2009
Sen Cochran, Thad [MS] - 1/16/2009
Sen Dodd, Christopher J. [CT] - 1/16/2009
Sen Durbin, Richard [IL] - 1/16/2009
Sen Gregg, Judd [NH] - 1/16/2009
Sen Hatch, Orrin G. [UT] - 1/16/2009
Sen Kerry, John F. [MA] - 1/16/2009
Sen Landrieu, Mary L. [LA] - 1/16/2009
Sen Lincoln, Blanche L. [AR] - 1/16/2009
Sen McCain, John [AZ] - 1/16/2009
Sen Menendez, Robert [NJ] - 1/16/2009
Sen Mikulski, Barbara A. [MD] - 1/16/2009
Sen Murray, Patty [WA] - 1/16/2009
Sen Reid, Harry [NV] - 1/16/2009
Sen Rockefeller, John D., IV [WV] - 1/16/2009
Sen Schumer, Charles E. [NY] - 1/16/2009
Sen Snowe, Olympia J. [ME] - 1/16/2009
Sen Whitehouse, Sheldon [RI] - 1/16/2009
Sen Wicker, Roger F. [MS] - 1/16/2009
The actual bill is an amendment to the 1990 Americorps bill.
It does seem to me that the Armed Forces has historically had two models to choose from -- you can approach them and ask to serve (volunteer) or they can conscript you and you have to serve or face time in prison.
Our working world has also had two models to choose from -- you can ask for a job someplace or you can be forced to work someplace as a slave.
In the labor market, we don't have slaves anymore, so we make a distinction between paid labor and unpaid (volunteer) labor.
In the military, we currently don't have a draft, so everyone is a volunteer, although they do get paid and are professional.
> How soon does this evolve into compulsory service?
(grin) You’ve obviously read their socialist playbook: anything that is first described as an “opportunity” by gummint eventually becomes compulsory.
You got it. It’s time to be patriotic. Time to jump in. Time to be part of the deal. Time to help America get out of the rut.
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