Committee Statements

Thank you Mr. Chairman, and good morning. Let me begin by thanking you and your staff, along with Chairwoman McCarthy, for your work with Committee Republicans and our staff on this legislation.  And I’d like to thank my Republican colleagues, Congressman Platts and Congressman Hoekstra, for their leadership on this issue.  They have been champions of accountable national service for years, and their stamp on this legislation is clearly evident.

The GIVE Act of 2009 is an updated version of the legislation we drafted in a similar bipartisan fashion during the last Congress. And if I may say so, I think the bill has improved with time and refinement.

Like many of my colleagues, particularly on this side of the aisle, I historically have had concerns about AmeriCorps and the other programs within the Corporation for National and Community Service.  Particularly during the 1990s, federal management of these programs was – at best – dismal.  And for years, I joined many of my colleagues – led by Mr. Hoekstra – in seeking to establish performance measures to ensure that these national service programs are, in fact, meeting their goals.

During the last eight years, it is clear that these programs were held more accountable, and they’ve become more efficient as a result.  For example, the Corporation received its seventh consecutive clean audit during Fiscal Year 2006.  Likewise, the Corporation’s leadership has instituted significant improvements in efficiency and quality, including streamlining the grants and application reporting processes, consolidating five field service centers into one, and automating education award payments, time and attendance, and travel.

In short, the recent management of this program has far surpassed its previous record of low accountability, and for that reason in particular, it deserves our continued support.

But what really drives our support for this legislation is the importance of service.  This program brings together our neighbors to serve one another – and thus, strengthen our nation.  As Army Sergeant Major Kenneth Preston testified before this Committee last month, “It is our responsibility as Americans to volunteer our time and efforts towards making both the Nation and our local communities better places to live and thrive.”  He said that national service is often defined as volunteering one’s time and efforts to a cause greater than one’s self, and I couldn’t agree with him more.

Members of our military have chosen a career in service to our nation, and it’s no surprise that they are interested in service outside the military as well. That’s why I’m so pleased that we have added a Veterans Corps within the reorganization of programs in the GIVE Act. Participants in the Veterans Corps will also focus on supporting the families of service members and returning veterans by helping deployed members’ families and by promoting efforts in the community to serve the needs of veterans and active duty military members.

So, while the delivery of services under the broad umbrella of the Corporation for National and Community Service does not occur exactly as all of us believe it should, the bottom line is the Corporation plays a key and increasingly effective role in spurring Americans to give back.

This bill has been drafted in a true spirit of bipartisanship, which means that neither side of the aisle has gotten everything they wanted.  There are certainly provisions of this bill that I continue to have concerns about.  But, Mr. Chairman, I find the bill – as introduced – to be a balanced one and one worthy of our support, and I hope the amendments offered reflect the bipartisan nature of the process through which we’ve crafted this bill.

 

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