[House Document 105-231]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]



105th Congress, 2d Session  - - - - - - - - - - House Document 105-231


 
         NATIONAL AND COMMUNITY SERVICE AMENDMENTS ACT OF 1998

                               __________

                                MESSAGE

                                  from

                   THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

                              transmitting

     A DRAFT OF PROPOSED LEGISLATION TO EXTEND FOR FIVE YEARS THE 
AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE PROGRAMS UNDER THE NATIONAL AND 
COMMUNITY SERVICE ACT OF 1990 AND THE DOMESTIC VOLUNTEER SERVICE ACT OF 
        1973, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES, PURSUANT TO 31 U.S.C. 1110





   March 19, 1998.--Message and accompanying papers referred to the 
   Committee on Education and the Workforce and ordered to be printed

To the Congress of the United States:
    I am pleased to transmit for your immediate consideration 
and enactment the ``National and Community Service Amendments 
Act of 1998.'' This legislative proposal extends and amends 
national service law, including the National and Community 
Service Act of 1990 and the Domestic Volunteer Service Act of 
1973. It builds upon the long, bipartisan tradition of service 
in our country, which was renewed in 1993 when I signed the 
National and Community Service Trust Act creating the 
Corporation for National Service.
    Service to one's community is an integral part of what it 
means to be an American. The Presidents' Summit for America's 
Future held in Philadelphia last April reinforced the role of 
programs supported by the Corporation for National Service as 
key vehicles to provide young people with the resources to 
maximize their potential and give back to their communities. 
Citizen service is also at the heart of our efforts to prepare 
America for the 21st century, as we work to ensure that all 
Americans have the opportunity to make the most of their own 
lives and to help those in need.
    My Administration's most important contribution to citizen 
service is AmeriCorps, the national service program that 
already has given more than 100,000 young Americans the 
opportunity to serve their country. By tying opportunity to 
responsibility, we have given them the chance to serve and, in 
return, earn money for post-secondary education. In community 
after community, AmeriCorps members have proven that service 
can help us meet our most pressing social needs. For example, 
in Simpson County, Kentucky, AmeriCorps members helped second 
graders jump three grade levels in reading. In Boys and Girls 
Clubs, AmeriCorps members are mentors for at-risk young people. 
Habitat For Humanity relies upon AmeriCorps members to recruit 
more volunteers and build more houses. In communities beset by 
floods, tornadoes, and hurricanes, AmeriCorps members have 
helped to rebuild lives and restore hope. AmeriCorps members 
are helping to mobilize thousands of college students from more 
than 800 college campuses in our America Reads program. In all 
of these efforts, AmeriCorps brings together people of every 
background to work toward common goals.
    Independent evaluators have reviewed AmeriCorps, National 
Senior Service Corps programs, and Learn and Service America 
programs and have concluded that national service yields a 
positive return on investment. The proposed legislation that I 
am transmitting builds on our experiences with national service 
to date and improves national service programs in four ways: 
(1) by codifying agreements with the Congress and others to 
reduce costs and streamline national service; (2) strengthening 
partnerships with traditional volunteer organizations; (3) 
increasing States' flexibility to administer national service 
programs; and (4) expanding opportunities for Americans to 
serve.
    Since the enactment of the National and Community Service 
Trust Act in 1993, and particularly since 1995, my 
Administration has worked with constructive critics of national 
service to address their concerns and improve the overall 
program. This proposed legislation continues that process by 
reducing the Corporation's average budgeted cost per AmeriCorps 
member, repealing authority for redundant or obsolete national 
service programs, and making other improvements in the 
efficiency of national service programs.
    National service has never been a substitute for the 
contributions made by the millions of Americans who volunteer 
their time to worthy causes every year. Rather, as leaders of 
volunteer organizations have often expressed, national service 
has proven that the presence of full-time, trained service 
participants enhances tremendously the effectiveness of 
volunteers. This proposed legislation will strengthen the 
partnership between the national service programs and 
traditional volunteer organizations; codify the National 
ServiceScholarship program honoring exemplary service by high 
school students; and expand the AmeriCorps Challenge Scholarships, 
through which national service participants can access education 
awards. It also will authorize appropriations for the Points of Light 
Foundation through the year 2002.
    The National and Community Service Trust Act of 1993 
explicitly conceived of national service as a Federal-State 
partnership. The Act vested significant authority in bipartisan 
State Commissions appointed by the Governors. I promised that 
we would accelerate the process of devolution as the newly 
created State Commissions expanded their capacities. This 
proposed legislation fulfills that promise in a variety of 
ways, including providing authority for the Corporation for 
National Service to enter into Service Collaboration Agreements 
with Governors to provide a means for coordinating the planning 
and administration of national service programs in a State.
    This proposed legislation will also provide additional 
service opportunities. By reducing the cost per AmeriCorps 
member, it will enable more people to serve; it will broaden 
the age and income guidelines for National Senior Service Corps 
participants, expanding the pool of older Americans who can 
perform results-oriented service in their communities; and it 
will simplify the administration of Learn and Serve America, so 
States and communities will more easily be able to provide 
opportunities for students to learn through service in their 
schools and neighborhoods.
    This past January, I had the opportunity to honor the 
memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., by engaging in service 
on the holiday commemorating his birth. I joined 65 AmeriCorps 
members and more than 300 community volunteers in repairing and 
repainting Cardozo High School in the Shaw neighborhood of 
Washington, D.C. Thirty-one years ago, Dr. King came to that 
very neighborhood and urged the people there to engage in 
citizen service to rebuild their lives, their community, and 
their future. That is what those national service participants, 
and the thousands more who were participating in similar 
projects across the country, were doing--honoring the legacy of 
Dr. King and answering the high calling of citizenship in this 
country.
    Each of the more than 500,000 participants in the programs 
of the National Senior Service Corps and the 750,000 
participants in programs supported by Learn and Serve America, 
and every AmeriCorps member answers that high calling of 
citizenship when they make and fulfill a commitment to service 
in their communities. This proposed legislation builds on the 
successes of these programs and improves them for the future.
    I urge the Congress to give this proposed legislation 
prompt and favorable consideration.

                                                William J. Clinton.
    The White House, March 19, 1998.