[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 55 (Friday, March 24, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E682-E683]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                      COMMENDING NATIONAL SERVICE

                                 ______


                           HON. GEORGE MILLER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 23, 1995
  Mr. MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, in light of the continuing 
debate about increasing Federal fiscal responsibility, it is extremely 
important that we recognize those programs that offer a substantial 
national return on the Federal investment. One such initiative, the 
National and Community Service Program, is a successful Federal program 
which provides volunteer placements for young people who choose to 
perform thousands of hours of work serving their country in return for 
educational assistance. Unfortunately, this program is also one of the 
many victims of misplaced Republican budgetary cuts.
  As my colleagues are aware, the National and Community Service 
Program took a large hit in the recent House-passed rescissions bill. 
In response to this action, I would like to draw your attention to Mary 
McGrory's article in today's Washington Post which complements the 
program as a ``model enterprise.'' The article describes ``rampaging 
Republicans'' in the House who would like to eliminate National Service 
even though the program is overwhelmingly supported by both Democratic 
and Republican Governors across the Nation and by the communities that 
are recipients of the valuable work performed.
  In 1994, approximately 20,000 AmeriCorps volunteers worked to 
confront unmet human, educational, environmental and public health 
needs. Roughly 350 of these volunteers worked in eight units of the 
National Forest System to combat the severe backlog of maintenance, 
improvement, and rehabilitation needs--work which is important but far 
from glamorous. The task undertaken on our public lands are those which 
are too undesirable or too costly for Forest Service personnel or 
contract employees to perform. Yet, this work directly benefits all 
Americans. Some of the AmeriCorps' accomplishments in the national 
forests include:
  In San Bernardino National Forest, in California, AmeriCorps 
volunteers have taken important steps to prevent erosion by 
rehabilitating 12,000 acres of land burned by fires;
  In Six Rivers National Forest, also in California, National Service 
volunteers have rehabilitated 3.5 miles of hiking and horse trails and 
reforested and restored wildlife habit on 10 acres of land which was 
once a gold mine waste area;
  Volunteers planted 2,390 trees in several campgrounds, enhanced fish 
habitat, built a nature trail, and improved timber stands in the Rouge 
River National Forest in Oregon. AmeriCorps volunteers have also 
improved overall forest health on 55 acres by pruning second growth 
trees;
  In Washington's Olympic National Forest, AmeriCorps volunteers have 
maintained 4 miles of trails, rehabilitated campground sites, completed 
handicapped access in six recreation sites, completed restoration of 
two historic sites, surveyed species habitat, and pruned 120 acres of 
timber stands;

[[Page E683]]

  In the Arizona National Forests, volunteers maintained 15 miles of 
trails, rehabilitated 10 campground sites, improved wildlife habitat on 
300 acres, and obliterated 2 miles of road, returning the land to its 
natural state; and
  AmeriCorps volunteers improved paths and maintained roads in 
Bienville National Forest in Mississippi.
  These accomplishments represent only some of the projects AmeriCorps 
participants have completed. Elsewhere across the Nation, AmeriCorps 
volunteers have performed emergency response work to mitigate the 
effects of floods, fires and earthquakes, cleaned-up our urban areas, 
increased disaster prevention efforts and worked with citizens to 
improve their quality of life.
  Mr. Speaker, I would ask that my colleagues remember that the entire 
Nation reaps the benefits of the National Service Program.
               [From the Washington Post, Mar. 23, 1995]

                    Crib Death for National Service

                           (By Mary McGrory)

       The House Republicans' strangling of national service in 
     its crib has to be seen not as a criticism of the agency's 
     performance but simply as another expression of the party 
     leadership's notion that no government program is worth a 
     damn.
       If they were going by performance, the Republicans might 
     have to applaud AmeriCorps as a model enterprise. It is 
     modestly funded, locally directed and dramatic evidence that 
     American youth is not cynical or self-serving. AmeriCorps has 
     had rave reviews from coast to coast for its 20,000 
     volunteers, who are doing things nobody else tackles, 
     everything from helping to build housing for the poor and 
     tutoring inner-city school pupils to cleaning polluted 
     streams in Baltimore's watershed.
       A case in point is Howard Hogin, a 1994 graduate of 
     Georgetown University. He is living in a cramped barracks at 
     the Aberdeen Proving Grounds. He spent September fighting 
     forest fires in Idaho and much of the fall in helping build a 
     riding ring for disabled children. Now he's trying to clean 
     up Maryland's polluted steams. He hopes to pay off his 
     college loans, AmeriCorps pays its workers a minimum wage and 
     an annual $4,725 toward college expenses.
       Service is in Hogin's genes, and by his family's standards, 
     he is a big success. His parents are both social workers and 
     his ancestors experienced big trouble, like the Irish famine 
     and the Holocaust. He says lots of his Georgetown classmates 
     have the same impulse to leave the country a better place but 
     ``just can't afford to do it.''
       Hogin is tactful about the mugging AmeriCorps suffered when 
     the House cut $416 million, or 72 percent, from its $575 
     million budget. He was voted outstanding teenage Republican 
     in his high school class. ``I understand that we have 
     tremendous deficits and the taxpayers are heavily burdened, 
     but if we give up what is best about America, what kind of a 
     legacy do we leave?''
       No such considerations figured in the thinking of House 
     Republicans. The rap on AmeriCorps was not just that it was a 
     government program, it is Bill Clinton's favorite program. 
     Said Rules Committee Chairman Gerald B.H. Solomon, ``It's 
     get-even time.''
       It is also get-nervous time for the rampaging Republicans. 
     They are winning victory after victory on the floor, but they 
     are losing in public opinion. They have long since maintained 
     that they know exactly what Nov. 8 was about, that the 
     country wanted government to be shrunk and ordinary people, 
     especially the poor, to pull up their socks. But a recent 
     Washington Post-ABC poll shows that the public thinks 
     Republicans have gone too far. And in his effort to save 
     programs for the poor, Clinton has picked up some unexpected 
     allies; the Roman Catholic bishops. They were reserved about 
     him during the campaign because of his abortion rights stand. 
     But they think now that pitiless Republicans pose a worse 
     threat of increased abortions.
       The Republicans' greatest tactical mistake was to meddle 
     with the school lunch program, a popular and scandal-free 
     operation that has helped many a hungry child get through the 
     school day. In vain, the Republicans protested that they had 
     not cut the funds but merely slowed the increase in the 
     growth rate. Nonetheless, the ranks have begun to wince in 
     the iron corset of the contract, and this week, 102 members 
     rebelled against tax breaks for the rich.
       The Democrats, who have been having their best week since 
     the calamity of Nov. 8, were sporting ``Save the Children'' 
     neckties on the House floor.
       Eli Segal, the chief executive officer of the National 
     Service Corps, has been summoned before the House 
     Appropriations Subcommittee on Housing and Urban Development 
     and Veterans Affairs for a discussion of the 1996 budget, 
     which since the House action stands at $159 million, a sum 
     that prohibits serious action.
       He has been traveling the country inspecting the workers, 
     deriving solace from moderate Republican governors who are 
     keen about the corps' activities in conflict resolution, 
     environmental cleanup, tutoring and other contributions to 
     urban peace. They agree with him that pulling the plug after 
     less than a year is bad practice. Segal's hope is that they 
     will transmit their enthusiasm to their brother moderates in 
     the Senate, which has become the haven for storm-tossed 
     programs.
       Republican Christopher Shays of Connecticut was the only 
     member of his party to vote against the amendment that 
     mortally wounded national service. He is a Peace Corps 
     alumnus and believes passionately in the importance of 
     youthful involvement.
       ``A colossal mistake,'' he calls his party's action. ``I 
     hope the president has the fortitude to veto the bill. I 
     would support his veto.''
     

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