[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 138 (Tuesday, October 6, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11636-S11637]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 GOVERNOR RACICOT ON COMMUNITY SERVICE

 Mr. BURNS. Mr. President, Governor Marc Racicot of my home 
State of Montana recently wrote an op-ed on community service which 
appeared in the Washington Times and The Hill newspapers. For the 
benefit of those who haven't seen it, I ask to have the op-ed inserted 
into the Congressional Record.

              [From The Washington, Times, Aug. 31, 1998]

                      Community Service That Works

                           (By Marc Racicot)

       Governors meet together and routinely stake out areas of 
     broad bipartisan agreement that transcend the partisan 
     struggles that have become synonymous with election-year 
     politics. One issue that enjoys strong support from governors 
     of both parties is national and community service. The 
     support for service is based on a simple conviction that I 
     share with many other governors: that every generation of 
     young people needs to accept responsibility for its country 
     and its community.
       As a first-term Republican governor in January, 1993, I 
     asked, and our legislature approved, a proposal to create a 
     Governor's Office of Community Service intended to enhance 
     the ethic of service and elevate the importance of 
     ``community,'' particularly among our young people. 
     Meaningful service, we believed, would nurture productive 
     young citizens committed to the future of our state because 
     they had invested their sweat and labor in that future. Here 
     in Montana, we sought to encourage service as a life-long 
     ``habit of the heart.''
       When the National Community Service Act of 1993 was passed, 
     Montana was in an ideal position to move forward with the 
     opportunity offered through AmeriCorps. The Office of 
     Community Service's mission and the mission of AmeriCorps was 
     one and the same: to develop opportunities for young people 
     to provide meaningful, direct and demonstrable service to 
     their communities. It was our hope that AmeriCorps would help 
     us to build unique partnerships with public and private 
     agencies by engaging young people in productive and 
     meaningful service to their communities. These partnerships 
     would serve as clear examples of how we could work together 
     in Montana to improve how we, as fellow citizens, respond to 
     pressing needs.
       Now in its fourth year, AmeriCorps offers a creative, 
     effective, and non-bureaucratic means of addressing the unmet 
     education, human, public safety and environmental needs of 
     our state-- and our country. Indeed, AmeriCorps has become a 
     model of devolution, where real authority and ownership for a 
     federal initiative is delegated to the states. Through 
     governor-appointed bipartisan state commissions, priorities 
     are established and projects are selected to receive 
     AmeriCorps funding.
       The results are impressive. Last year alone, our locally-
     run AmeriCorps programs generated nearly $1,000 hours of 
     service to Montana communities. Their service directly 
     benefits 50,000 children and families in Montana, and 
     indirectly almost one-third of our state population. 
     Nationally, similar results abound. This year, some 40,000 
     AmeriCorps members will get things done for more than 1,200 
     communities across the country.
       When AmeriCorps was created, some feared it might replay 
     the worst of the welfare state--an entrenched, expensive, 
     Washington run program. Many feared, even more, that it would 
     undermine traditional volunteers with yet another federal 
     program. I can say from experience that the fears were 
     misplaced. As a governor who tries very hard to be careful 
     with tax dollars, I have witnessed time and again the fruits 
     of this prudent investment in Montana.
       Now, after more than five years, we have seen a tremendous 
     rekindling of a sense of public service and civic duty, in 
     many ways, through the programs and opportunities generated 
     through the National Community Service Act. I am convinced 
     national and community service promotes core values--hard 
     work, self-discipline, civic duty, personal responsibility, 
     the cherishing of human life--that we too often sadly find 
     lacking. If the era of big government is finally over, 
     certainly the era of big citizenship must begin.
       I have joined twelve of my fellow governors in urging not 
     only continued federal funding of AmeriCorps, but also 
     reauthorization of the Act, increasing the partnership with 
     states and the authority of directing these programs at the 
     state level. We join with our peers from the New England 
     Governors' Conference in urging Congress to support 
     reauthorizing the National Community Service Amendments Act, 
     in order to improve the laws's current language. As their 
     resolution notes, we support the bill's ``devolution 
     provisions that add authority and flexibility to states . . . 
     [to] provide Governor-appointed state commissions more 
     control over program selection.''
       Community service is a vital element in the chemistry of 
     our existence as a society, renewing our sense of community 
     and civic initiative. It is the glue that bonds free peoples 
     together. We in Montana have seen how vitally important this 
     is, recently having completed our state Governors' Summit on 
     Youth, and witnessing the real necessity of promoting 
     opportunities for young people to give back to others. 
     Through community service they learn what it's like to belong 
     to

[[Page S11637]]

     something good and solid and decent. AmeriCorps helps provide 
     that opportunity and truly puts the states in the driver's 
     seat, which translates into meaningful ownership, and impact, 
     at the state and local level.

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