[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 100 (Thursday, July 27, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1386-E1387]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               AMERICORPS

                                 ______
                                 

                   HON. CHARLES W. ``CHIP'' PICKERING

                             of mississippi

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 27, 2000

  Mr. PICKERING. Mr. Speaker, I submit the following two articles for 
the Congressional Record and recommend that all members read and 
consider them when looking at the issue of AmeriCorps. These articles 
were brought to my attention by former Pennsylvania Senator Harris 
Wofford, and I hope that members find them helpful when considering 
reauthorization of AmeriCorps.

                     [From The Hill, June 21, 2000]

                 Why I Changed My Mind About AmeriCorps

      (By Dan Coats, former Republican Senator from Rhode Island)

       When I was in the Senate, I did not support the legislation 
     that created AmeriCorps because of my fundamental belief in 
     private voluntary service and my skepticism about government-
     based solutions. I thought that government-supported 
     volunteers would undermine the spirit of voluntary service 
     and that new federal resources might subvert the mission and 
     the independence of the civic sector.
       My faith in the civic sector has not diminished one bit; in 
     fact, it is stronger today than ever before. However, I have 
     changed my mind about AmeriCorps. Instead of distorting the 
     mission of the civic sector, AmeriCorps has proved to be a 
     source of new power and energy for nonprofit organizations 
     across the country.
       My changed view about AmeriCorps is in no small measure 
     because of the leadership that Harris Wofford, my Democratic 
     former Senate colleague from Pennsylvania, has given to that 
     program. Wofford and I did not vote on the same side very 
     often in the Senate, and we still differ on many issues. But 
     his leadership of AmeriCorps has convinced me that I should 
     have voted with him on this issue.
       First, thanks to Wofford's steadfast commitment to place 
     national service above partisanship, AmeriCorps has not 
     become the political program that some of us initially 
     feared. Second, he shares my belief that the solutions to 
     some of our most intractable problems lie in the civic 
     sector. Accordingly, he has set AmeriCorps to the work of 
     supporting, not supplanting, the civic sector.
       I have seen firsthand how AmeriCorps members have provided 
     a jolt of new energy to the civic sector from my experience 
     as president of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America. As 
     Millard Fuller, founder of Habitat for Humanity and another 
     former skeptic of government-supported volunteers, also 
     discovered, the leadership provided by full-time AmeriCorps 
     members is a key addition for nonprofit and faith based 
     organizations that are tackling the most difficult community 
     and human problems.
       AmeriCorps members, through their idealism, enthusiasm and 
     can-do spirit, have multiplied the impact of organizations 
     like Big Brothers Big Sisters and Habitat, and hundreds of 
     other organizations large and small.

[[Page E1387]]

     The number of Republicans who have changed their mind about 
     AmeriCorps continues to grow.
       In the last years, Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Mike 
     DeWine (R-Ohio) and Rep. John Kasich (R-Ohio) have spoken out 
     about the positive role AmeriCorps plays in strengthening the 
     civic sector. Together, we join a growing bipartisan list of 
     present and former federal and state legislators, governors 
     and civic leaders in support of AmeriCorps.
       Their support is part of a quiet, yet remarkable, 
     transformation in American politics that has occurred since 
     the white-hot debate that took place a few years ago between 
     those who believed that government should take the lead in 
     solving community problems and those who thought government 
     could accomplish little or nothing, and was even likely to be 
     a negative force.
       Now, as evidenced by both major party presidential 
     candidates and by growing bipartisan support in Congress, a 
     new middle ground has emerged, leading to a unique 
     partnership between AmeriCorps, the nonprofit organizations 
     and private and religious institutions that are critical to 
     strengthening our communities. It is these institutions that 
     transmit values between generations that encourage 
     cooperation between citizens, and make our communities 
     stronger.
       In a recent speech to the nation's governors, retired Gen. 
     Colin Powell declared himself ``a strong supporter of 
     AmeriCorps.'' After spending two years working with the 
     organization Powell concluded, ``[W]hat they do in terms of 
     leveraging other individuals to volunteer is really 
     incredible. So it is a tremendous investment in young people, 
     a tremendous investment in the future. . . .''
       Later this month, a bipartisan coalition in the Senate will 
     introduce legislation to reauthorize AmeriCorps and its 
     parent agency, the Corporation for National Service. I hope 
     that Congress will move quickly to enact this legislation so 
     that AmeriCorps can continue to work with the nonprofit and 
     faith-based sectors to strengthen our communities and build a 
     better future for us all.


                 [From The NonProfitTimes, March 2000]

                    Two Presidents: A Shared Legacy

   (By Harris Wofford, CEO, Corporation for National Service and Bob 
            Goodwin, President, Points of Light Foundation)

       Most people would not think that Presidents George Bush and 
     Bill Clinton have that much in common. But, Presidents Bush 
     and Clinton share an important legacy. By making citizen 
     service a central idea of their presidencies, these two 
     presidents have fundamentally changed the land-scape of the 
     civic sector by moving citizen service from the margins to 
     the center of the public agenda.
       It wasn't always this way. In 1988, President Bush called 
     for a ``thousand points of light'' in his inaugural address 
     and thereafter created the Points of Light Foundation. 
     President Bush recently told us that he never imagined the 
     Points of Light would be viewed as a Republican venture. 
     Nonetheless, Democrats were dubious and sometimes belittled 
     it as an inadequate substitute for government action.
       Today, much of that skepticism has passed. With bipartisan 
     support, the Points of Light Foundation was included as part 
     of the National Service Act of 1993 and receives regular 
     funding through the Corporation for National Service. The 
     foundation's network of hundreds of volunteer centers, often 
     part of the United Way, is thriving--helping to connect local 
     residents with opportunities to serve. And two years, 
     President Clinton joined with President Bush to resume the 
     Daily Points of Light Award.
       Simiarly, President Clinton's special contribution to 
     citizen service--AmeriCorps--faced still opposition from some 
     Republican skeptics. After the Republican takeover of 
     Congress in 1994, there were recurring threats to eliminate 
     AmeriCorps.
       But President Clinton was steadfast, governors and mayors, 
     Republicans and Democrats, and local and national nonprofits 
     and faith-based organizations rallied in support, and the 
     critics have been quieted.
       By a large majority, including many Republicans, the Senate 
     has voted for two years in a row to continued support for 
     AmeriCorps. Republican Sen. Kit Bond stated, ``The battle 
     over whether we ought to have an AmeriCorps program or not is 
     over. It has been decided.'' And Colin Powell has said, ``It 
     is a tremendous investment in young people, a tremendous 
     investment in the future, and I am a strong supporter of 
     AmeriCorps.''
       Today, the partisan bickering around service and 
     volunteering has almost disappeared. The call for citizen 
     service is a major theme of presidential candidates of both 
     parties. Al Gore, George W. Bush, John McCain and Bill 
     Bradley all have spoken powerfully on the need for citizen 
     service and the role that nonprofits and faith-based 
     organizations can play in solving community problems and 
     uniting us as a nation.
       While the political winds have been shifting, two great 
     streams of civilian service--community volunteering and 
     intensive national service--have become partners in 
     communities across the country.
       These collaborations work because the Points of Light and 
     AmeriCorps are founded on the same fundamental belief: 
     through service we can bring people together to solve the 
     problems that still plague our country. Their operating 
     principle is to provide resources--usually people power--to 
     thousands of nonprofits, with government playing the role of 
     junior partner, supporting the work of these organizations, 
     not guiding it.
       Three years ago the Points of Light Foundation and the 
     Corporation for National Service cemented and elevated their 
     partnership when Presidents Bush and Clinton came together to 
     convene the Presidents' Summit for America's Future in 
     Philadelphia. They enlisted Colin Powell to chair the Summit 
     and to lead the continuing campaign for America's Promise.
       Powell's mandate is to rally the forces of all the great 
     institutions in this country, businesses, the nonprofit 
     sector, governments at all levels, and committed individuals, 
     traditional volunteers and those in full-time service, to 
     make a concerted effort to assure the conditions for success 
     for all young Americans.
       In coming weeks this partnership between the Corporation 
     for National Service and the Points of Light Foundation will 
     be demonstrated again as a bipartisan coalition in the United 
     States House of Representatives and United States Senate 
     introduces legislation reauthorization the Corporation and 
     its three main programs--AmeriCorps, the Senior Corps, and 
     student service learning. This legislation will extend the 
     life of the Corporation and support for the Points of Light 
     Foundation into the next Administration.
       Presidents Bush and Clinton pressed--and are still 
     pressing--an idea and an ideal. Together they have raised a 
     standard to which, as George Washington said at the 
     Constitutional Convention, ``the wise and the honest may 
     repair.''
       This is a legacy of which they can jointly and justly be 
     proud.
       By passing this legislation, Congress will honor and share 
     in this important bipartisan and nonpartisan legacy.

     

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