[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 112 (Friday, August 3, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Page S8917]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. SANTORUM:
  S. 1352. A bill to amend the National and Community Service Act of 
1990 to carry out the Americorps program as a voucher program that 
assists charities serving low-income individuals, and for other 
purposes; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
  Mr. SANTORUM. Mr. President, today I am introducing a bill which 
reforms and expands service opportunities through the AmeriCorps 
program by transitioning the service program toward an individual model 
with voucher-like awards to individuals desiring to serve low-income 
individuals or communities. The goal is to decrease dependency on 
large, more permanent group service locations and dramatically increase 
the scope of service opportunities and charitable locations which would 
be eligible for voucher recipients to serve communities and to require 
that site locations be predominantly serving low-income communities or 
people.
  Under the leadership of former Senator Harris Wofford and the States, 
significant steps were taken to improve the management of the 
AmeriCorps program of the Corporation for National Service, CNS, and I 
recognize the dedication and contributions of AmeriCorps participants. 
I also believe that more can be done to expand the effectiveness of the 
AmeriCorps by expanding the opportunities for service and have been 
looking at a number of options for more than a year.
  The bill's approach to reform should better enable participants to 
get to know the communities that they are serving. It is also a goal of 
this initiative to place an additional emphasis on the importance of 
leveraging volunteers and providing technical assistance and capacity 
building skills for these organizations. This will increase the long-
term benefit which the organizations and the communities that they 
serve receive. The new proposal has some similarities to 
AmeriCorpsVISTA under the CNS but the scope of the proposed 
authorization is limited to AmeriCorps, although I believe that other 
restructuring may well be warranted.
  The reform proposal includes the following elements: The individual 
award or voucher would be for use at charitable organizations 
predominantly serving the poor (like the current AmeriCorpsVISTA 
focus). All eligible qualifying charities (consistent with IRS 
requirements for 501(c)(3)'s) predominantly serving the poor would be 
eligible locations for service. All receiving locations must comply 
with the current supervisory and reporting requirements (e.g., web-
based reporting system) of the Corporation for National Service. The 
voucher is awarded to the individual who chooses a qualified location 
for service and not the charitable organization. The current education 
and stipend benefits of AmeriCorps would remain the same and be 
included with the new voucher. The education award may be given to 
another individual chosen by the AmeriCorps volunteer without impacting 
the ability of the donee to receive other sources of grant and 
scholarship assistance, increasing the attractiveness for older 
Americans to participate. If the number of applicants exceeds the 
available vouchers, a lottery system established by the Corporation for 
National Service would be used to determine the selection of qualified 
voucher recipients. The bill provides for consolidation of Americans 
and AmeriCorpsVISTA state offices to better leverage resources. A one-
year transition period to the new system is provided.
  I urge my colleagues to consider this opportunity to reform 
AmeriCorps participants. I believe that refocusing the program on 
poverty alleviation efforts, expanded choice, and placing a greater 
emphasis on serving charities and the needy communities they serve 
through provision of expanded technical assistance and capacity 
building services will provide a brighter future for AmeriCorps and a 
more strategic contribution from this federally supported program for 
Americans in need.
                                 ______