[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 54 (Tuesday, March 31, 2009)]
[House]
[Pages H4139-H4141]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF SENATE AMENDMENTS TO H.R. 1388, EDWARD 
                      M. KENNEDY SERVE AMERICA ACT

  Ms. MATSUI. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I 
call up House Resolution 296 and ask for its immediate consideration.
  The Clerk read the resolution, as follows:

                              H. Res. 296

       Resolved, That upon adoption of this resolution it shall be 
     in order to take from the Speaker's table the bill (H.R. 
     1388) to reauthorize and reform the national service laws, 
     with the Senate amendments thereto, and to consider in the 
     House, without intervention of any point of order except 
     those arising under clause 10 of rule XXI, a single motion 
     offered by the chair of the Committee on Education and Labor 
     or his designee that the House concur in the Senate 
     amendments. The Senate amendments and the motion shall be 
     considered as read. The motion shall be debatable for one 
     hour equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking 
     minority member of the Committee on Education and Labor. The 
     previous question shall be considered as ordered on the 
     motion to final adoption without intervening motion or demand 
     for division of the question.
       Sec. 2.  House Resolution 289 is laid on the table.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from California is 
recognized for 1 hour.
  Ms. MATSUI. For the purpose of debate only, I yield the customary 30 
minutes to the gentleman from Florida, my good friend, Mr. Diaz-Balart. 
All time yielded during consideration of the rule is for debate only.
  I yield myself such time as I may consume.


                             General Leave

  Ms. MATSUI. I also ask unanimous consent that all Members be given 5 
legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks on House 
Resolution 296.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from California?
  There was no objection.
  Ms. MATSUI. Mr. Speaker, House Resolution 296 provides for 
consideration of Senate amendments to the bill H.R. 1388. The rule 
makes in order a motion by the chairman on the Committee on Education 
and Labor to concur in Senate amendments to H.R. 1388. The rule 
provides 1 hour of debate on the motion controlled by the Committee on 
Education and Labor.

                              {time}  1230

  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of a vital piece of bipartisan 
legislation, legislation that directly affects all of our communities 
and the lives of millions of Americans, legislation that has seen broad 
support in both this House and by our colleagues in the Senate. This 
legislation strengthens our communities, helps educate future 
generations, teaches our youth to prepare for and respond to natural 
disasters, and fosters a growth of respect and compassion throughout 
our entire society.
  The Senator Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act will help launch a 
new era of American service and volunteerism. The bill answers 
President Obama's call for Americans of all generations to help get the 
country through the economic crisis by serving and volunteering in 
their communities.
  The bill has been named after the ``lion in the Senate,'' Edward 
Kennedy, to recognize his lifetime commitment to national service and 
to making America a stronger, more collective nation. The Edward M. 
Kennedy Serve America Act reauthorizes for the first time in 15 years 
our country's investment in community service and volunteerism. As a 
cochair of the National Service Caucus, it is a pleasure to call 
attention to the tremendous work of those involved at every level and 
in every program of the corporation.
  Mr. Speaker, service and volunteerism are the bedrock of our 
emergency preparedness and national security. In times of strife, the 
American people have always shown a spirit of service and ingenuity. 
Investing in service and volunteer programs prepares us to handle any 
crisis.
  We saw firsthand the importance of having trained volunteers in the 
wake of the 2005 hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Following the devastation 
in the gulf coast, more than 92,000 national service volunteers 
contributed over 3.5 million hours of work to the recovery effort. They 
repaired homes, neighborhoods and lives.
  The assistance from trained volunteers following the devastating 
storms represents only one example of the many accomplishments that our 
service volunteers achieve every single day. Since September of 2005, 
over 4,070 National Civilian Community Corps, or as we call it NCCC, 
members have served more than 2.1 million hours in the gulf coast on 
over 830 relief and recovery projects.
  Last year, NCCC members from my hometown of Sacramento served 
thousands of hours to help fight the fires that devastated the lives 
and livelihoods of thousands of Californians, and in doing so helped 
protect thousands more. AmeriCorps NCCC members are disaster-trained 
and available for immediate deployment in the event of a natural 
disaster anywhere within the United States, just as they were in the 
gulf coast and in California.
  Through programs such as AmeriCorps State and national, Volunteers in 
Service to America, or VISTA,

[[Page H4140]]

and NCCC, service members address critical needs in our communities. In 
fact, these programs continually put back more into the community than 
we put into them. The Serve America Act shows Congress' support for 
their heroic and continued efforts and ensures these programs continue 
for years to come.
  The Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act will expand these 
opportunities as well as health care access, provide seniors with help 
living independently, enhance services for veterans and help build a 
green, energy-efficient economy.
  Mr. Speaker, in 2007, more than 61 million Americans spent over 8 
billion hours volunteering. Overall, about 27 percent of Americans 
volunteer, and the number of volunteers increased by 1 million from 
2002 to 2007. Additionally, with increased numbers of Americans losing 
jobs, many are turning to service as a way to contribute to their 
communities and learn new skills. Now is precisely the time when we 
should make national service more accessible to the millions of 
Americans who want to serve their country by contributing to their 
communities.
  As a result, I hope that my colleagues will support the rule and the 
underlying legislation. I look forward to the passage of this bill and 
the historic moment when President Obama signs this into law.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my 
friend, the distinguished gentlewoman from California (Ms. Matsui), for 
the time, and I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I expected to come to the floor today to speak about the 
good of volunteerism and to support the underlying legislation, the 
Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act. However, I must now oppose the 
legislation because of the removal of important provisions that were 
supported, by the way, by an overwhelming majority of the House on both 
sides of the aisle, including a majority of Democrats.
  When the House voted to approve the underlying legislation earlier in 
the month, it included the Republican motion to recommit. The 
provisions in the Republican motion made organizations that are co-
located with those that promote or provide abortions, as well as 
political parties and lobbyists, ineligible from receiving funds 
provided through the legislation. It also prohibited funds from going 
to organizations that have been indicted on voter fraud charges.
  However, the version of the legislation before the House today was 
stripped of those protections, even though those very provisions passed 
the House by a bipartisan vote of 318-105. I really don't understand 
why the majority leadership would force the House to consider 
legislation that will allow organizations that have been indicted on 
voter fraud charges to receive taxpayer funds, especially when the 
House overwhelmingly voted to forbid the use of taxpayer funds for such 
organizations.
  It is my sincere belief that if those provisions would have been kept 
in the legislation, over two-thirds of the House would have voted to 
pass the legislation today, legislation that, yes, otherwise does help 
communities by recruiting 250,000 volunteers for AmeriCorps. But we 
will never know if I'm right because the majority is rushing to get 
this bill passed and is prohibiting Members on both sides of the aisle 
from introducing amendments to once again include the commonsense 
bipartisan provisions that passed previously in the House.
  Mr. Speaker, I would remind the majority leadership of the events 2 
weeks ago, when we learned that legislation that the majority also 
rushed to the floor without proper review included a provision that 
allowed AIG executives to receive multimillion-dollar bonuses with 
taxpayer funds. I know the majority will say that we are trying to 
obstruct important legislation today. That is far from the truth. Many 
of us in the minority were ready to support the legislation and, in 
fact, many of us did so before.
  What we in the minority are saying today, what we are trying to do, 
is to prevent the majority from once again wasting taxpayer dollars and 
embarrassing Congress.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. MATSUI. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from 
New York (Mrs. McCarthy).
  Mrs. McCARTHY of New York. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of 
H.R. 1388, the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act. And I want to thank 
the leadership of my colleague for offering me this opportunity to 
speak. I want to also thank Chairman Miller for his leadership and 
dedication to national service after moving this important bill towards 
passage. I would also like to thank the full committee ranking member, 
Mr. McKeon, and the ranking member on my subcommittee, Mr. Platts, and 
I would like to thank all the staff that have worked so hard on this.
  I am pleased that the Senate has moved this bill so quickly and that 
we are getting closer to being able to send it to President Obama for 
his signature. I'm also glad to see that we have renamed the bill in 
honor of Senator Edward Kennedy, a man who has demonstrated a lifelong 
commitment to public service.
  Last month President Obama stood in this Chamber and called on 
Congress to pass legislation that would inspire a new generation of 
service and volunteerism in our Nation. This bill answers that call. 
Since the bill was passed in this body 2 weeks ago, there has been a 
public outpouring and interest in public service and volunteerism from 
citizens throughout this Nation.
  Public service and volunteerism provide the means through which 
Americans can give back to their communities while gaining the tools 
that they need to achieve their own goals. The Serve America Act will 
create a framework to help develop national service programs that will 
improve their communities and enrich the lives of all those who answer 
the call to serve.
  I am pleased to see that in this compromised version of the bill 
before us that we retain the competition provisions in the Senior Corps 
program. I'm also pleased this bill permits our Silver Scholars to 
transfer their education awards to their children, foster children or 
grandchildren. The Serve America Act contains important provisions that 
will help strengthen communities and provide real opportunities for 
Americans to serve in meaningful ways.
  I am proud of the focus that the bill places in providing 
opportunities for disadvantaged youth, strengthening mentoring 
programs, increasing service opportunities in cities and urban centers, 
vets and people with disabilities. Under the Serve America Act, 
volunteer and service opportunities are made available to people of all 
ages. This will give thousands of older Americans the opportunity to 
share their knowledge and skills for the benefit of their communities 
while offering young people guidance and support.
  I am proud that this bill contains an important focus on 
disadvantaged youth. By providing the right types of outlets, young 
people coming from difficult circumstances will have a chance to lift 
themselves up through service. The Serve America Act will build a 
national infrastructure for service and volunteerism and makes an 
historical investment in the way our service programs are administered.
  The bill focuses on building our national service participation while 
providing much-needed streamlining to reduce administrative burdens. 
This bill requires States to ensure outreach to local government such 
as cities and counties when preparing national service plans. Better 
outreach will result in being able to target program funds to where 
local folks think they need to go.
  I'm also pleased that this bill includes an investment in mentoring 
partnerships. I would like to thank Susan Davis for her hard work on 
this issue. Mr. Chairman, this is a good bill, and I certainly hope we 
can pass it.
  Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. I have no further requests for 
time at this time, and I yield back the balance of my time.
  Ms. MATSUI. Mr. Speaker, this reauthorization, the first in 15 years, 
takes programs and infrastructure that have touched so many lives and 
builds off its foundation to greatly increase the quality and improve 
the quantity and quality of service that we as a Nation work to 
provide.
  National service is a proven return on our investment. With this 
bill, we

[[Page H4141]]

will broaden those involved in service across the country, and in doing 
so, foster the value of civic engagement and duty that can change a 
life in a community.
  This bipartisan legislation is truly a win-win for all those involved 
and for our country. It makes excellent improvements in an already 
successful Corporation for National and Community Service. It improves 
access and support for organizations and grant applicants, and most 
importantly, reassures our valued servicemembers that Congress supports 
them and their work in our communities.
  I urge a ``yes'' vote on the previous question and on the rule.
  I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the previous question 
on the resolution.
  The previous question was ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the resolution.
  The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that 
the ayes appeared to have it.
  Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the 
yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further 
proceedings on this question will be postponed.

                          ____________________