    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1995, Book II)]
    [September 12, 1995]
    [Pages 1346-1348]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on the First Anniversary of AmeriCorps and an Exchange With
    Reporters
    September 12, 1995

        The President. I am glad to be here today with Senator Pell,
    Congressman Reed, Congressman Kennedy, Eli Segal, Senator Wofford, and
    the remarkable representative group of leaders from the State of Rhode
    Island, including leaders of the majority of the institutions of higher
    education there; business leaders, Mr. Fish, Mr. Romney, thank you for
    coming from Massachusetts; and young AmeriCorps volunteers; and of
    course, Senator Wofford. And Nick Lowry has been a great supporter of
    AmeriCorps from its beginning.
        We are here to mark AmeriCorps' first year of accomplishment and to
    find ways to make it better in the second year when 25,000 Americans
    will be out serving their country and earning some money for their
    higher education.
        AmeriCorps members have helped children to do better in school.
    They've helped to close crack houses. They've helped communities team up
    with police to keep themselves safe. They've cleaned mountain trails and
    urban waterways. And from Oklahoma City to south Florida, from the banks
    of the Mississippi to the streets of Los Angeles, whenever our people
    were faced with disaster in these last couple of years, AmeriCorps
    members have been there to help.
        AmeriCorps has truly brought out the best in America. Behind this
    success is a partnership that cuts across every line and sector in our
    country, where young people and others who work in the communities,
    leaders in business, education, community service, and public service,
    work together to make lives better for ordinary Americans.
        AmeriCorps members help our Nation as they help themselves. They
    earn money to help pay for college. And of course, some colleges are
    going even further. The Rhode Island colleges and universities here
    represented and those who are not here will be matching AmeriCorps
    scholarships and college loan repayments. And I want to thank all of
    them.
        Meanwhile, CEO's like Mitt Romney of Bain Capital in Boston, have
    urged others to follow their examples of support for AmeriCorps
    participation. Foundations like the Ford Foundation, which has
    contributed $3 million as a challenge pool to community foundations,
    have also helped to stretch our Federal investment.

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        An investment in AmeriCorps goes far. A team of noted conservative
    economists found recently that every dollar of Federal money invested
    returns at least $1.60 to $2.60, and maybe even more, for the taxpayers
    in public benefits. And of course, that doesn't calculate the long-term
    benefit of the increased education of the young people who participate
    in AmeriCorps. AmeriCorps is about personal responsibility and
    community, about giving young people positive avenues to opportunity.
        Now, the majority in Congress threatens to cut college scholarships
    and college loans and AmeriCorps. But in AmeriCorps we have a program
    that lifts our values and solves our problems; it helps send civic-
    minded, hard-working young people to college. That's the kind of thing
    America should do to build up and not tear down.
        Tens of thousands of young Americans are lining up to serve their
    country in AmeriCorps. And I don't want Congress to close the door on
    them. I want the Republican majority to learn what the rest of our
    country now knows. Without regard to party, AmeriCorps works. If the
    congressional majority really wants to build more personal
    responsibility and expand opportunity only for those who are willing to
    help themselves, if they really want to rebuild a sense of community in
    America, then their principles and our common future should be put above
    politics. AmeriCorps should grow. It should not die.
        I want to reemphasize that it is not necessary to balance the budget
    to destroy AmeriCorps or even to cut it in half. It is absolutely not
    necessary. This is a good program, and I think we'll be around next year
    to celebrate the second anniversary and look toward the third year,
    thanks to people like all of you around this room. I thank you very,
    very much.
        Q. Mr. President, do you think that the Republicans want to end the
    program simply because it's so closely associated with you and because
    it has been one of your head programs?
        The President. I don't think they'd be that small. I think that
    would be an incredibly small thing to do. I don't think they'd be that
    small. You know, I don't speculate on people's motives. But I believe
    that some people in the Congress really don't believe that any spending
    program is as good as any tax cut. That's what I think. And I believe
    that any new thing that's been done--I happen to have been President the
    last 2 years--I think any new thing that's been done is in their mind an
    easy thing to eliminate if you want to balance the budget. But it is not
    necessary. We have given them a balanced budget plan. They don't have to
    cut this to balance the budget. This is a tiny, tiny budget item that
    does an enormous amount of good.
        Q.  They say that--[inaudible]--to the GAO report, I think, that's
    out now that shows that the amount of money that's actually spent per
    volunteer is a lot more than the $4,000 that the White House says----
        The President. Well, we have, you know, we have a lot of evidence
    that refutes that. I don't--and I'll be glad to give it to you; Mr.
    Segal can. But it's clear that this is an enormously popular program.
    The one thing the GAO didn't do is to consider all the people that are
    kicking into the program; they leverage the private money. And there's
    no calculation given to the extra economic benefit to the country from
    all these young people that are going on to school. But even on its own
    terms, I don't think it's right economically.
        This has been a good deal for America. And there's not a community--
    yesterday I was in Carbondale, Illinois, in the American heartland, a
    small town with a good-sized university, where the young AmeriCorps
    volunteers are working in the elementary school there. All these people
    are working people, and a phenomenal percentage of them are working poor
    people who live in this community. And they'd like to see their
    AmeriCorps volunteers stay. And they'd like to see them going on to
    school there. And I think we're going to give them the chance to do
    that.
        Q. Mr. President, how optimistic are you of keeping the program
    alive?
        The President. Very.
        Q. I mean, are you finding a consensus among other Members of
    Congress to keep it going?
        The President. First of all, there are a lot of Republicans that
    down deep in their heart want this program to live. And after all, we
    created this program with bipartisan support. I went out of my way in
    1993 to say that I did not want any educational initiative created if we
    didn't have bipartisan support for it. I did not want this to be a
    partisan issue. And I have not made it a partisan issue.
        And I just believe that we have to be more discriminating about what
    we eliminate. To go back to the question you asked, I honestly believe
    that, particularly in the House of Rep-

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    resentatives, there are 100 to 150 Members that I believe that, except
    for the national defense, any tax cut is better than any spending
    program. But I think that's wrong. And we don't have to--we do not have
    to eliminate this to balance the budget. And I think I'll be able to
    make that point as we get into these budget negotiations. And I think--I
    think the program will survive because it's a good, decent program, it's
    an effective program, and it has bipartisan support.

    Budget Debate

        Q. Are you willing to sign on to the Republican spending limits
    without accepting their priorities as a possible compromise on the
    budget?
        The President. Well, I don't know that that's a compromise. I have
    an alternative; they have an alternative. I picked up some kind of
    reading between the lines of some of the comments of the leadership and
    other prominent Members of Congress in the last couple of weeks, the
    possibility of some movement that might enable us to get together. I
    don't want a train wreck. I want a balanced budget in a fixed number of
    years that has great credibility in the marketplace, and I believe we'll
    get it. I'm very hopeful.
        Q. And will you sign a continuing resolution in the meantime?
        The President. Oh, I hope we'll get a good continuing resolution.
    That's quite important. It's important that we not just walk away from
    our responsibilities.
        Thank you.

    Note: The President spoke at 1:22 p.m. in the Cabinet Room at the White
    House. In his remarks, he referred to Larry Fish, chairman and chief
    executive officer, Citizens Financial Group, and New York Jets football
    player Nick Lowry. A tape was not available for verification of the
    content of these remarks.