The Red and the Blue

On Monday, the Senate voted 72-14 to move ahead on the National Service Corps bill, known as GIVE – The Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education Act (sometimes I think Congressional staff have too much fun with the acronyms).

According to opencongress.org, GIVE “would dramatically increase funding for AmeriCorps and other volunteer programs, including those for seniors and veterans. It also establishes a goal of expanding from 75,000 government-supported volunteers to 250,000, and would increase education funding and establish a summer service program for students, paying $500 (which would be applied to college costs) to high-school and middle-school student who participate.”

To be clear, the Senate has not passed the bill yet, but this procedural passage is a great sign that it will eventually become law. GIVE is a bipartisan-supported bill sponsored in part by Republican Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah, although all 14 opponents of the bill were Republicans as well—I’m beginning to think the “No” button on Sam Brownback’s desk might be malfunctioning. Read more…

Uncategorized GIVE Act, Volunteer