Below is information designed to help you understand the legislative process, appreciate the multiple steps involved in securing funding for the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) and stay informed about the steps Congress and the Administration have taken regarding funding for CNCS.
Statement on H.R. 2055 from AnnMaura Connolly, President of Voices for National Service
“While we understand the difficult choices our nation’s policymakers face in a time of great economic turmoil, we are disappointed to see lawmakers scale back investment in Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) programs that provide cost-effective and innovative solutions to our nation’s challenges by leveraging private sector and public dollars to ensure Americans receive the services they require.
“In H.R. 2055, CNCS is slashed by $24.7 million, over 16% less than the White House budget request. We are grateful to our champions for working to ensure that national service programs will not face total elimination in this bill, but in the end American communities have still lost. In these difficult economic times, national service initiatives are providing the vital services Americans need and local communities can no longer afford like disaster response, educational support and enabling senior citizens to live independently rather than enter costly nursing homes.
“It is troubling to see lawmakers scale back funding for AmeriCorps, VISTA and the Social Innovation Fund. Applications to AmeriCorps have nearly tripled from 2008 to 2010 and continue to grow with 536,000 applications for only 80,000 spots in the last year. Meanwhile youth unemployment stands sky high at nearly 20%, and nonprofits, struggling to support families and communities affected by the economy, rely upon the effective, low-cost human capital provided by CNCS programs to meet the increased demand.
“America’s Governors should be troubled by the disinvestment in these programs and the network of state service commissions that ensure resources are directed where they are needed. We can’t afford to waste the energy and patriotism of Americans looking to serve at a time when the country needs them the most.
“We applaud the national champions who fought for national service, but encourage all policymakers to prioritize funding for CNCS. To do otherwise risks our nation’s health and economic recovery. We will continue the fight to show the great economic benefits to keeping pathways open for Americans to serve their country in the hopes that all of our leaders will recognize the value they provide.”
Statement on H.R. 2055 from AnnMaura Connolly, Save Service in America Campaign Director:
“While we understand the difficult choices our nation’s policymakers face in a time of great economic turmoil, we are disappointed to see lawmakers scale back investment in Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) programs that provide cost-effective and innovative solutions to our nation’s challenges by leveraging private sector and public dollars to ensure Americans receive the services they require.
“In H.R. 2055, CNCS is slashed by $24.7 million, over 16% less than the White House budget request. We are grateful to our champions for working to ensure that national service programs will not face total elimination in this bill, but in the end American communities have still lost. In these difficult economic times, national service initiatives are providing the vital services Americans need and local communities can no longer afford like disaster response, educational support and enabling senior citizens to live independently rather than enter costly nursing homes.
“It is troubling to see lawmakers scale back funding for AmeriCorps, VISTA and the Social Innovation Fund. Applications to AmeriCorps have nearly tripled from 2008 to 2010 and continue to grow with 536,000 applications for only 80,000 spots in the last year. Meanwhile youth unemployment stands sky high at nearly 20%, and nonprofits, struggling to support families and communities affected by the economy, rely upon the effective, low-cost human capital provided by CNCS programs to meet the increased demand.
“America’s Governors should be troubled by the disinvestment in these programs and the network of state service commissions that ensure resources are directed where they are needed. We can’t afford to waste the energy and patriotism of Americans looking to serve at a time when the country needs them the most.
“We applaud the national champions who fought for national service, but encourage all policymakers to prioritize funding for CNCS. To do otherwise risks our nation’s health and economic recovery. We will continue the fight to show the great economic benefits to keeping pathways open for Americans to serve their country in the hopes that all of our leaders will recognize the value they provide.”
On September 29, the House Appropriations Committee released the draft fiscal year 2012 Labor, Health and Human Services (LHHS) funding bill and the result is devastating for the Corporation for national and Community Service (CNCS). The proposed bill includes just $280 million for CNCS, only enough to support the National Senior Volunteer Programs and accommodate the “orderly elimination of other programs” at CNCS, including AmeriCorps, the Social Innovation Fund, the Volunteer Generation Fund and Learn & Serve America. The proposed funding for CNCS is nearly $800 million below FY 2011 levels and $1 billion below the President’s FY 2012 Budget Request. CNCS was funded at $1.08 billion in fiscal year 2011. The House bill dissolves the entire service enterprise, cuts over 100,000 jobs and eliminates the essential services that children, seniors, veterans and entire communities rely on.
On September 21, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved a fiscal year 2012 spending bill that includes $1.09 billion for the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), a funding level that essentially sustains most of the CNCS programs at the present year levels. The Senate legislation includes a $17 million increase for two accounts above the FY 2011 enacted level – $3 million in additional funds for National Civilian Community Corps and $14 million in additional funds for the National Service Trust. The Senate did not restore funding for Learn and Serve America, a program eliminated in fiscal year 2011. Before the program was cut by Congress, Learn and Serve America provided annual support for 3,000 service-learning programs that benefited 1.5 million young people.
- $98,876,000 for Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA)
- $207,883,000 for Senior Corps programs
- $49,900,000 for the Social Innovation Fund
- $3,992,000 is included for the Volunteer Generation Fund
- $347,360,000 for AmeriCorps State and National Grants
- $31,942,000 for AmeriCorps*NCCC
- $0.00 for Learn and Serve America
On August 2, 2011, Congress and the Administration reached an agreement on our nation’s deficit, averting the potential economic disaster that would have resulted from defaulting on our nation’s debt, but instructing Congress to cut $1 trillion dollars from discretionary programs in fiscal year 2012. The Budget Control Act of 2011 also established a 12-member bipartisan congressional committee – the so-called Super Committee – who must identify an additional $1.5 trillion dollars in cuts. The Super Committee’s plan must be prepared by November 23 and the full Congress must take an up or down vote on their proposal by December 23. While the Corporation for National and Community Service was not specifically mentioned in the debt deal, it is almost certain to be among the programs proposed for deep, devastating cuts that could impact all of the agency’s initiatives – including AmeriCorps, Senior Corps, the Social Innovation Fund, and the Volunteer Generation Fund.
In today’s economic realities, we must invest in programs that help create jobs, deliver results, and sustain our communities. We must focus on making federal investments that are leveraged with private support and power the effective organizations delivering results against the issues affecting our communities and our country. That is why now is the time to convince our nation’s policymakers that America’s children, veterans, families, and seniors cannot afford for cuts to be made to CNCS.
The 12 Members of the Super Committee include: Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC), Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-CA), Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI), Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI), Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX, Co-Chair), Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ), Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH), Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA), Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT), Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), and Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA, Co-Chair).
Seven months into fiscal year 2011, President Obama signed H.R. 1473, providing funding for all the agencies and programs of federal government for the remainder of the year. The legislation preserves the Corporation for National and Community Service, but cuts the agency budget by $74.6 million or 6%. This reduction in funding pulls back on promises made in the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act. The bill envisioned growing AmeriCorps to 115,000 members by 2011 and expanding service opportunities for individuals of all ages by establishing new and expanding existing initiatives for service-learning and seniors. Instead, the FY11 budget cuts withdraw direct and indirect support for 3,000 service-learning programs for one million young people and eliminates nearly 6,000 AmeriCorps positions.
Congress will now turn its attention from FY 2011 to FY 2012. President Obama provided Congress with his FY12 budget recommendation on February 14, requesting $1.26 billion for CNCS.
Both the House and the Senate approved H.R. 1473, the Department of Defense and Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, legislation to fund the agencies and programs of the federal government for the remainder of fiscal year 2011. In total, the continuing resolution provides $1.078 billion for the Corporation for National and Community Service and its programs, about 94% of the FY 2010 enacted level. This amount was further reduced by a 0.2% across-the-board rescission to all programs and activities. Total FY 2011 funding including the rescission is $1.076 billion, or about $339 million less than the President’s FY 2011 request. Reductions to CNCS programs included a $12.7 million cut to RSVP, a $23.2 million cut to AmeriCorps State and National, and a $39.5 million cut to Learn and Serve America, eliminating FY 2011 funding for the service-learning program.
Just hours before anticipated federal government shutdown, the White House and Congress arrived at a budget deal for fiscal year 2011. The compromise rejected many of the severe program cuts and policy riders proposed in H.R. 1, including the elimination of the Corporation for National and Community Service. However, the agreement still includes deep reductions in funding levels that will impact millions of Americans, and many cost-effective and high impact programs will suffer difficult cuts.
Congress passed another short-term continuing resolution (CR) that cuts $6 billion from current spending levels and funds the government through April 8. Along with avoiding a government shutdown, the new measure is designed to provide additional time for lawmakers to negotiate a spending deal for the remainder of the fiscal year, which ends on September 30. House and Senate leaders have begun talks to figure out how to fund the government for the rest of the fiscal year, but they have yet to agree on which areas of the federal budget should be targeted for cuts.
The Senate took two roll call votes on the House-passed and Senate Democratic-proposed spending bills to fund the federal government through the end of fiscal year 2011. Neither of the measures, which are roughly $50 billion apart in terms of overall funding levels, secured sufficient support to advance.
The federal government is presently operating under a short-term resolution that keeps the government agencies and programs funded through March 18th. As the next deadline nears, House and Senate leadership will resume high-level budget negotiations in hopes of drafting a FY11 budget bill that has enough support to pass both chambers and will end the current legislative stalemate.
Click here to learn how your Senators voted on H.R. 1 – legislation that eliminates the Corporation for National and Community Service.
Click here to learn how your Senators voted on the Democratic Alternative to H.R. 1 – legislation that sustains the Corporation for National and Community Service and its programs at FY10 levels.
The Senate Appropriations Committee has released a year-long Continuing Resolution to fund the government through the remainder of fiscal year 2011. The Senate bill is a Democratic Alternative to H.R. 1 that passed the House of Representatives on February 19th.
While the Senate package reduces spending $51 billion below the President’s budget request, it includes $51 billion more than the House-passed CR.
The Senate bill essentially funds the Corporation for National and Community Service at the same levels enacted by Congress for fiscal year 2010. The bill provides the agency and its programs with $1.17 billion, sustaining existing operations and increasing the value of the AmeriCorps Segal Education Award to match the maximum Pell Grant.
On March 2, Congress passed another fiscal year 2011 Continuing Resolution (CR) that will keep the government in operation through March 18, 2011. President Obama issued a statement indicating he will sign the two-week CR into law, but he implored lawmakers to work on a longer-term, bipartisan budget deal.
The short-term CR includes $4 billion worth of spending cuts, but continues to fund the Corporation for National and Community Service and its programs at fiscal year 2010 levels.
As reported on February 19, the House of Representatives has voted on a year-long spending package that cuts funding for the Corporation for National and Community Service and eliminates AmeriCorps, Learn & Serve, Foster Grandparents, Senior Companions and the other service programs. The Senate and the White House have rejected the deep cuts in the House package, and they are beginning to work with their House colleagues to seek common ground and try to draft legislation that will fund the government for the remainder of the year.
On February 19, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 1, a fiscal year 2011 continuing resolution that would fund the government through September 30. H.R. 1 included deep and devastating cuts across a wide swath of federal agencies and programs. Programs funded through the Labor-HHS-Education portion took the biggest hit under the bill. Among the many Labor-HHS program cuts, H.R. 1 eliminates the Corporation for National and Community Service and the programs it funds – AmeriCorps, Senior Corps, Learn & Serve America, VISTA, NCCC, the Volunteer Generation Fund and the Social Innovation Fund. This act will remove national service participants from community and faith-based organizations and will shutdown service delivery systems all across the country.
H.R. 1 passed the House by a vote of 235-189. Click here to learn how your Representative voted.
The federal government is presently operating under a Continuing Resolution (CR) that funds all government agencies and functions at fiscal year 2010 levels through March 4th. Congress must pass a new CR or an appropriations bill before March 4th or risk a government shutdown.
On February 14, President Obama sent his Fiscal Year 2012 budget request to Congress, including proposed funding for the Corporation for National and Community Service and its programs. The President’s requests $1.26 billion for CNCS, a $109 million increase over FY10 enacted levels.
As we have reported before, Congress is still wrestling with the FY11 budget for the federal government and has not reached an agreement on how to fund CNCS and all the other government functions for the remainder of this year. It is widely expected that Congress will reach a resolution on the tough decisions for FY11 before they turn their attention to the FY12 budget.
Highlights of the President’s FY 2012 budget include the following:
AmeriCorps: The FY12 request expands AmeriCorps by 5,000 funded positions, supporting roughly 90,000 corps members.
- $399.8 million for AmeriCorps State and National ($27 million above FY10)
- $35 million for AmeriCorps NCCC ($6 million above FY10)
- $100 million for AmeriCorps VISTA ($926,000 above FY10)
Social Innovation Fund: $70 million ($20 million above FY10)
Volunteer Generation Fund: $5 million ($1 million above FY10)
State Commission Administrative Grants: $17 million (no change from FY10)
Learn and Serve America: $39.5 million (no change from FY10)
Senior Corps: $226.1 million for the three Senior Corps programs
- $63 million for RSVP (no change from FY10)
- $111.1 million for the Foster Grandparent Program ($104,000 above FY10)
- $47 million for the Senior Companion Program ($96,000 above FY10)
- $5 million for a new Senior Corps Demonstration Project
The 112th Congress was sworn in on January 5. The previous Congress adjourned before completing work on the twelve annual appropriations bills that fund the federal government between October 1-September 30 of each year. During the interim period between October 1, 2010 and the beginning of the 112th Congress, the federal government has been funded through a series of Continuing Resolutions or CRs.
A CR is a stop-gap measure that can keep the government in operation until an appropriations bill can be passed. A CR generally provides funds for a short time and is used to avoid a government shut down. A CR may be repeated as needed.
The new 112th Congress is expected to quickly begin debate on the FY11 budget and will try to end the budget stalemate.