Political Quotes

“It is a real pleasure today to rise to join my colleague and good friend, the Senator from Maryland, in introducing legislation that will strengthen the Corporation for National Community Service, the AmeriCorps Program. I assure my colleagues the Strengthen AmeriCorps Act of 2003 is a bipartisan bill introduced with Senator Mikulski as ranking member, and the chair of the Appropriations Committee and members of the authorizing committee. The Senator from Maryland and I believe the bill will not only address some of the corporation's accounting problems but, more importantly, it will protect and expand volunteer service opportunities across the Nation. Many of my colleagues--I wouldn't be surprised if all of our colleagues--have heard from their constituents and the media in recent weeks about the potential cuts to the AmeriCorps Program. This bill addresses, to the best extent we can, those concerns--some have longstanding concerns about the management and financial problems of the corporation--by creating a budgeting mechanism that ensures the corporation has the funds needed to pay educational awards. Under this bill, the corporation would be able to enroll about 50,000 AmeriCorps members without the need for additional funds.”