Bill Clinton: “You know, for people who are on this hookup who don't know what AmeriCorps is, we ought to say first what it is. It is a…”

“You know, for people who are on this hookup who don't know what AmeriCorps is, we ought to say first what it is. It is a national service program of local community efforts so that young people and sometimes not-so-young people of all ages can give a year and with the option of giving the second year of community service in an AmeriCorps-affiliated program. And we have community groups; we have church groups and other religious groups; we have all kinds of groups who are doing good things in their community. And in the process, they earn credit for college tuition. So many young people actually do it and use the funds they get from working in AmeriCorps over and above their living stipend to go on to school. And we've had 150,000 young Americans serve in 6 years. To give you some basis for comparison, it took the Peace Corps 20 years to get 100,000 volunteers. So AmeriCorps is changing America for the better. I believe it has broad bipartisan support and, therefore, I think future administrations will be able to continue to support it. I would like to see us get up to where we have at least 250,000 people a year in it, because I think you could get that many people who want to serve. But at least insofar as funding become available, I'd like to see it continue to expand. It's a wonderful, wonderful thing. [The discussion continued.]”