Grace Napolitano: “I rise to address this amendment, Mr. Chairman. I thank my cochairman, Mr. McKinley, on the National Guard ChalleNGe…”

“I rise to address this amendment, Mr. Chairman. I thank my cochairman, Mr. McKinley, on the National Guard ChalleNGe Program. {time} 1630 Thank you for your great help in the outreach to all of our Members of Congress. We have been working in a bipartisan manner to help our Nation's throwaway children, those who have fallen through the cracks. For 2015, Defense Appropriations will fund the program at $114 million. The current funding is $135 million, so it would be short. This amendment increases by, as he mentioned, $21 million to have the same funding as 2014, increasing it to the same level of $135 million. It would prevent cuts to critical programs that are helping our youth integrate back into society. It reduces the budget line in operation and maintenance by the same amount. It is critical for hundreds of our young people who drop out yearly to have an opportunity to be accepted into the program. The ChalleNGe Program has already educated 120,000 young people nationally. It also is a volunteer program free for 16- to 18-year-olds at no cost to the child or the family; 22\1/2\-week residential boot camp-like program led by the State's National Guard cadre; prepares them, educates them, instills discipline, builds employment potential, and returns them to school. The 2012 RAND Corporation study finds that for every dollar spent, in return is $2.66, a yield of 166 percent return on investment--the best youth program in the Nation.…”