Sam Farr: “I rise on a very sad note. It was a note that was just read by the Clerk, that the majority of that party in this House…”

“I rise on a very sad note. It was a note that was just read by the Clerk, that the majority of that party in this House wants to strike all of the funding for the Corporation for National Service. We have funded, fully funded, an all voluntary military. We have partially funded, and I applaud that, funding for the Peace Corps. But when it gets to supporting our own, ensuring our own domestic tranquility and taking a program that is one of America's most successful, the American Corporation for National Service, or AmeriCorps, we cut the funding to zero. The time I think has come for Congress to realize the lasting contribution that volunteerism has given to America by fully funding the national service programs. This includes AmeriCorps, the National Senior Service Corps, the Service Learning Programs. I know the chairman of the subcommittee, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Walsh), cares about this because he served in the Peace Corps at the same time I did, and we know the value of service.”