Sam Farr: “about 15 percent of AmeriCorps members serve in faith-based institutions, and the number is growing. Mr. Chairman, it is…”

“about 15 percent of AmeriCorps members serve in faith-based institutions, and the number is growing. Mr. Chairman, it is time that we reclaim the bipartisan tradition and support national service that has long been the hallmark of American politics. Members of Congress now have an opportunity to separate policy from politics, to reach a bipartisan consensus on the value of AmeriCorps. I might add in closing, Mr. Speaker, this is an election year, and we have 62,000 AmeriCorps volunteers in the field. Each of those has two parents, 120,000 voters, and each has four grandparents; 240,000 people out there who have sons and daughters and relatives that are in the Peace Corps, including staff that are in this room right now whose daughters are serving in AmeriCorps. We have to get this re-funded. It is absurd that the Republican party has decided to zero out this in our budget.”