Chris Coons: “volunteerism and service have long defined the very heart of the American spirit. It was Alexis de Tocqueville, in the…”

“volunteerism and service have long defined the very heart of the American spirit. It was Alexis de Tocqueville, in the middle of the 19th century, at really the dawn of the modern American Republic, who observed that it was the willingness to take initiative, to get engaged, to roll up your sleeves and get to work helping to build your community that distinguished the people of this new continent from the Old World. And I will say I have seen it myself. I am here to celebrate the 30th anniversary of America's national service program, something called AmeriCorps. It was created in a bipartisan effort at the end of the George W. Bush administration and at the beginning of the Bill Clinton administration. There was a concerted bipartisan effort to recognize that models around the country that showed the impact on young Americans of spending a year of their lives in service to others were worth expanding and replicating. This week, actually, happens to be AmeriCorps Week--March 10 to March 16--and we are celebrating 30 years of service. I have just introduced a bipartisan and bicameral resolution with Senator Cassidy, Congresswoman Matsui, and Congressman Graves. And, as I mentioned, AmeriCorps has been bipartisan from the start, and I look forward to continuing its future in a bipartisan way.…”