David Price: “once again we are considering a supplemental appropriations bill that ignores the crisis affecting many of our community…”

“once again we are considering a supplemental appropriations bill that ignores the crisis affecting many of our community service organizations around the country. Before the August recess, this House, at the insistence of the Republican leadership, sent the other body a take-it-or-leave-it supplemental package that omitted the $100 million the other body proposed for AmeriCorps. That omission, unfortunately, remains in this conference report. Failing to provide this funding will deny hundreds of faith-based and community-based organizations around the country many of the AmeriCorps positions they depend on. We are talking about groups like Habitat for Humanity, Teach for America, and hundreds of homegrown programs in the districts of everyone here that make a difference every day. For some organizations that depend on AmeriCorps, unfortunately, the damage is already done. But for others, an infusion of funding to support additional volunteers could still make a difference between the elimination or weakening of a program and sustaining and building their efforts to support our communities. Without this funding, AmeriCorps will see its numbers reduced by something like 40 percent overall to around 30,000 participants. Every Member, Mr. Speaker, of the legislative branch appropriations subcommittee in the other body favored this funding for AmeriCorps.”