More On (Moron?) Involuntary Servitude

By ANN SANNER The Associated Press
Monday, March 23, 2009; 7:24 PM

WASHINGTON -- The Senate agreed Monday to take up legislation to triple the size of the AmeriCorps program and open up opportunities for more people to serve their communities.

Lawmakers voted 74-14 to move to the legislation that would expand AmeriCorps from its current 75,000 positions to 250,000 over the course of eight years. Sixty votes were needed to bring the bill to the floor. The measure is expected to come up for a final vote in the Senate sometime this week.

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., who is being treated for brain cancer, made a rare appearance on the Senate floor to vote for the bill that he co-sponsored with Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. Kennedy's office said he is expected to be on Capitol Hill until Congress goes on recess April 4.

The legislation would also create five groups to help poor people, improve education, encourage energy efficiency, strengthen access to health care and assist veterans.

Sen. Barbara Mikulski, a Maryland Democrat, said the proposal is an investment that "will pay dividends long beyond anything that we can imagine."

The House last week passed a similar bill to add 175,000 participants to AmeriCorps and other national service programs. President Barack Obama backs the legislation and has said he is eager for Congress to pass a bill so he can sign it.

Both bills would set up a fund to help nonprofit organizations recruit more volunteers and establish a Summer of Service program for middle and high school students, who would earn a $500 education award. Each measure would also create fellowships for older people who get involved in public service. Both would also increase the education awards of AmeriCorps participants, whose work ranges from teaching young people to responding to disasters.

After completing their service, AmeriCorps participants can receive up to $4,725 to help pay for college or pay off student loans. The Senate and House bills would increase that award to $5,350 and require that it match any future increases in Pell Grant scholarships. Unlike the House bill, the Senate version would allow older AmeriCorps members to transfer their education awards to their children or grandchildren.

Some AmeriCorps participants get a living stipend while they are working for 10 to 12 months. The stipend ranges from $11,400 to $22,800 for the year. Most participants, who are predominantly 18 to 26, get $11,800.

The Senate measure is slated to cost $5.7 billion over five years, while the House version is an estimated $6 billion over five years. Obama's proposed budget for next year calls for more than $1.1 billion for national service programs, an increase of more than $210 million.

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The House bill is H.R. 1388.

The Senate bill is S.277.

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On the Net:

Congress:http://www.thomas.loc.gov

AmeriCorps:http://www.americorps.org

From the email:

Concerned Citizens,

A bill that would require 18-21 year olds to "volunteer". Isn't that called a Draft?

Do you love your children and grandchildren? Of course you do. Well, how would you like it if these children were forced to enter a camp at age 18, run by Michelle Obama and other government enforcers, and forced to be trained to be a "volunteer" until age 21? How would you, yourself like to look forward to retiring and devoting your time to some volunteer service of your own choosing only to be forced to enter the same kind of government camp for seniors? Does this sound suspicious to you? Me too. Especially when I learned that just such a bill has already quickly passed the House of Representatives and is scheduled to be voted on as early as next week by the Senate - with or without going to conference as is the usual protocol when it passes out of committee. This is another rush-rush effort just like the last stimulus bill was rushed to a vote before anyone had a chance to read the whole thing and really discern what was included in the bill.

This effort was called the GIVE ACT in the House which has already passed. In the Senate, it's called the SERVE ACT (#277). Besides the fact that it is a bill that would require every 18-21 year old, male and female to attend a camp and "volunteer" to be trained and taught a government-sponsored ideology, the fact that it is being rushed through the legislature and not reported on by the media, makes me extremely suspicious What's the rush and why the silence? What is in these bills that they don't want us to know about? In addition, does it make sense to spend $75 million or more a year to put our young people in camp when we're in the middle of hard economic times?

Check it out. See what you can find out. But, in the meantime, since they are trying to rush this into law before you have a chance to investigate, call your Senators and tell them to vote, "No" on Senate bill #277, telling them that you object to this bill. The people I know who have already done so have received surprised responses that they even know about the bill.

Let us BURN THE PHONES LINES tomorrow to call our Senators to demand that they NOT vote on S. 277: The Serve Act, when it reaches the floor of the Senate next week. Then, please call all your friends and ask them to do the same; then to call their friends.

When calling Congress, it is best to keep your comments short, like this:

“I am calling to ask Senator _____ to vote NO on a bill that is due to reach the Senate floor next week. The name of this bill is The Serve Act and its number is S. 277.” That’s all you have to say; staffers are BUSY and will not ask you WHY you are stating this.

But you and I BOTH KNOW the reason: This bill is DANGEROUS for our youth, and now also for our seniors. It is not “voluntary” but “mandatory” and we want nothing to do with it!

Here is the news from the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee on this new bill:

http://help.senategov/Maj_press/2009_03_18.pdf

It DOES say that “retirees” can be called into service, too!!

Here is the article on Fox News about the GIVE ACT – the House version that did pass yesterday, 3/18:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/03/18/house-readies-passage-volunteerism-critics-pricey-forced-service/

Note that SOME House members ARE concerned about the ramifications of this bill on the young.

Finally, here is an article from our friends in CANADA that “spills the beans” on the REAL AGENDA behind these two bills:

http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/9374

Remember the regulation the Department of Defense made last week that would limit ammunition sales and drive the price up as well as create hundreds of lost jobs? It was announced on talk radio last Sunday and both ammunition makers and pro-gun sales people pounced on it, making phone calls, sending faxes, meeting with the proper people and it's now been shelved - in less than a week's time from the announcement. We need the same kind of quick action on the SERVE ACT.

Does Hitler Youth ring a bell?

But whoever causes the downfall of one of these little ones who believe in Me - it would be better for him if a heavy millstone were hung around his neck and he were drowned in the depths of the sea!" (Matthew 18:6) HCSB

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