Legislative Update: The GIVE Act, SoS, and CEC

(Innovations In Civic Participation)

Over the past two years, ICP has developed a proposal for a national Summer of Service (SOS) program to help communities create positive alternatives for young teens during their summer vacation. In the summer months, the lack of constructive activities and opportunities for young people often results in increased rates of academic decline, risky behavior, and school drop-outs. However, young people participating in service activities are better able to lead positive lives, avoid risky behaviors, strengthen community connections, and engage more fully in education. When service is tied to what students are learning in school, young people make gains on achievement tests, complete their homework more often, and increase their grade point average. Students who engage in service also improve communication skills, increase their awareness of career possibilities, and develop more positive workplace attitudes.

The SOS program would enable a large number of young teens to participate in service as a “rite of passage” from middle to high school and provide opportunities for them to enter their teenage years with a positive experience that reinforces their connections to the community, enlivens their education, and strengthens their personal and civic values.  At the same time, communities across America will discover an important new resource in their own backyards – young people who are ready to serve if only asked and provided the opportunity to do so.

The SOS concept is of a national, universally available program that builds on the existing infrastructure of service and youth programs. These community-based programs would receive funding to engage young teens in structured, goal-oriented community service during the summer. Participating agencies would agree to adhere to certain goals, standards, and practices to ensure that both the enrollees and the community receive concrete benefits from the program. The program would be sustained through federal and private grants.

Towards a National Program

In 2005, ICP published a report entitled “Summer of Service: A New American Rite of Passage?” that provided the conceptual framework for a national SOS program and profiled several existing programs that have been positively evaluated. 2007 was another exciting year for Summer of Service as ICP worked with Senators Dodd (D-CT) and Cochran (R-MS) and Rep. DeLauro (D-CT) to craft the Summer of Service Act of 2007, which was introduced in Congress on April 17^th 2007. The legislation would authorize $100 million annually in funding for community organizations around the country to run summer programs for middle school students. In late 2007 the Summer of Service concept was also included in H.R.2857, the Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education (GIVE) Act, which reauthorizes the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) along with its three main programs: Americorps, Learn and Serve America and Senior Corps. The inclusion of Summer of Service in the GIVE Act is a significant achievement and has drawn even more attention to the potential of Summer of Service as a national rite of passage.

Recent weeks have seen a flurry of legislative activity related to national service since the GIVE Act was brought to the House floor for a vote.  On March 3^rd, the House leadership reserved floor time to consider the bill and allow members to offer amendments. On March 6^th, Congress spent more than four hours debating H.R. 2857. During the debate, several amendments to the bill were approved by voice vote and the House conducted roll call votes on amendments filed by Rep. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) and by Reps. Jay Inslee (D-WA) and John Sarbanes (D-MD). The Flake amendment, which was defeated, sought to strike funding for the Summer of Service. The Inslee/Sarbanes amendment sought to establish an Energy Conservation Corps and was approved by a recorded vote of 252 to 161. In addition to Summer of Service, ICP has supported efforts to create a national service program to address climate change. Thus we were pleased to have contributed to both the approval of the Inslee/Sarbanes Amendment and the defeat of the Flake Amendment. 

The amendment to include an Energy Conservation Corps was supported by a broad coalition of energy conservation, youth service, and environmental justice organizations. As a part of this coalition, ICP has supported the call for a national Clean Energy Corps (CEC) that would vastly expand green collar job opportunities for the working class and poor, expand green service opportunities for all citizens to combat global warming, and demonstrate the promise of a clean energy future. CEC members would engage in a wide range of useful work to reduce national greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, with a particular emphasis on improving energy efficiency in neglected communities. The Energy Conservation Corps amendment would authorize a pilot program to demonstrate the efficacy of this new and innovative stream of national service.

However, before a vote was held on the GIVE Act, the debate ended when a “Motion to Recommit” forced George Miller, Chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, to pull the bill off the floor. A “Motion to Recommit” is a parliamentary procedure reserved by tradition for the Minority party. If exercised, the motion can recommit the bill to the committee of origin and prevent a final vote on passage. In order to circumvent the “Motion to Recommit,” the Act was brought back to the floor of the House on March 11^th "under suspension of the rules" as a new bill (H.R. 5563) which incorporated the amendments passed to H.R. 2857. The purpose of considering bills “under suspension” is to dispose of non- controversial measures expeditiously. However, on March 12^th, when H.R. 5563 was again given consideration on the floor, it was defeated by a recorded vote of 277 - 140. Since the Act was considered under suspension, the legislation needed a two-thirds majority to pass. Disappointingly, the bill fell one vote short of meeting the required margin.

Despite this setback, ICP is grateful for the 277 members who voted in favor of the GIVE Act and demonstrated their commitment to national service. ICP would also like to recognize the hard work of Chairman George Miller (D-CA), Representative Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY), Representative Todd Platts (R-PA), and the leadership of the National Service Congressional Caucus for their commitment to reauthorizing the national service programs.