Congress would be “smart” to fully fund hundreds of thousands of AmeriCorps volunteers authorized back in 2009, President Obama argued Friday at a 20th anniversary celebration of the service organization.
During his first months in office, Obama signed legislation championed by the late Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) that expanded AmeriCorps from 75,000 to 250,000 volunteers. But Congress has barely increased the budget for the program throughout Obama’s presidency, leaving the majority of those new slots unfunded.
{mosads}Flanked at the White House by former President Bill Clinton, who established the program during his first term, the current president said AmeriCorps shows “what service can do.”
“I would not be standing here, if it were not for the service of others and the purpose that service gave my own life,” Obama said. “Making a difference in other people’s lives made a difference in mine.”
Clinton also called on Congress to fund the expansion, asking lawmakers to “give us a chance to grow AmeriCorps some more.”
“For a thousand reasons, this is a wonderful investment in America’s future,” the former president said.
He said the program “remains one of the most important things I ever had a role in, in public service,” and touted the role that community service played in the life of his wife — former Secretary of State and 2016 Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton.
“We have lived this for a long time,” Clinton said, saying his wife “participated in all kinds of community service.”