RKMBs Forums .::Important::. Politics and Current Events The Mandatory National Service Law

• * Government the right to require individuals to give 3 years service under the guise of “volunteer” service
  
  * It talks about uniforms and “camps.” They revise the word “camps” and call it “campus.” There is language about Seniors and Community organizations.
  
  * “leverage Federal investments to increase State, local, business, and philanthropic resources to address national and local challenges
  
  * encourage national service efforts to address pressing national challenges, such as improving education for low-income students, increasing energy conservation, and improving the health, well-being, and economic opportunities of the neediest individuals in the Nation;
  
  * expand and strengthen service-learning programs through year-round opportunities, including during the summer months, to improve the education of children and youth and to maximize the benefits of national and community service, in order to renew the ethic of civic responsibility and the spirit of community to children and youth throughout the United States;
  
  * increase service opportunities for our Nation's retiring professionals
  
  * encourage members of the Baby Boom generation to partake in service opportunities
  
  * Civilian Community Corps shall be called the "National Civilian Community Corps"
  
  * the Director determines appropriate "Uniforms"

• (6) Whether a workable, fair, and reasonable mandatory service requirement for all able young people could be developed, and how such a requirement could be implemented in a manner that would strengthen the social fabric of the Nation and overcome civic challenges by bringing together people from diverse economic, ethnic, and educational backgrounds.

Don't say you weren't warned.

• I support President Obama's bold approach for renewing America's economy.
  
  I will ask friends, family, and neighbors to pledge their support for this plan.

• The legislation would create 175,000 "new service opportunities" under AmeriCorps, bringing the number of participants in the national volunteer program to 250,000. It would also create additional "corps" to expand the reach of volunteerism into new sectors, including a Clean Energy Corps, Education Corps, Healthy Futures Corps and Veterans Service Corps, and it expands the National Civilian Community Corps to focus on additional areas like disaster relief and energy conservation.
  
  But the bill's opponents -- and there are only a few in Congress -- say it could cram ideology down the throats of young "volunteers," many of whom could be forced into service since the bill creates a "Congressional Commission on Civic Service."
  
  The bipartisan commission will be tasked with exploring a number of topics, including "whether a workable, fair and reasonable mandatory service requirement for all able young people could be developed and how such a requirement could be implemented in a manner that would strengthen the social fabric of the nation."
  
  Others say they are concerned that the increased funding will be used to promote one ideology over another.
  
  ...some critics on the right suggest that the president's push for national service goes too far, and the recent congressional steps toward expanding the federal role in volunteerism and "civilian service" smacks of a larger agenda. They point to a campaign speech the president made last July in which he suggested national security could be entrusted to a civilian force.
  
  "We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives we've set. We've got to have a civilian national security force that is just as powerful, just as strong, just as well funded," Obama, who worked as a community organizer in Chicago early in his career, said during a Colorado Springs rally.
  
  "This will empower more Americans to craft their own service agenda and make their own change from the bottom up," Obama said in the speech.
  
  "Senator Obama aims to tap into the already active volunteerism of millions of Americans and recruit them to become cogs in a gigantic government machine grinding out his social re-engineering agenda," Lee Cary of the conservative American Thinker wrote at the time about Obama's remarks.
  
  "(His words) were about turning America into one, giant, community organizer's sandbox at enormous cost to taxpayers," Cary wrote.
  
  The Senate is mulling over a similar piece of legislation, the "Serve America Act," sponsored by Sens. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Ted Kennedy, D-Mass. It was given a special endorsement by the president in his address before Congress on Feb. 24.

• The Senate voted 78-20 to increase AmeriCorps to 250,000 from its current 75,000 positions. The legislation is expected to cost $6 billion over five years.
  
  The House could take up the bill as early as Monday, sending it then to President Obama for his signature.
  
  The package, called the Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education Act, or GIVE Act, encourages a broad range of Americans to give back to their communities. It would create five groups to help poor people, improve education, encourage energy efficiency, strengthen access to health care and assist veterans.
  
  It had widespread support on both sides of the aisle, but a small group of vocal opponents say the bill not only spends too much but could increase funding for ideologically driven groups.
  
  U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., initially tacked on an amendment to the House bill allaying such fears -- it prohibited for-profit political and labor groups that engage in legislative advocacy from receiving certain assistance under the plan.
  
  But conservatives cried foul after Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., submitted a substitute bill in the Senate stripping a lot of those provisions.
  
  "If we take the restrictions away, there's nothing keeping them from funding these kinds of groups," said Foxx spokesman Aaron Groen.
  
  Supporters say the program will yield benefits across the board -- assisting veterans, rebuilding homes and getting students involved in service, among other positives.
  
  Mikulski aide Rachel MacKnight said changes were made to the Senate version of the bill to earn "bipartisan support."
  
  But some conservative opponents are still not on board, saying the bill will allow taxpayer money to fund left-wing groups.
  
  Americans for Limited Government objected after the language in the Foxx amendment was taken out.
  
  "This is a bad deal for taxpayers, and there will be no way to enforce any prohibitions on the use of the funds once the money is in the coffers of the political organizations," ALG President Bill Wilson said in a written statement.
  
  The replacement language still prohibits participants from lobbying or organizing protests or engaging in other political activity. But ALG argued that government money could still end up funding those activities, since taxpayer funding could free up money elsewhere in the budget for political activities.
  
  Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., and Sen. David Vitter, R-La, tried to submit an amendment this week restoring the provisions Foxx had sought, but the move was tabled.
  
  DeMint spokesman Wesley Denton said the program is an example of "good intentions gone bad."