Well...here we go.
The Senate on Thursday approved a major national service bill that triples the AmeriCorps program, despite concerns from some conservatives that it could allow politically charged groups to benefit from extra funding.
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.
As Fox News asks....volunteering...or indoctrination?
Seems to me a European leader in the late thirties and early forties of 1900 had an u=identical plan. What color will these uniforms be? What colors are preferred by community activists these days???
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