Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, plan on Friday to introduce the Serve America Act, a sweeping bill eight months in the making that would try to attract 175,000 new volunteers in the next five years.
The bill has the backing of both major presidential candidates. Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain are both co-sponsors. They appeared separately Thursday at a New York conference on community service to tout the need for Americans "to serve causes greater than their own self-interest."
Hatch said the idea behind the bill comes directly from his faith. As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Hatch served a two-year religious mission in the Great Lakes states.
"Like many from our state, I served an LDS Mission as a young man and was forever changed by the experience, not only because it increased my faith, but because it allowed me to be involved in a cause bigger than myself," Hatch told The Salt Lake Tribune. "Since then, I've always believed that everyone should devote significant time during the course of their lives to serving other people, even if it can't be a consecutive two-year period."
Hatch pushed the bill in a speech at the New York service conference this morning and plans to return to Washington to formally introduce the bill later today. Kennedy, who continues to receive treatment for a malignant brain tumor, does not plan to attend.
The bill, which is essentially an expansion of the AmeriCorps program, would provide $5 billion over five years to help nonprofits, community organizations and faith-based programs create volunteer opportunities in five areas, or five new and distinct "corps."
They include:
* Education: focusing on mentoring and reducing the high school drop out rate.
* Health: helping poor people enroll in health care programs and providing transportation for the sick and elderly.
* Energy: helping make the homes of low-income Americans more energy efficient.
* Jobs: teaching the unemployed new skills, providing financial literary programs and building new homes.
* Emergency response: having experienced volunteers on-call to help out in the case of a disaster.
"Empowering people and encouraging private organizations to do this kind of work will mean that, in the long run, the government will have to do less in these areas," Hatch said.
Most of the money would go to state service commissions or multi-state nonprofits, who would then provide grants to smaller groups. Any nonprofits securing funding would have to match the money, dollar for dollar.
Participants could serve full-time or part-time and would receive modest pay and an educational stipend.
While the bill is targeted at college-aged people, 10 percent of the money would be set aside for programs where the majority of volunteers are at least 50 years old.
The Kennedy-Hatch bill would also encourage volunteers to create their own programs, allowing them to apply for "fellowships," which would include some funding.
Hatch said they decided to release the bill only weeks away from the end of the session to start the discussion, though he knows it would probably not face serious consideration until a new president is elected.
