Association of Leaders in Volunteer Engagement News
From Our Colleagues at America's Service Commissions: Congress Recommends Strong and Continued Funding for National Service, Commissions in FYI 2019 Approriations
Congress Recommends Strong and Continued Funding for National Service, Commissions in FY 2019 Appropriations
It's been an extremely busy and productive summer for the Senate and House Appropriations Committees, both of which have now completed the process of "marking up" the FY 2019 appropriations spending bills for the coming year.
We at America’s Service Commissions (ASC) and the States for Service (S4S) Coalition are happy to report that both Senate and House Appropriators have rejected the previously proposed budget cuts to the Corporation for National and Communtiy Service (CNCS) and its programs. Instead, both committees have recommended restored and continued funding for AmeriCorps, Senior Corps, the Volunteer Generation Fund and state service commissions. Both committees have recommended that CNCS retain its annual budget of just over $1 billion.
Even more exciting, the Senate bill proposes to expand AmeriCorps funding by an additional $3 million, the highest funding amount in its history. The Senate also included important language supporting the expansion of Fixed Amount Grants to reduce unnecessary administrative burdens on current and potential AmeriCorps programs.
All of this news is extremely positive for the entire service sector -- despite the fact that Congress has been working with the same amount of overall funding as last year and had to make offsets to increase funding for NIH and other critical but competing priorities.
A big thank you to Congressional Appropriators for their unwavering support as well as the entire state commission network, States for Service Coalition, and our partners at Voices for National Service and Service Year Alliance for all of the collective, continued outreach to make this outcome possible.
ASC would also like to extend special gratitude to the 520 Commissioners representing 46 states/territories who sent a powerful Commissioner Letter to the Labor-HHS Subcommittee about the impact and effectiveness of national service in advance of the FY 2019 mark-up hearings.
With the new fiscal year beginning on October 1, much work will need to be done in a short span of time to complete the appropriations process in time. If not completed, there will most likely be a Continuing Resolution that provides short term funding to allow Congress to complete action on appropriations bills. Nonetheless, this strong funding mark coupled with the AmeriCorps increase in the Senate mark puts CNCS funding in a strong position as the FY 2019 appropriations process moves forward.
Read more about the House Appropriations mark-ups >>
Read more about the Senate Appropriations mark-ups>>
For more information, visit www.statecommissions.org
