House Committee Recommends $150M increase for AmeriCorps Agency

On June 30, the House Appropriations Committee approved the FY23 Labor-HHS spending bill, a measure that would provide nearly $242.1 billion in discretionary spending to the Health and Human Services, Education, Labor and related agencies. The draft bill includes $1.3 billion for the AmeriCorps agency, $150 million or 13% more than FY22.  The House mark for AmeriCorps is $39 million below President Biden’s FY23 request.

The committee matched President Biden’s requested levels for nearly all AmeriCorps programs. But the House deviated from the White House budget blueprint for three accounts:

• AmeriCorps State and National — $56 million or 12% increase over FY22, $34 million less than President’s request
• Volunteer Generation Fund — level funding, $140,000 less than President’s request
• Salaries and Expenses — $21 million or 25% increase over FY22, $5 million less than President’s request

The House bill also recommends increasing the maximum Pell Grant to $7,395, a $500 increase from FY22.  If this were to pass, the maximum value of the AmeriCorps education award would be indexed to this new level in FY24. The bill also supports enhanced opportunities for more individuals to serve as AmeriCorps State and National members by expanding eligibility for education awards to individuals with DACA status.

Within the total for Operating Expenses, the Committee has directed AmeriCorps to spend $20 million to support service-learning activities, such as the Summer of Service and Semester of Service, two programs championed by House Appropriations Chair Rosa DeLauro (D-CT). The Committee also supports AmeriCorps’ goal of uniting Americans through national service and has directed the agency to spend $15 million for bridgebuilding activities, such as those modeled in H.R. 6843, the Building Civic Bridges Act.

Within the total for Salaries and Expenses, the Committee instructs AmeriCorps to spend $15 million to stand up a Civilian Climate Corps program in partnership with other Federal agencies.

You can click this link to read the House FY23 Labor-HHS bill, report and summary.

The House Labor-HHS bill now awaits floor consideration. While Chair DeLauro did not give any indication of when the chamber would take up the FY23 spending bills, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) has said the House is working to pass all 12 spending bills before the August recess.

AMERICORPS BUDGET