This op-ed was originally published on Newsweek.com on July 26, 2024.
—
By David Price and David Drier, former United States Congressmen
As millions of Americans emerge from the damage and devastation inflicted by Hurricane Beryl, which lashed the Texas Gulf Coast this month with terrifying winds and torrential rains, Congress is considering gutting one of the country’s most effective tools in its natural disaster response kit: national service.
The proposed cuts to AmeriCorps, the national service program that mobilizes tens of thousands of patriotic Americans annually in full-time service to the nation, defy logic and responsible federal budgeting. And we would know—we helped plan dozens of complex spending blueprints as members of the House of Representatives.
As lawmakers of rival parties, we often disagreed on whether and how much the federal government should fund a particular program. But there was never any debate between us on national service. Because there are no good arguments against it.
Over the last three decades, AmeriCorps members have devoted nearly 20 million back-breaking hours of full-time national service to communities affected by hundreds of federally declared and local disasters in all 50 states and territories. After Hurricane Katrina, AmeriCorps members immediately deployed with community and faith-based organizations to run shelters and food banks, clear debris, and repair or rebuild thousands of homes. When the towers collapsed in the September 11 terrorist attacks, AmeriCorps members were among the first to answer the call to serve by providing emergency assistance to the injured and serving as caseworkers to desperate family members searching for loved ones. When fires engulfed Maui; when tornadoes razed Joplin; when waters swallowed the Jersey Shore—AmeriCorps was there. AmeriCorps is always there when America needs it.
But that requires funding.
As congressional budgets go, national service is a fly in an Olympic-sized pool. Despite its nominal appropriation, AmeriCorps punches above its weight because of its unique public-private partnership model. Congress established the program by matching private charitable funds with federal dollars to deploy human capital to communities that need it most. Unlike other federal programs, individual states decide how and where to use this funding. This model—which places AmeriCorps members in community and faith-based organizations like Teach for America, Habitat for Humanity, and FoodCorps—means most Americans have interacted with national service members in their communities and might not even realize it.
By careful design, national service is an inherently financially responsible model that maximizes federal investment, and its impact is also hugely measurable. Because national service programs are varied and at the states’ discretion, they touch everything from veteran services and reintegration to supporting students and expanding economic opportunity. Economists have calculated that every federal dollar invested in national service provides more than $17 in benefits to society, program members, and the federal government.
But what makes national service truly shine is the patriotism of those Americans who enlist. Like their counterparts in the military, these recruits are eager to serve. AmeriCorps makes that opportunity real. The young Americans who step up to serve their country should be celebrated and empowered, not shown the door as these short-sighted funding cuts would do.
Lawmakers can and should vigorously debate the merits of every tax dollar they spend. We did it for four decades as a Republican and Democrat with competing philosophies. But as differently as we may approach some issues and the role of government, there is no daylight between us on national service.
There will be other fires and other storms just as sure as the sun rises tomorrow, and our states and communities will need the talents and toil of national service members to come through stronger. Congress should fund AmeriCorps to fund a stronger America.
David Price, a Democrat from North Carolina, and David Dreier, a Republican from California, served in the U.S. House of Representatives.
The views expressed in this article are the writers’ own.