Rewarding Service Pays Off For Nation
The GI Bill cost a bundle. A budget buster with no prospect of immediate payback. But history shows that the GI Bill stoked the boilers of the nation’s economy.
Congressional Republicans should review the parallels between the successful GI Bill and the fledgling AmeriCorps program they are planning to kill.
Within a few years after GI Bill veterans took their diplomas into the work force, Great Depression despair and World War II shortages blossomed into an era of unparalleled economic prosperity. Thousands upon thousands of veterans earned the education needed to achieve personal success. They purchased homes, provided for their families and set an example for their children.
GI Bill veterans formed the backbone of America’s managerial forces. They flourished as entrepreneurs. They became community leaders.
Even the strongest supporters of the original GI Bill did not anticipate the longterm economic benefits this spending bill would generate. In large measure, it was considered an expensive gesture meant to give something back to the men and women in uniform who gave so much for their nation.
President Clinton, who successfully avoided wearing a uniform in service to his nation, recognized the national benefits that came out of the GI Bill of Rights. Clinton wanted to start a non-military program that accomplished the same results.
His timing was good. The military draft had ended. Young people needed jobs. They also needed a sense of responsibility to their fellow citizens, community and their nation - an important intangible lost with the end of the draft. And a lot of work needed to be done on the nation’s crumbling infrastructure and deteriorating inner cities.
Clinton proposed a national service plan for young people. He described it as a “domestic GI Bill, a domestic Peace Corps.” It was an excellent idea that passed without much difficulty in both the House and Senate, back in 1993 when Democrats controlled Congress.
It is called the National and Community Service Trust Act. Clinton signed the legislation on Sept. 21, 1993. The national service program, or AmeriCorps, was the first major new program proposed by Clinton that was signed into law. It authorized $1.5 billion in federal spending over three years. The program provides young Americans with grants of $4,725 a year, up to two years, to pay for college or technical training in return for work in community service.
AmeriCorps participants earn their awards by successfully working in programs administered at the state level through non-profit organizations, state and federal agencies, colleges and universities or various other authorized groups. Participants would have to complete 1,700 hours of public service in a year.
AmeriCorps benefits the participants, of course, but it also favors local initiatives that devise local solutions to local problems.
GOP opposition described the program as new government spending not offset with corresponding budget cuts. It’s too expensive, said critics. Better to simply give the money to young Americans through existing Pell grants for college.
Now that the Republicans control Congress, AmeriCorps is back on the table. Killing the program would strip Clinton of his first major program signed into law. It would be a devastating political defeat, particularly since Clinton has identified AmeriCorps as his proudest achievement.
In the short run, killing 1-year-old AmeriCorps would be a great political victory for the Republicans. But the Republicans should consider the longterm benefits of the GI Bill before they kill a program that hasn’t been given a chance to work.
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