December 8, 2003

AmeriCorps is slated to receive $444 million in the final version of the FY 2004 budget for the federal government in the omnibus package. This is the largest budget in the history of the program with the $200 million increase over the FY 2003 spending level, $100 million larger than in either the Senate or House versions of the VA-HUD appropriations bill (H.R. 2861). The increase will allow for the 50 percent increase in volunteers to 75,000 that President Bush called for in his State of the Union address. Appropriators allocated the additional funding from unspent Section 8 housing money.

The Corporation for National Service, which oversees AmeriCorps, has had a problem over the past year with mismanagement of funding, which resulted in Congress not providing additional funding for AmeriCorps in prior supplemental packages that were passed. As a result of the lack of additional funding AmeriCorps was unable to fund as many as 20,000 of the 50,000 positions this year. Local programs and AmeriCorps advocates staged 100 hours of speeches in September to pressure Congress, and particularly President Bush, for more money and support for one of the country's largest community service programs.

Volunteers in this program are able to meet critical needs of every day in America: tutoring children, restoring green spaces, assisting the elderly, building affordable housing, and, most recently, helping with homeland security. As a result of their hard work and dedication, AmeriCorps volunteers are making a difference across the country and due to the additional funding from Congress they will be able to continue doing so every day.