Date: 2008-03-06
Speaker: LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

I would like to thank my friend. the gentlewoman from California . for the time and I yield myself such time as I may consume. In a world often plagued by selfishness. those who commit themselves to the service of others through volunteerism really serve as a beacon of compassion and hope for all. Community service is one of the most gratifying. rewarding. fulfilling ways people can give back to their communities. Community- service has always been a vital pillar of our society. Volunteers all over the Nation dedicate millions of hours to their contemporaries. all in the hope of making peoples lives better. Through their selfless work and tireless effort. volunteers help improve the lives of millions of Americans. In 1993. Congress. with my support. passed legislation creating AmeriCorps and the Corporation for National and Community Service to administer and coordinate Federal community service programs. Since then. almost 500.000 Americans have served with thousands of nonprofit organizations. public agencies. and faithbased organizations nationwide. These citizens tutor and mentor children. they coordinate afterschool programs. they build homes for the needy. they conduct neighborhood patrols. restore the environment. respond to disasters. build nonprofit capacity. recruit and manage volunteers. They do. oftentimes. exemplary work. The underlying legislation. Madam Speaker. H.R. 2857. the Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education Act. known as the GIVE Act. will reauthorize the national service programs administered by the Cooperation for National Community Service. This reauthorization will help increase the number of volunteers in AmeriCorps to over 100.000 by 2012. It will also create service opportunities for middle school and high school students through the Summer of Service -program. The legislation emphasizes the critical role of service in meeting the national priorities of emergency and disaster preparedness. I do believe it will help. improve program integrity. I am pleased that the committee. the Committee on Education and Labor. worked in a bipartisan manner to reauthorize this program and to include provisions that will make these programs more effective and efficient. responding to State and local needs. and performanceoriented. It goes to show. Madam Speaker. that when we are willing to work together and negotiate. we can bring forth good pieces of legislation with bipartisan support. Now. I know the majority is trumpeting this rule with which we bring this underlying legislation to the floor because it will allow Members to debate all the amendments to the Rules Committee. But I remind my colleagues. Madam Speaker. the majority does this only when the underlying legislation is noncontroversial. even though the majority promised to be the most open Congress in history. If the majority is so proud of this rule. it should allow open rules on controversial bills as well. In closing. Madam Speaker. I urge Americans everywhere. regardless of whether they take part in a AmeriCorps. to volunteer and give back to their communities. The rewards are extraordinary to both the volunteer and to the community. As Winston Churchill said. "We make a. living by what we do. but we make a life by what we give." Madam Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.