Date: 1995-03-14
Speaker: GENE GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I rise today to talk about two programs. First this week we will be considering a rescission bill and the activities that I was involved in over the weekend. but also talk a little bit about the School Lunch Program. But first let me talk about the rqscission bill that Congress will be voting on this week. This last Saturday in Houston. I had the opportunity to. at 8 oclock in the morning. to go to our city hall in the city of Houston and see hundreds of young people and not so young people who were there at 8 oclock on a Saturday morning getting prepared to go out and work in the community. The rescission bill we are going to vote on this week will definitely cut part of the national service. the Americorps Program that serves Houston. and I have served Houston Program in Texas. We started with really no program last year and we have become such a great serving institution for the community. Let me talk about the Corporation for National Service on a nationwide basis and then bring it down to how it affects Houston: AmeriCorps. Learn and Serve.* and the Senior Corps. They work full or parttime in local organizations addressing community needs. We have 60 of them in Houston that serve Houston. 60 positions. I wanted more but we couldnt do it as a startup. 33.000 more with 1995 moneys and 47.000 more with 1996 moneys. but again. the rescission bill will cut us back. This would complete the contract that a bipartisan Congress made with our young people with the National and Community Service Fund Act of 1993. but we cannot do it if we pass the rescission bill this week with those cuts. Learn and Serve America. elementary and high school and college students participate in activities that address community needs and they enhance their own academic skills. Approximately 375.000 elementary and secondary school and college students participate. growing to over $588.000 if we had the 1996 funds. The Senior Corps. Americans 55 or older serve in local communities on a parttime basis and they provide. for example. modest stipends for foster grandparents. and I have received a lot of mail and phone calls this week from senior companions. 480.000 seniors participate today. and if we could take it out of the rescission bill. we would be able to increase that just a small amount to 510.000. The cuts in the Americorps is wrong and should not be because it is one of the best programs we have. If we are really going to reform welfare. we need to make sure we reform it by giving people that job experience and those jobs. Let me talk about another example of the Saturday I was with the Summer Jobs Program that is sponsored by Houston. works at the cooperative effort in a number of our local governments. We have 2.000 jobs in my district that are summer jobs that are part of that program. 6.000 in Harris County alone. And my concern. by the rescission bill that cuts those 6.000 jobs. we are going to lose out and three or four individuals who were there Saturday who were graduates of the Summer Jobs Program. We have a young lady. Marilena. who now works at a radio station in Houston who got her start in the Summer Jobs Program. Wilbert. who now is a supervisor for the city of Houston in waste water. got his start in a summer jobs program. Laquista is a young lady who made the news in Houston who got her start working at a summer jobs program and now is. supervising cleanup in our community for the city of Houston. Arti. who not only works in my office. but is also a student who got her start in the Summer Jobs Program. Too often we hear that the majority party now says that there is no benefit to these summer jobs program. but there is a benefit. and Saturday morning I had four people who were grad.uates who are now productive citizens today because of the Summer Jobs Program. And to cut out 2.000 young people in my own district or 6.000 in the county or thousands all over the United States for a 6week Summer Jobs Program is wrong because what we are doing is we are having some shortterm savings that provides for some shortterm tax relief. but in the long term. the American people in our country will lose the values of those talents of those young people whether it be in the Summer Jobs Program and productive citizens or whether it be in the Americorps and Serve Houston where we are losing not only their talents now in helping our community. but we are going to lose the experience they are getting now through Serve Houston and through Americorps for the future of our country. We cannot be penny wise and pound foolish and lose that effort right now. And that is my concern. that the Congress this week needs to make sure that we do not cut these programs out of the rescission package. We do not need to cut those programs now and say we are going to provide for additional tax cuts now and cut out those 2.000 young people in my own district who have a summer job for 6 weeks.