U.S. Congress - H.R.1388 GIVE Act
H.R.1388 - GIVE Act
A bill entitled "The Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, an Act to reauthorize and reform the national service laws." view all titles (14)
All Bill Titles
- Short: Serve America Act as enacted.
- Short: Serve America Act as passed senate.
- Popular: The Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act as introduced.
- Short: GIVE Act as passed house.
- Short: Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education Act as passed house.
- Short: Congressional Commission on Civic Service Act as reported to house.
- Short: GIVE Act as reported to house.
- Short: Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education Act as reported to house.
- Official: A bill entitled "The Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, an Act to reauthorize and reform the national service laws." as amended by senate.
- Short: GIVE Act as introduced.
- Official: To reauthorize and reform the national service laws. as introduced.
- Short: Congressional Commission on Civic Service Act as introduced.
- Popular: GIVE Act as introduced.
- Short: Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education Act as introduced.
Bill's Views
- Today: 392
- Past Seven Days: 2,865
- All-Time: 259,038
10%
Users Support Bill
227 in favor / 2074 opposed
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Displaying 91-120 of 463 total comments.
I don't understand how this bill or the programs it supports would dictate how you volunteer. They simply support the efforts of those who want to become full-time and part-time volunteers and leaders in their communities.
This scares me. I feel like we need to watch these guys like children. They are going behind the backs of the American people to push their redistribution of income. WHERE IS THEIR BRAIN? VOTE OUT THESE PEOPLE. do not reelect them. PLEASE! Taxpayers have rights too! stop trying to take every ounce of money we have to spend it on more votes.
Our founders warned that this would happen. Is anyone listening?
"When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic." - Ben Franklin.
“I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.”
Thomas Jefferson
Dave,
I completely agree . . . your quotes are right on . . . . why do we continue to spend money we do not have and even call it volunteerism?
Thanks for speaking up and Keep at it!!
Nov 4, 2008. Liberals and Progressives won the WH and increased their majority in both the House and Senate. The Conservatives and Libertarians lost.
What part of the is hard to comprehend? Chnage is coming, and the majority welcomes and agrees with that change. Adjust for it.
Filtered Comment [show]
I don't know what Bill my fellow commentors are reading, but there is nothing about slavery, or even anything remotely mandatory. It is a bill to increase funding to volunteer programs, such as AmeriCorps and the PeaceCorps. There is really nothing philosophical here.
I am an alumnus of the AmeriCorps program, which I completed last year. It was a great opportunity to help others, and along with providing me with a living allowance and education award (which I put towards student loans), it was a year of skill building and growth, and building connections which lead me to my current employment.
This Bill is wonderful and necessary to give young people, seniors, and others a chance to serve their community. Let me stress, these programs are completely voluntary. Not only that, there is currently too high a demand, so they are turning people away.
This is a strong bi-partisan effort founded on a spirit of renewed hope and creating opportunities.
IF this is a bi-partisan effort, WHY are all of the bill's sponsors Democrats (I think there's one Independent)?
How many Republicans voted FOR the bill?
There were 70 Republicans who voted for this bill.
That is a lie Mpaone
Aye Votes: 275
Democrat (249)
Republican (26)
Nay Votes: 149
Republican (149)
Abstain Votes: 8
Republican (3)
Democrat (5)
SEC. 125. PROHIBITED ACTIVITIES AND INELIGIBLE ORGANIZATIONS? Read what you cannot do while in this program:
Attempting to influence legislation (can you call your elected officials?)
NO: protests, petitions, boycotts, or strikes;
NO: Engaging in partisan political activities, or other activities designed to influence the outcome of an election to any public office
NO: Participating in, or endorsing, events or activities that are likely to include advocacy for or against political parties, political platforms, political candidates, proposed legislation, or elected officials;
NO: Engaging in religious instruction, conducting worship services
These are only some of the prohibited activities.
Did you read the bill or did you get some misleading email? I'm against the bill, but it does not prohibit you from doing any of those activities.
"(a) Prohibited Activities- An approved national service position under this subtitle may not be used for the following activities:"
It says you can not USE your service position to engage in religious instruction.
I saw these, too, Springy . . thanks for pointing them out. Daveman is also right on. BOTTOM LINE: WHY ARE WE STILL SPENDING MONEY WE DO NOT HAVE. HOW CAN THIS BE CALLED VOLUNTEERISM WHEN THEY ARE BEING PAID??
This is a misconception of the word "volunteer."
Merriam-Webster defines volunteer as:
1: a person who voluntarily undertakes or expresses a willingness to undertake a service
see: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/volunteer
It has nothing to do with compensation. There are two main types of volunteers: paid and unpaid. This is a definition of willingness and intent, not of compensation.
Volunteer stipends are a very common practice in both places of worship and charitable organizations.
Springy,
In the final draft that the Senate passed, the above Section 125 was moved under SEC. 1310 / SEC. 132A.
Section 1310 was empty in the initial version.
If you were paid, then it is not "volunteer". This bill is a coordinated effort to kill the private charity sector. There are hundreds of thousands of volunteer organizations, with voluntary contributions.
This program mandates payment by taxes, to create a highly inefficient government run service organization which "pays" volunteers directly, or through tuition vouchers or other grants.
This will become a Permenant Jobs Program for college campus radicals and drop outs.
The issue of private charity runs deep, but here are some thoughts:
Charity is really bad at dealing with fundamental social safety net problems, namely poverty related problems, like hunger and homelessness.
To use the example of hunger; we have been duped into believing that soup kitchens and food pantries are the answer to the problem of lack of food. In the late 80's, there were about 30 of these programs in New York City. Today, there are about 1,200 of them. There is also a lot more families today that don't know where their next meal will come from. Government wrote off the problem by citing the number of these programs, which are under-funded, piecemeal, and uncoordinated. Not a good solution to a major systemic problem of lack of access to food.
I know that Americans have a historic affinity for charity. And I'm not saying charity it bad, just that it best serves matters that don't deal with the basic necessities of life, like food and shelter, as in any dignified society, these should be basic rights.
Many of these volunteer programs, particularly AmeriCorps, are set up to address poverty, and it's connected problems. Private charity will not be derided by these programs.
Quite the contrary, it will represent a commitment of government taking responsibility to address core social problems, and building public-private partnerships to overcome them together as a country. (Very exciting stuff, if I might add!)
Freedom, this is an expansion of existing federal program to encourage volunteerism. I was previously an AmeriCorps*VISTA, a program existing for almost 50 years, so please let me correct your misunderstandings.
I was a full-time volunteer. My job was managing a community gardening program that provided produce to local, privately-run, food pantries. This had been a county run garden and part of my job was to turn this garden into a private program with the county in an advising role.
Yes I was paid wage to do this but if I was not, I could not have been a full-time volunteer. My wage was locked to 105% of the federal poverty level adjusted for the local conditions. In 2005 that worked out to ~$800 a month which is below minimum wage. Upon completion I received a $4750 education award that could be spend on tuition or to pay back federal student loans.
rtyt
test 2
I don't understand why volunteer organizations need government-apportioned money. I thought volunteers... well... volunteered.
If these organizations need more funds, the government shouldn't be the one granting it. Just as individuals donate their time to these programs, they can also donate their funds. Why not let individual donations support these organizations? If the American people really want these, they'll donate. If not, there's no reason to support them.
Filtered Comment [show]
I would to ask you to qualify your remark. How does promoting volunteer programs equate to socialism?
Moderated Comment
I agree. You're making a statement without any supporting evidence. It's not a logical argument by any means.
Read Rham Emanuels book The Plan.
Look at how these volunteer programs are being supported. The government is forcibly collecting taxes and distributing them to these organizations. While granted that is not socialism, it certainly is redolent of socialistic redistribution of wealth.
With this bill, the federal government is deciding where Americans should be donating their money. The increased authority of the federal government also hints towards a movement towards socialism.
mpaone, do you realize that you speak in meaningless cliches and platitudes? Has it occurred to you that maybe the people here see something coming around the corner that you don't. Instead of accepting everything spoon fed to you, why not question the things around you and by the way, bi-partisan is a buzz word meant to bamboozle the already hypnotized into accepting bad legislation.
The only thing that occurs to me are the facts of the current moment, and seeking truth in the matter, not forecasting conjecture. It seems discouraging to me that so many are choosing (without sufficient reason) to see conspiracy and bleakness in a bill that is about volunteering, of all things. I would ask us to reflect on how we are choosing our battles here as a country and citizens. It is my opinion that we have more important things to question (lack of health care, shrinking middle class, energy dependence, rising food prices) than volunteering and service.