Waiving a requirement of clause 6(a) of rule XIII with respect to consideration of certain resolutions reported from the Committee on Rules.

Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 296 and ask for its immediate consideration.

For the purpose of debate only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from Florida, my good friend, Mr. Diaz-Balart. All time yielded during consideration of the rule is for debate only.

I yield myself such time as I may consume.

General Leave

I also ask unanimous consent that all Members be given 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks on House Resolution 296.

Mr. Speaker, House Resolution 296 provides for consideration of Senate amendments to the bill H.R. 1388. The rule makes in order a motion by the chairman on the Committee on Education and Labor to concur in Senate amendments to H.R. 1388. The rule provides 1 hour of debate on the motion controlled by the Committee on Education and Labor.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of a vital piece of bipartisan legislation, legislation that directly affects all of our communities and the lives of millions of Americans, legislation that has seen broad support in both this House and by our colleagues in the Senate. This legislation strengthens our communities, helps educate future generations, teaches our youth to prepare for and respond to natural disasters, and fosters a growth of respect and compassion throughout our entire society.

The Senator Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act will help launch a new era of American service and volunteerism. The bill answers President Obama's call for Americans of all generations to help get the country through the economic crisis by serving and volunteering in their communities.

The bill has been named after the ``lion in the Senate,'' Edward Kennedy, to recognize his lifetime commitment to national service and to making America a stronger, more collective nation. The Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act reauthorizes for the first time in 15 years our country's investment in community service and volunteerism. As a cochair of the National Service Caucus, it is a pleasure to call attention to the tremendous work of those involved at every level and in every program of the corporation.

Mr. Speaker, service and volunteerism are the bedrock of our emergency preparedness and national security. In times of strife, the American people have always shown a spirit of service and ingenuity. Investing in service and volunteer programs prepares us to handle any crisis.

We saw firsthand the importance of having trained volunteers in the wake of the 2005 hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Following the devastation in the gulf coast, more than 92,000 national service volunteers contributed over 3.5 million hours of work to the recovery effort. They repaired homes, neighborhoods and lives.

The assistance from trained volunteers following the devastating storms represents only one example of the many accomplishments that our service volunteers achieve every single day. Since September of 2005, over 4,070 National Civilian Community Corps, or as we call it NCCC, members have served more than 2.1 million hours in the gulf coast on over 830 relief and recovery projects.

Last year, NCCC members from my hometown of Sacramento served thousands of hours to help fight the fires that devastated the lives and livelihoods of thousands of Californians, and in doing so helped protect thousands more. AmeriCorps NCCC members are disaster-trained and available for immediate deployment in the event of a natural disaster anywhere within the United States, just as they were in the gulf coast and in California.

Through programs such as AmeriCorps State and national, Volunteers in Service to America, or VISTA,

and NCCC, service members address critical needs in our communities. In fact, these programs continually put back more into the community than we put into them. The Serve America Act shows Congress' support for their heroic and continued efforts and ensures these programs continue for years to come.

The Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act will expand these opportunities as well as health care access, provide seniors with help living independently, enhance services for veterans and help build a green, energy-efficient economy.

Mr. Speaker, in 2007, more than 61 million Americans spent over 8 billion hours volunteering. Overall, about 27 percent of Americans volunteer, and the number of volunteers increased by 1 million from 2002 to 2007. Additionally, with increased numbers of Americans losing jobs, many are turning to service as a way to contribute to their communities and learn new skills. Now is precisely the time when we should make national service more accessible to the millions of Americans who want to serve their country by contributing to their communities.

As a result, I hope that my colleagues will support the rule and the underlying legislation. I look forward to the passage of this bill and the historic moment when President Obama signs this into law.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. McCarthy).

Mr. Speaker, this reauthorization, the first in 15 years, takes programs and infrastructure that have touched so many lives and builds off its foundation to greatly increase the quality and improve the quantity and quality of service that we as a Nation work to provide.

National service is a proven return on our investment. With this bill, we

will broaden those involved in service across the country, and in doing so, foster the value of civic engagement and duty that can change a life in a community.

This bipartisan legislation is truly a win-win for all those involved and for our country. It makes excellent improvements in an already successful Corporation for National and Community Service. It improves access and support for organizations and grant applicants, and most importantly, reassures our valued servicemembers that Congress supports them and their work in our communities.

I urge a ``yes'' vote on the previous question and on the rule.

I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the previous question on the resolution.

The previous question was ordered.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 1388, the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act. And I want to thank the leadership of my colleague for offering me this opportunity to speak. I want to also thank Chairman Miller for his leadership and dedication to national service after moving this important bill towards passage. I would also like to thank the full committee ranking member, Mr. McKeon, and the ranking member on my subcommittee, Mr. Platts, and I would like to thank all the staff that have worked so hard on this.

I am pleased that the Senate has moved this bill so quickly and that we are getting closer to being able to send it to President Obama for his signature. I'm also glad to see that we have renamed the bill in honor of Senator Edward Kennedy, a man who has demonstrated a lifelong commitment to public service.

Last month President Obama stood in this Chamber and called on Congress to pass legislation that would inspire a new generation of service and volunteerism in our Nation. This bill answers that call. Since the bill was passed in this body 2 weeks ago, there has been a public outpouring and interest in public service and volunteerism from citizens throughout this Nation.

Public service and volunteerism provide the means through which Americans can give back to their communities while gaining the tools that they need to achieve their own goals. The Serve America Act will create a framework to help develop national service programs that will improve their communities and enrich the lives of all those who answer the call to serve.

I am pleased to see that in this compromised version of the bill before us that we retain the competition provisions in the Senior Corps program. I'm also pleased this bill permits our Silver Scholars to transfer their education awards to their children, foster children or grandchildren. The Serve America Act contains important provisions that will help strengthen communities and provide real opportunities for Americans to serve in meaningful ways.

I am proud of the focus that the bill places in providing opportunities for disadvantaged youth, strengthening mentoring programs, increasing service opportunities in cities and urban centers, vets and people with disabilities. Under the Serve America Act, volunteer and service opportunities are made available to people of all ages. This will give thousands of older Americans the opportunity to share their knowledge and skills for the benefit of their communities while offering young people guidance and support.

I am proud that this bill contains an important focus on disadvantaged youth. By providing the right types of outlets, young people coming from difficult circumstances will have a chance to lift themselves up through service. The Serve America Act will build a national infrastructure for service and volunteerism and makes an historical investment in the way our service programs are administered.

The bill focuses on building our national service participation while providing much-needed streamlining to reduce administrative burdens. This bill requires States to ensure outreach to local government such as cities and counties when preparing national service plans. Better outreach will result in being able to target program funds to where local folks think they need to go.

I'm also pleased that this bill includes an investment in mentoring partnerships. I would like to thank Susan Davis for her hard work on this issue. Mr. Chairman, this is a good bill, and I certainly hope we can pass it.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my friend, the distinguished gentlewoman from California (Ms. Matsui), for the time, and I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I expected to come to the floor today to speak about the good of volunteerism and to support the underlying legislation, the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act. However, I must now oppose the legislation because of the removal of important provisions that were supported, by the way, by an overwhelming majority of the House on both sides of the aisle, including a majority of Democrats.

When the House voted to approve the underlying legislation earlier in the month, it included the Republican motion to recommit. The provisions in the Republican motion made organizations that are co- located with those that promote or provide abortions, as well as political parties and lobbyists, ineligible from receiving funds provided through the legislation. It also prohibited funds from going to organizations that have been indicted on voter fraud charges.

However, the version of the legislation before the House today was stripped of those protections, even though those very provisions passed the House by a bipartisan vote of 318-105. I really don't understand why the majority leadership would force the House to consider legislation that will allow organizations that have been indicted on voter fraud charges to receive taxpayer funds, especially when the House overwhelmingly voted to forbid the use of taxpayer funds for such organizations.

It is my sincere belief that if those provisions would have been kept in the legislation, over two-thirds of the House would have voted to pass the legislation today, legislation that, yes, otherwise does help communities by recruiting 250,000 volunteers for AmeriCorps. But we will never know if I'm right because the majority is rushing to get this bill passed and is prohibiting Members on both sides of the aisle from introducing amendments to once again include the commonsense bipartisan provisions that passed previously in the House.

Mr. Speaker, I would remind the majority leadership of the events 2 weeks ago, when we learned that legislation that the majority also rushed to the floor without proper review included a provision that allowed AIG executives to receive multimillion-dollar bonuses with taxpayer funds. I know the majority will say that we are trying to obstruct important legislation today. That is far from the truth. Many of us in the minority were ready to support the legislation and, in fact, many of us did so before.

What we in the minority are saying today, what we are trying to do, is to prevent the majority from once again wasting taxpayer dollars and embarrassing Congress.

I reserve the balance of my time.

I have no further requests for time at this time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.