Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.), addressing a panel at the Brookings Institution today, condemned those who have questioned the worth of national service programs because of recent operational mismanagement, calling such criticisms "damn foolishness."
McCain was referring to Friday's decision by the House of Representatives to deny AmeriCorps an additional $100 million in funding, in part due to recent allegations of mismanagement. The House's decision could prevent AmeriCorps from filling 20,000 of its 50,000 volunteer slots this year.
McCain said he hoped that Congress will reinstate the program's funds when it returns from recess after Labor Day.
E.J. Dionne, Jr., a Brookings senior fellow, introduced the panel, which focused its discussion on the release of his new book, United We Serve: National Service and the Future of Citizenship, co-edited with Kayla Meltzer Drogosz and Robert E. Litan.
Dionne called national service "not an uncontroversial issue" and said that some observers believe that civic programs "sound so nice that they can't be serious." He added, "America is always for national service, except when we're not."
Dionne noted that the phrase "with rights comes responsibilities" had become a common political expression, but said politicians have wrestled with how to turn this idea into action.
McCain, whose heroic military service is well known, recalled how he initially opposed the 1993 AmeriCorps bill, struggling with "the concept of paying people for volunteerism." But McCain says he has come to view national service as "a critical issue in the future of our nation" and "the very essence of patriotism."
"I believe that September 11...emphasized the need for all of us to serve." He renewed his support for President Bush's Citizen Service Act and discussed his own bill, the Call to Service Act, which he introduced in the Senate with his colleague, Evan Bayh (D-Ind.).
Leslie Lenkowsky, a panelist at today?s event who was appointed by President Bush to head the Corporation for National and Community Service, addressed an editorial in Wednesday's Wall Street Journal that portrayed the departing C.E.O. as having succumbed to the struggles of administering national service programs.
"There should be no mistake about my support of national service," said Lenkowsky, who praised Bush's support of programs like AmeriCorps. "We must realize the promise of national service."
Lenkowsky acknowledged that these programs face an uphill battle. There are "serious and longstanding challenges" and "accountability must be the hallmark," he said.
The Corporation for National Service came under heavy scrutiny in recent weeks after an Inspector General investigation revealed that AmeriCorps had recruited more volunteers than their budget could afford, a move that the Wall Street Journal called "a deliberate political effort to leverage more federal money."
In her comments, another panelist, Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Jane Eisner, who is writing a book on young Americans and voting, observed that while September 11 may have prompted a spike in calls for civic engagement, that surge did not translate into increased voter turnout. Eisner views voting as intrinsic to national service.
"Civic education needs to be strengthened" in order show the connection between service and public policy, said Eisner, who has created an initiative called "First Vote," which seeks to make voting a "rite of passage."
Eisner is studying ways to improve voter participation, and says that "there is no more powerful tool as a citizen than voting."
Panelist Will Marshall, president and founder of the Progressive Policy Institute, commented that while public support for AmeriCorps has recently increased in the wake of funding cuts, the House's actions could dissolve half of AmeriCorps's programs and roll back the program to original volunteer levels.
Kayla Meltzer Drogosz, a senior research analyst at the Brookings Institution and another panelist at today's event, cited Theda Skocpol, a writer about American civic life, and Indianapolis Mayor Steve Goldsmith in her comments. She highlighted the need to "strengthen national service programs and foster municipal citizenship."
"We must become more than just communities of strangers," she said.