Hatch earns 2 wins on 1 bill

Sen. Orrin Hatch won victories Wednesday in both the Senate and House for a bill that he and Sen. Ted Kennedy are pushing to spend $5 billion to expand national service programs, including more than tripling the size of AmeriCorps.

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee passed its Serve America Act by a voice vote in the morning. In the afternoon, the House passed its version of the bill, on a 321-105 vote. Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, voted for it, but Reps. Rob Bishop and Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, opposed it.

"This historic legislation will inspire civic-minded Americans across the nation to raise the bar of service and meet every challenge," said Hatch, R-Utah. He has been doing much of the pushing for the bill while Kennedy, D-Mass., has been away from the Senate fighting brain cancer. The bill is seen as a sort of tribute to Kennedy's years of service.

Hatch has said the measure would spend $5 billion over five years, or $6 billion in the House version, to draw 175,000 more people into giving a year of service to address specific national challenges and help pay seniors and students who offer service.

The House version would more than triple the size of the AmeriCorps program from 75,000 positions to 250,000 and create a new service corps in low-income communities to focus on education, clean energy, health and services for veterans.

"Volunteer service is the lifeblood of our nation," Hatch said. "It brings out the best in our people and strengthens our communities. That is why the Serve America Act is so important."

Kennedy released a written statement saying, "This legislation represents the best of America's ideals — offering a helping hand to our neighbors and to our country. Today's action brings us closer to our goal of giving Americans of all ages greater opportunities to serve their communities and their nation."

But some Republicans contend that the bill will replace traditional work by unpaid volunteers with paid workers. "It's going to hugely diminish real volunteer organizations in favor of paid-stipend volunteers," Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, complained.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi hailed the bill. "Just three weeks ago, President Obama came to the Capitol and called for legislation to encourage a renewed spirt of national service," she said. "Today, less than one month later, Congress has responded to President Obama's call for national service during this critical time."

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