Statement of Administration Policy: S. 1430 - National and Community Service Act of 1989

(Senate)
(Kennedy (D) MA and 10 others)

The President has advocated community service throughout the country. Through his "Points of Light Initiative," he has challenged all individuals and institutions in America to make service central to their life and work.

The Administration opposes S. 1430 as reported by the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee, because it is fundamentally incompatible with the President's concept of voluntary service. If S. 1430 were presented to the President, his senior advisers would recommend that the bill be vetoed.

S. 1430 would:

—  attempt to direct community service efforts from the Federal level rather than from the community;

—  authorize unwarranted new Federal programs costing hundreds of millions of dollars each year for the next five years;

—  emphasize short-term volunteer participation and financial rewards (particularly Federal incentives), concepts that are clearly inconsistent with the notion of a sustained commitment to volunteerism;

—  promote governments as providers of service opportunities, establishing new intermediaries between volunteers and local service providers;

—  create a disincentive for those who are currently not paid for community service; and

—  require cumbersome and unnecessary bureaucratic infrastructure and regulations.

In addition, the Justice Department advises that the restrictions in Title IV of the bill on the President's power to appoint the Board of Directors of the Corporation for National Service violate the Appointments Clause of the Constitution.