$850-Million Sought for National Service

President Clinton has said he will seek over $850-million — a 16-per-cent increase — for the Corporation for National Service in his fiscal 2001 budget. His request includes a $73-million increase for the AmeriCorps program.

The President’s budget would provide money for several new efforts, including $5-million to establish an “AmeriCorps Reserves” program, which Mr. Clinton said would be modeled on the military reserves so that previous AmeriCorps members would be able to respond in an organized way to “times of crisis” in the country.

An additional $5-million would go to create another program, “Community Coaches,” that would recruit people to help students who are performing community-service projects.

But as in previous years, getting Congress to approve the President’s recommended increase for the service programs is expected to be a struggle. Key Congressional Republicans have long objected to AmeriCorps and other service programs on grounds that they are inefficient or unnecessary.

Mr. Clinton’s budget proposal for other federal agencies is scheduled to be released to the public on February 7.