Congress Agrees on AmeriCorps Plan

Members of Congress have agreed to a compromise that would provide $423.5-million for AmeriCorps and related national-service programs in the fiscal year that began on October 1.

AmeriCorps received $472-million in federal appropriations during the past fiscal year, and President Clinton had asked Congress to provide $585-million for the current year.

The decision to provide $423.5-million was made by negotiators from the House of Representatives and the Senate who hammered out differences between appropriations bills passed earlier by each chamber.

The agreement comes after a vote by the House last month that effectively eliminated all funds for the AmeriCorps program from an appropriations measure for the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

In its version of the measure, the Senate voted to provide $423.5-million for the AmeriCorps program, and representatives of the two chambers then settled on a final bill that adopted the Senate dollar figure.