House Committee Votes to Cut Obama’s National-Service Budget

A key House committee has voted to cut $90-million from President Obama’s proposed 2010 budget for the Corporation for National and Community Service — including trimming the Social Innovation Fund from $50-million to $35-million.

The House Appropriations Committee, which met on Friday, proposed reducing the president’s budget for the agency, which operates AmeriCorps and other volunteer programs, from $1.15-billion to $1.06 billion. It noted in a press release that plan would still represent a $169-million increase over the agency’s 2009 budget.

The full committee approved the cut that was proposed earlier by an Appropriations subcommittee.

The proposal — part of a bill covering 2010 spending on labor, health, human services, and education — now goes to the full House. A Senate Appropriations subcommittee is scheduled to meet on July 28 to consider a companion bill.