August 7, 2003 | Read Time: 1 minute
The U.S. House of Representatives dealt AmeriCorps another blow last month when it denied the embattled national-service program $100-million that would have prevented the program from having to significantly reduce the number of participants this year.
The House voted 219 to 200 not to include the money in an emergency-spending proposal before adjourning for summer recess July 25. Without the $100-million, the Corporation for National and Community Service — the federal entity that oversees AmeriCorps — can pay for just 30,000 participants, 20,000 fewer than last year.
National-service advocates are still optimistic, however, that additional money for the program will become available when the Senate and House reconvene to work out the differences in their emergency-spending proposals. The Senate’s version of the bill, passed earlier in July, included the extra money.
The corporation was forced to make cuts in the number of slots available because of mismanagement and poor accounting practices, according to a report released last week by the corporation’s inspector general. The report said the organization enrolled more participants than it could pay for, violating a federal law that prohibits the government from obligating more money than has been authorized by Congress.
While the corporation admits to flaws in its accounting, it has worked hard to improve the deficiencies and disagrees with the report’s analysis, said Sandy Scott, the corporation’s spokesman. He said the inspector general was examining out-of-date information.
“The National Service Trust Report” is available free at http://cnsig.gov/reports.htm or by contacting the Office of the Inspector General for the Corporation for National and Community Service, 1201 New York Avenue, N.W., Suite 830, Washington, D.C. 20525; (202) 606-5000, ext. 390.
