The "Build Back Better" reconciliation package includes billions in supplemental funding for a boondoggle "volunteer" program that already costs taxpayers over $1 billion per year. The latest version of the still-evolving text would provide $15 billion more to the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) — on top of the $13 billion it already expects to receive over the next decade.
Don't be fooled by the name, the Corporation is an agency of the federal government. It was established in 1993 and includes programs that provide grants and subsidies for volunteer activities. The CNCS publicly rebranded itself last year as AmeriCorps, which is the most widely-known program under the CNCS umbrella, but the legislative text still refers to the technical, statutory name of the program.
Here's a breakdown of the funding provided in the reconciliation bill as reported by the House Rules Committee:
AmeriCorps State and Local: $3.2 billion (through FY 2026)
AmeriCorps State Commissions: $400 million (through FY 2026)
National Civilian Community Corps: $80 million (through FY 2029)
AmeriCorps Vista: $600 million through (through FY 2029)
National Service in Support of Climate Resilience: $6.915 billion (some through FY 2026 and the rest through FY 2029)
Administrative Costs: $1.01 billion (through FY 2029)
FY 2030 program administration: $79.8 million (available in FY 2030)
Planning: $300,000 (through FY 2023)
Outreach: $49.5 million (through FY 2030)
Office of Inspector General: $75 million (through FY 2030)
National Service Trust: $1.15 billion (through FY 2030)
National Service Trust Supplemental Education Awards: $1.66 billion (through FY 2030).
The funding in the reconciliation bill more than doubles the appropriations CNCS was due to receive over the next decade. In FY 2021, Congress provided $1.1 billion to the CNCS. The administration's budget for FY 2022 requests an $89 million increase to $1.2 billion. The Congressional Budget Office's July 2021 baseline projects that the agency will spend a total of $12.9 billion over the next decade, an average of $1.3 billion per year.
The most expensive provision would create a new $6.9 billion program for National Service in Support of Climate Resilience. This is a slightly scaled-back version of a bill introduced in the House and Senate to spend $10.3 billion through FY 2026 to establish a National Climate Service Corps within CNCS. This program would do far more to appease a progressive base worried about climate change than address climate change — NTU has noted that many of the proposed projects for the new Corps are duplicative of programs administered by other federal agencies including the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service, and Tribal agencies.
In light of the federal government’s chronic deficits, expanding existing programs or creating massive new pet projects would be even more harmful than it is otherwise. This is especially so considering that the Government Accountability Office has pointed out that the various AmeriCorps programs have been unable to demonstrate outcomes from the taxpayer dollars spent. Moreover, the CNCS inspector general has found "significant flaws at every stage" of the agency’s compliance process with laws to eliminate improper payments. This is important to track because many of the organizations supported with CNCS grants participate in advocacy and lobbying activities.
It should not be the role of the federal government to operate a multi billion-dollar program ostensibly to support the oxymoronic concept of "paid volunteers." The program’s funding duplicates the billions in federal grants provided by other federal agencies. The organizations that receive these benefits should compete for support from individual donors or the private and non-profit sector.