Congress is set to dismantle AmeriCorps. It’s a big mistake | Opinion

As millions of Americans emerge from the damage and devastation inflicted by Hurricane Beryl, which slammed into the Texas Gulf Coast this month with terrifying winds and torrential rains, Congress is considering eliminating one of the country’s most effective tools in its natural disaster response kit: the national disaster relief service.

The proposed cuts to AmeriCorps, the national service program that mobilizes tens of thousands of patriotic Americans each year to serve the nation full-time, defy logic and responsible federal budgeting. And we know it: We helped plan dozens of complex spending plans as members of the House of Representatives.

As lawmakers from opposing parties, we often disagreed over whether the federal government should fund a particular program and to what extent. But there was never any debate among us about military service, because there are no good arguments against it.

Over the past three decades, AmeriCorps members have dedicated nearly 20 million grueling hours of full-time national service to communities impacted by hundreds of federally and locally declared disasters in all 50 states and territories. After Hurricane Katrina, AmeriCorps members immediately deployed with community and faith-based organizations to run shelters and food banks, clean up debris, and repair or rebuild thousands of homes. When the towers collapsed in the terrorist attacks of 9/11, AmeriCorps members were among the first to answer the call to serve by providing emergency assistance to the injured and serving as social workers for desperate family members searching for loved ones. When fires engulfed Maui; when tornadoes tore through Joplin; when floodwaters swallowed up the Jersey Shore, AmeriCorps was there. AmeriCorps is always there when America needs it.

But that requires funding.

As far as congressional budgets go, national service is a fly in an Olympic-sized pool. Despite its nominal allocation, AmeriCorps exceeds its limits because of its unique public-private partnership model. Congress established the program by combining private charitable funding with federal dollars to deploy human capital into communities that need it most. Unlike other federal programs, individual states decide how and where to use this funding. This model, which places AmeriCorps members in community and faith-based organizations like Teach for America, Habitat for Humanity, and FoodCorps, means that most Americans have interacted with national service members in their communities and may not even realize it.

Through careful design, national service is an inherently financially responsible model that maximizes federal investment, and its impact is also highly measurable. Because national service programs are varied and subject to state discretion, they encompass everything from veterans services and reintegration to student support and expanding economic opportunity. Economists have calculated that every federal dollar invested in national service provides more than $17 in benefits to society, program members, and the federal government.

But what really makes national service shine is the patriotism of the Americans who enlist. Like their counterparts in the military, these recruits are eager to serve. AmeriCorps makes that opportunity real. Young Americans who step up to serve their country should be celebrated and empowered, not shown the door like these short-sighted funding cuts would do.

Lawmakers can and should vigorously debate the merits of every tax dollar they spend. We did so for four decades as Republicans and Democrats with opposing philosophies. But as differently as we may approach some issues and the role of government, there is no difference between us when it comes to national service.

There will be other fires and other storms, just as surely as the sun rises tomorrow, and our states and communities will need the talent and effort of members of the armed forces to emerge stronger. Congress should fund AmeriCorps to fund a stronger America.

David Price, Democrat of North Carolina, and David Dreier, Republican of California, served in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors.