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Americorps
After Slashing Americorps Funds, Bush Uses Americorps Volunteers to Fill in for Missing Guardsmen
Want to know how the Bushes (G. W. and Jeb) can claim that the deployment of ONE-FOURTH of the nation's National Guard overseas - including a high percentage of those trained in disaster management - hasn't left them shorthanded? Because they are using Americorps volunteers to fill the gap. Americorps volunteers - who make low wages - from all over the country are being shipped to Florida. Here's a bit from the Florida Sun Herald on 9/1: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and AmeriCorps volunteers have completed repairs on 3,350 roofs during its weeks-long, 12-hour-per-day operations. Once the storm has passed, information on receiving tarps can be found by calling the Corps at (888) ROOF-BLU." [And they will send a team of 19-24-year-old untrained Americorps volunteers out to do the work.]
September, 2001: Bush pledges to support 'national service'; Jan 2002: Bush pledges to increase the number of Americorps volunteers from 50,000-75,000, 2003:Budget: Bush slashes Americorp funding by HALF in a phony "funding increase" move in which $100 million of the corps' $275 million budget was seized to pay off the educational monies promised to earlier volunteers; 2003: Bush admin pledges to increase funding for Americorps - then makes it pointless by putting a 50,000 cap on the number of volunteers the corps can have. 2004: Bush hijacks Americorps, turning it into an arm of his "faith-based" initiative' ; (see http://philanthropy.com/free/update/2004/03/2004030301.htm); 2004: having deployed one-fourth of all National Guardsmen in the US overseas, deploys untrained Americorps volunteers in disaster management jobs inappropriate to their training (securing roogs, etc.).
05-Sep-04
Americorps
05-Sep-04
Americorps