The government agency that runs AmeriCorps got good news on the funding front this afternoon, although the battle over money is far from over.
The Senate Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee voted to restore all of President Barack Obama’s requested budget increase for the Corporation for National and Community Service, which was cut by $90 million in the House.
The Senate version of the bill provides a $267 million increase for the CNCS, compared with the $169 million increase approved by the House. The money would fully fund the new Social Innovation Fund at the requested $50 million – compared with $40.5 million approved by the House – provide $8 million for the Volunteer Generation Fund and $2 million for the Non-Profit Capacity Building Program.
The Senate subcommittee version, which was moved to the full Appropriations Committee on a voice vote, maintains the same overall spending total – $163.1 billion – for labor, health and human services and education programs as approved in the House. The full committee is to consider the bill on Wednesday.
The Senate bill would increase funding for YouthBuild to $105 million from the $100 million approved by the House, but it is still almost $10 million less than Obama had requested.
The subcommittee also approved $1.7 billion for the Office of Job Corps, $9.7 million more than Obama requested.
When the full Senate eventually approves the bill, the House and Senate will have to rectify the differences in their two pieces of legislation.
