with respect to employment status and service credit are the same as for volunteers under the Peace Corps Act. Corpsmen would not be currently covered by the Civil Service Retirement Act, the Federal Employees' Group Life Insurance Act, or the Federal Employees Health Benefits Act. Social Security law provisions are specifically made applicable to them. Should a corpsman subsequently be appointed as a Federal employee and become subject to the Civil Service Retirement Act, his period of satisfactory corpsman service would be subject to credit on the same basis as other optional civilian service. For purposes of deposit, average salary, etc., he would be deemed to have received compensation at the level of the adjustment allowance payable pursuant to section 5(d) (up to $75 a month). Section 3(j) of the Civil Service Retirement Act would be amended by section 15 of the bill to make this credit subject to withdrawal under the same conditions as apply to military and Peace Corps service covered by social security. Subsection 5(i) (2) refers to the rate of adjustment allowances payable under "section 5(c) of this Act." This reference should be changed to "section 5(d) of this Act." Section 6 establishes the terms of employment of the permanent staff of the National Service Corps. Persons appointed under the authority of this section would be subject to the Civil Service Act, the Classification Act of 1949, as amended, and other laws generally applicable to Federal employees. Section 16 (c) (1) in excepting certion service from service to be credited upon subsequent Federal employment now reads "except for the purposes of section 5(h) of this Act, any period of training under section 5(m) prior to enrollment as a corpsman under this Act; and". This should be changed to "except for the purposes of section 5(i) of this Act, any period of training under section 5(n) prior to enrollment as a corpsman under this Act; and". We have considered other sections of this bill relating to the appointment of a Director and Deputy Director, the National Service Corps Advisory Council, the employment of experts and consultants, and security investigations and have no objections to these provisions. The Bureau of the Budget advises that from the standpoint of the administration's program there is no objection to the submission of this report and enactment of the proposed legislation would be in accord with the program of the President. By direction of the Commission : JOHN W. MACY, Jr., Chairman. EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT, BUREAU OF THE BUDGET, Washington, D.C., June 21, 1963. Hon. LISTER HILL, Chairman, Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: This is in response to your request for the views of the Bureau of the Budget on S. 1321, a bill to provide for a National Service Corps to strengthen community service programs in the United States. S. 1321 would authorize the President to undertake projects, to recruit, select, train, and provide for the maintenance of volunteers ("corpsmen") and to contract with public and private agencies in carrying out these projects. The Bureau of the Budget favors the objectives of S. 1321 which are set out in section 2 of the bill. Briefly, they are 1. To provide new opportunities to work full time with Americans in greatest need. 2. To illuminate these human needs. 3. To motivate other citizens to serve in their own communities. 4. To attract more Americans into the professions which serve their fellow citizens. These objectives would be met by undertaking projects in areas-isolated socially or geographically-where pressing human needs exist and where necessary services are least available. These are the "pockets" of deprivation-the persons in mental and other institutions, on Indian reservations, in the migrant labor stream, in rural isolated or depressed areas, and in urban slums. This program, while expressive of a national concern, is rooted in principles of local action. Projects must be initiated, planned, supported, and supervised by local groups and individuals. The bill, in section 2, requires that "to the extent possible each project carried out under this act shall provide for contributions by the cooperating agencies." It is our view that an important "contribution" in each project could take the form of local volunteers working side by side with corpsmen. We believe that National Service corpsmen should work side by side with volunteers of the locality where the project is undertaken to assure that, on departure, they will leave behind them able people prepared to carry on the work and provide continuing local interest. National Service corpsmen who are requested by local groups to work with them on a project will not go solely as "technical assistance" experts even though they will be skilled in such fields as education, recreation, carpentry, light construction, agriculture, or health care. What is to distinguish cropsmen is rather their high motivation to serve, their willingness and ability to work and live with people in great need on a full-time basis. To those who now lack hope, it is expected that corpsmen will bring aspiration and a new way of looking at things. Finally, corpsmen should symbolize the concern of the Nation for those who have not yet shared our increasing national abundance. President Kennedy said, in his letter to Congress recommending estabilshment of the National Service Corps, "Poverty in the midst of plenty is a paradox that must not go unchallenged in this country. The example of men and women rendering full-time service within the Corps should motivate additional Americans to volunteer services in their own communities." You are advised that enactment of S. 1321 would be in accord with the program of the President. Sincerely yours, PHILLIP S. HUGHES, Assistant Director for Legislative Reference. HOUSING AND HOME FINANCE AGENCY, Washington, D.C. Subject: S. 1321, 88th Congress (Senator Williams and others). Hon. LISTER HILL, Chairman, Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: This is in further reply to your request for our views on S. 1321, a bill to provide for a National Service Corps to strengthen community service programs in the United States. This bill would make corpsmen available to community agencies for work with persons in institutions for the mentally ill and mentally retarded and during their return to normal living; in meeting the health and education needs of migratory workers and their families, Indians living on and off reservations, and residents of depressed areas and rural and urban slums; in care and rehabilitation of the elderly, the disabled, the delinquent young and dependent children; in improving standards of educational opportunity; and in other projects directed toward critical human needs. No project could be undertaken in any locality, however, other than upon local invitation and in cooperation with interested governmental and nongovernmental agencies, nor unless the President has assured himself that the new project would not displace regular workers or duplicate or replace an existing service in the same locality. The Housing Agency recommends enactment of this bill. There is an urgent need for qualified individuals to serve in projects of critical concern to the Nation's citizens. The proposed National Service Corps can stand as both a symbol and an embodiment of the role of volunteer service in helping the economically and physically handicapped in American society. It can be the agent for mobilizing untapped resources throughout the Nation. The proposed Corps is one of the means by which the gap can be narrowed between the well-being that the great bulk of Americans enjoy and the hardship of citizens who do not share in the general prosperity. We have been informed by the Bureau of the Budget that the enactment of the legislation would be in accord with the program of the President. Sincerely yours, ROBERT C. WEAVER, Administrator. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, Hon, LISTER HILL, Chairman, Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN : This is in reply to your request of May 1, 1963, for a report on S. 1321, a bill to provide for a National Service Corps to strengthen community programs in the United States. This bill provides for the establishment of a National Service Corps composed of men and women who will serve in locally initiated projects directed toward critical human needs. The bill state that the volunteers will work with persons in institutions for mentally ill and retarded, in meeting the health and education needs of migratory workers and their families, Indians living on and off reservations, residents of depressed areas and rural and urban slums, and other projects involving similar humanitarian objectives. We strongly favor enactment of this legislation. The bill would provide needed assistance in poverty-stricken rural areas of the Nation. There is undoubtedly as much poverty in rural areas in America as in urban areas. Rural families with inadequate incomes (less than $2,500) total over 4 million families. When measured by American standards, over 15 million rural people live under conditions of dire poverty. Almost half of the 3.8 million farm families (1.7 million) have total money incomes from all sources of less than the equivalent of $208 per month. This is less than the minimum amount considered adequate in modern-day America. Nearly one-fifth (2.4 million out of 13.6 million), of rural nonfarm families have similarly low incomes. Nearly two-thirds of the unrelated individuals on farms and almost half of the rural non-farm-unrelated individuals have incomes of less than $1,000 per year-less than $100 per month. About one-tenth of the rural population is nonwhite, with the consequent unique added disparities of opportunities piled on top of the usual run of disparities of rural opportunity. There are about 22 million in rural America under 20 years of age and over a million are born there each year. More than a fifth of them are in poverty-ridden families. There are about 800,000 to 1 million families of migratory and nonmigratory hired farmworkers whose main or only sources of income is farm-wage work. Probably three-fourths of these have total annual incomes below nationally accepted standards of adequacy. The plight of the families of underemployed migratory workers is of deep concern to the Nation as a whole. The heads of more than 450,000 of the inadequately low-income farm-operator families are 65 years of age or older. In this broad rural areas development program, we are faced with the problem that in the poorer and more disadvantaged communities leadership is difficult to find. Such leadership as is found has difficulty both in understanding the possible methods and techniques of new development and in overcoming the apathy and frustration that is the product of many years of low income. National Service corpsmen, living and working full time with these people, can help them develop their own communities, can provide a person-to-person bridge between the people and existing Federal, State, and local programs thereby making those programs more effective, and can help these communities find and develop leaders. The presence of corpsmen will offset the apathy and frustration which so often exist today. There is an immediate need for these workers in connection with the pilot projects on rural renewal sponsored by this Department and now going forward at the local level. As has been demonstrated by urban renewal, a program of major economic adjustment in an area must be thoroughly understood and evaluated by most of the people in the area affected. The actions proposed must be interpreted and the expected advantages must be explained with zest and vigor. National Service corpsmen can be of great value to local communities in this work. The Bureau of the Budget advises that there is no objection to the presentation of this report from the standpoint of the administration's program. Sincerely yours, ORVILLE L. FREEMAN, Secretary. Hon. LISTER HILL, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE, Chairman, Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, June 21, 1963. DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: This letter is in response to your request of May 1, 1963, for a report on S. 1321, a bill to provide for a National Service Corps to strengthen community service programs in the United States. This bill would provide for a National Service Corps in many ways similar to the Peace Corps program overseas. It would conduct locally initiated projects to demonstrate and stimulate humanitarian services by dedicated persons of all ages. The types of projects are to be determined by the President or at his delegation by the Director of the National Service Corps. The bill cites as examples of project activities for corpsmen-work with persons in institutions for the mentally retarded and mentally ill; work for the health and education needs of migratory workers and their families, Indians, residents of depressed areas and rural and urban slums; care and rehabilitation of the elderly, the disabled, delinquent youth and dependent children; and work in improving standards of educational opportunity. The ultimate administrative placement of the National Service Corps is left to the decision of the President, permitting him to establish it as an independent agency within the executive branch or as a part of one of the departments or other established Federal agencies. The services, facilities, and commodities of any Federal agency could be utilized for the purposes of this program on a reimbursable basis. Provision is made for a Director, Deputy Director, and staff. There will be an advisory committee on procedures and policies as well as consultants to the Corps. Corpsmen would number not more than 1,000 for fiscal year 1964 and not more than 5,000 in years thereafter. In addition to corpsmen there could be Corps leaders with supervisory responsibility. American citizens and nationals of all ages, both men and women, and foreign nationals when determined to be in the national interest, may join the National Service Corps. Their term of enlistment is not specified in the bill. Corpsmen are to be provided with subsistence, and there would be "adjustment pay" of $75 for each month of service. Also, health care, social security coverage, and limited civil service employment benefits are provided for in the bill. Establishment of a National Service Corps would promote the development of a new type of volunteer in the United States, the volunteer who receives a subsistence allowance while away from home during his period of service. Up to now the typical volunteer has been living at home and has been expected to give his services without remuneration, except possibly to cover transportation or other expenses directly related to the conduct of the work. The subsidized fulltime volunteer who could be stationed away from his home community, as required, will fill a different role. Corpsmen volunteers will be available to perform duties which require fulltime service. One of the main problems in the use of conventional volunteers is that such persons usually can work only a few hours a week. Volunteers who have regular paid jobs-including most men as well as many women-must limit their activities to evening and/or weekends. At best, it is costly and difficult to schedule the activities of part-time volunteers so as to preserve continuity of services. In some instances, the availability of some full-time volunteers is a condition for the effective use of any part-time workers at all. As distinguished from regular paid employees, corpsmen might hold positions which heretofore have not been sufficiently well defined to call for regular paid staff. They can carry out tasks that do not now fit into any organized occupational category, although at some future time a new occupational group might emerge. They can perform functions which depend for their success on being done by persons known to be motivated primarily by generosity and concern for the needs of other people. While the motivation for the National Service Corps is rooted in the American tradition of responsibility for one's "neighbor," the Corps will offer opportunities for fulfillment of personal, as well as social goals. Young people would be given an opportunity to obtain work experience as a basis for more meaningful career choices. People in midcareer could use service as a means for testing new interests or getting changed perspectives on old jobs. The Corps offers a great potential for older citizens, both as providers and users of its services. Finally, there would be the opportunity for young and old alike to serve their country in a nationally recognized program. The service would be rendered to those most in need-across the Nation, wherever the need may be. So long as shortages of qualified service personnel exist in the United States, local communities will have little difficulty in finding jobs for Corps volunteers that otherwise could not be performed by currently available staff. Use of corpsmen need not conflict with intensified recruitment and use of conventional volunteers and paid staff. On the contrary, the Corps would promote activities to strengthen community paid professional and volunteer services generally. Some Corps members may go on to careers as professional service workers. More important Corps projects could publicize needs for services and personnel to perform them and demonstrate the benefits to be derived from concentrated attention to these needs. To send Corps volunteers only to communities requesting their services will be basic to the success of the projects. Although this might mean that some communities with the greatest need for outside help might be eliminated for Corps assistance, it would emphasize the importance of stimulating other public and voluntary efforts toward improving conditions where problems are known to exist but local leadership is lacking. Successful Corps projects could ultimately build respect for voluntary activities in communities not now interested in adopting this type of program. The immediate goals of the corps may properly be related to such chronic problems as those found in migrant labor camps, Indian reservations, slum area schools, etc. The corpsmen alone, however, can only set a pattern of action. They cannot do the whole job. To accomplish its goals, the National Service Corps will have to supplement and strengthen existing programs, both voluntary and governmental. The usefulness of the corps will depend on the care taken in the selection, training, and assignment of volunteers, and in the provision of technical assistance to local communities to assure understanding and cooperation. In the long run, the corps' program and projects must look to the leadership and resourcefulness of the local community to deal with its own problem. Just as with the Peace Corps overseas, the domestic corps, in performing pacesetting, trail-blazing pioneer work, must aim to inspire an expansion and perpetuation of services to a degree beyond its own ultimate capacities. In virtually every program area of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare there are critical shortages of services and personnel to carry out those services. Past experience has demonstrated the value of voluntary efforts in the development of health, medical, social, and educational services. Nowhere is there greater need for expanded services than among disadvantaged persons— economically, socially, and physically-persons for whom this Department has a special concern. The Department of Health, Education, and Welfare endorses the overall objectives of the National Service Corps as contained in the bill. We would therefore recommend enactment of this bill. (There are enclosed herewith certain technical corrections and clarifying amendments in the bill, which we suggest be incorporated in the bill.) We are advised by the Bureau of the Budget that enactment of this bill would be in accord with the program of the President. Sincerely, ANTHONY J. CELEBREZZE, Secretary. TECHNICAL AND CLARIFYING AMENDMENTS TO S. 1321 1. Correction of typographical errors in cross-references. 2. Clarifying change. Page 7, line 18, insert the following after the comma: Including transportation to and from places where such services are provided,". NOTE. No additional clarifying change in section 5 (h) (p. 7) seems necessary to permit provision of health care through arrangements with State or local public agencies, or with private agencies, practitioners, hospitals, Blue Cross service plans, and the like (see sec. 7(a) (1), p. 10). It is doubtful, however, that purchase of cash indemnity policies from insurance companies, to pay for the cost of health care incurred by enrollees, would be authorized. |