Proving herself to be a veritable locomotive for the Democrat ideologues, Rep. DeLauro reintroduced a suite of bills into the House in order to bring the National Public Service Act of 1990 into line with President Obama’s vision of community organizing on a continental scale. (She introduced versions of these in 2007 but they died in committee.) DeLauro’s bills, H.R. 1151 through 1154, are summarized quite neatly by bethechange.org:

The Encore Service Act (HR1151) will take advantage of all older Americans have to offer communities by providing stipends and educational scholarships to citizens 55 years of age and older who volunteer their time and dedicate their knowledge to help communities in need.

The Semester of Service Act (HR1152) will give students in their junior or senior year of high school the opportunity to spend a semester participating in community service-learning for academic credit.

The Summer of Service Act (HR1153) will create a competitive grant program that enables states and localities to offer students making the transition from middle to high school an opportunity to participate in a structured community service program over the summer months.

The ACTION Act (HR1154) will not only help many young people realize their dreams of going to college, but will also allow them to afford it by updating the AmeriCorps Education Award to reflect 15 years of college tuition increases.

These bills are bereft of details save the command and funding structure, which has gotten many established community services and nonprofits excited about the federal money coming their way. Likely, the final rules will make many nonprofits rue the day they accept Federal funds and turn themselves over to government oversight.

Frankly, a government coercing its citizens into service as a graduation requirement, or exchanging service for college credit, or even cash payments is not volunteerism at all. At worst, its a draft. At best, it makes millions of more people government employees, which is hardly different.

Meanwhile, Rep. McCarthy’s H.R. 1388, the GIVE Act, came up for a vote. GIVE stands for the unwieldy “Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education” but, like Rep. DeLauro’s bills, “volunteerism” means payment for service to a Democrat Party objective.

Hidden in the GIVE Act is a statute defining who is forbidden from participating in the national service organization (meaning, anyone who runs a nonprofit who accepts government money):

SEC. 1304. PROHIBITED ACTIVITIES AND INELIGIBLE ORGANIZATIONS. (a) Prohibited Activities- A participant in an approved national service position under this subtitle may not engage in the following activities:

(7) Engaging in religious instruction, conducting worship services, providing instruction as part of a program that includes mandatory religious instruction or worship, constructing or operating facilities devoted to religious instruction or worship, maintaining facilities primarily or inherently devoted to religious instruction or worship, or engaging in any form of religious proselytization.

That’s right. To run a Federally-funded national service organization, you may not attend a church service, or lend a hand to help build a new church, or even get caught passing out a church pamphlet. According to Rep. Rosa DeLauro and the Democrat majority, only non-religious state servants are capable of volunteering, teaching our youth community values, helping the needy, and making America a better place for all.

Rep. DeLauro voted YES to the ill-named GIVE Act, which discriminates against church-goers, and forces Americans to “Volunteer” for Democrat Party causes.