As NTUF continues to improve our new website and The Taxpayer's Tab, Foundation staff brings you the latest BillTally research and commentary on the proposed spending. In the first of our supplemental posts, we scored H.R. 5288, the National Care Corps Act of 2014.
The Bill: H.R. 5288, the National Care Corps Act of 2014
Cost Per Year: $350 million ($1.8 billion over five years)
Earlier this month, President Obama marked the 20th anniversary of the AmeriCorps program during a ceremony at the White House. The program was created in 1994 under then-President Bill Clinton to provide government-funded volunteers to fill community service roles at nonprofit organizations, schools, and other community groups across the country. In exchange for their service, AmeriCorps members are offered federal stipends to cover various living expenses, including housing and food costs, as well as a package of benefits that includes health insurance, child care support, and tuition assistance. The program has enrolled over 900,000 members to date.
This type of “volunteer” community service policy is attractive to lawmakers looking to address the nation’s current unemployment issues, which disproportionately affect younger and less skilled or inexperienced workers searching for jobs. Efforts like AmeriCorps offer immediate job placements and give participants a chance to gain experience; however, they come at a high cost to taxpayers. The agency that oversees AmeriCorps, the Corporation for National and Community Service, had a budget of $734 million in 2013. NTUF featured legislation designed to significantly expand the program in a previous edition of The Taxpayer’s Tab. Washington, D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton’s (D) Promoting National Service and Reducing Unemployment Act was introduced to expand the AmeriCorps program by over 400,000 members at a cost of $7.9 billion over five years.
Another proposal for a new volunteer corps was recently introduced in Congress, this time to provide assistance for elderly and disabled Americans. H.R. 5288, introduced by Congresswoman Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-NM), would establish within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) a National Care Corps in order to provide caretaking services in areas where such support is needed.
The National Care Corps Act mandates that all Corps members must undergo 20 hours of pre-service training, and prohibits them from providing medical care or conducting administrative work. Instead, enrollees would offer one-to-one support in home-based settings that foster “the achievement and maintenance of the highest level of independent living for each individual in need.” Much like AmeriCorps members, National Care Corps participants would be eligible for certain benefits including health insurance, post-service educational aid, and “living, travel, and leave” assistance. In order to qualify, Corps members would be required to pledge 24 months of service and pass a criminal background check.
Similar legislation was introduced in the upper chamber by Senator Robert Casey (D-PA) in the form of S. 2842. According to a press release from his office, Senator Casey’s legislation would create a national “Caregiver Corps”, also overseen by HHS, that would “foster the creation of community-based programs that can help ‘fill the gap’ in assisting older adults and individuals with disabilities, and in providing added support for informal caregivers.”
The text of H.R. 5288 authorizes $350 million per year to fund and administer the National Care Corps. 
The Bottom Line: The National Care Corps Act would establish a nationwide network of subsidized members, similar to the AmeriCorps program, to provide home-based caregiving services. It would cost $1.8 billion over five years. |