The following are excerpts from Jim Lindgren’s comments at the Volokh Conspiracy on the candidate’s proposal for vastly expanding domestic and international agencies such as AmeriCorps, the Foreign Service, and the Peace Corps — and creating some new ones:
“… much of what Obama is talking about is also proposed on his website, for example:
He will establish a Classroom Corps to help teachers and students, with a priority placed on underserved schools; a Health Corps to improve public health outreach; a Clean Energy Corps to conduct weatherization and renewable energy projects; a Veterans Corps to assist veterans at hospitals, nursing homes and homeless shelters; and a Homeland Security Corps to help communities plan, prepare for and respond to emergencies.
… Obama is proposing to “Require 100 Hours of Service in College” and grant a $4,000 tax credit to college students for 100 hours of community service work, an effective wage of $40 an hour.
Require 100 Hours of Service in College: Obama will establish a new American Opportunity Tax Credit that is worth $4,000 a year in exchange for 100 hours of public service a year.
Further, Obama proposes to divert fully a quarter of college work study funds away from work in college libraries and student services to serving the larger community. (As someone who went to Yale College on a full need scholarship and did work-study, the university would probably have had to hire someone else to do much of the work that I did. Over two years I also did unpaid tutoring in a local high school.).”