On March 8, 2017, the Washington Monthly featured an article titled, “Make AmeriCorps Great Again,” which emphasizes why the country needs national service programs like AmeriCorps. The author, Steven Waldman, argues that President Trump should “make AmeriCorps great again” — not eliminate it. In support of his argument, Waldman claims that AmeriCorps has provided “1 million young Americans” with the opportunity to “earn college aid” by working and helping with their communities. He claims that AmeriCorps has also embedded “young people into 3,000 local charitable organizations” such as “Habitat for Humanity, Boys Clubs, and the Red Cross.” Waldman argues that if Trump’s top priority is “creating jobs” then he must not kill the program but rather he should increase “the size of AmeriCorps to provide more jobs.” He states that AmeriCorps has already provided “80,000” people with jobs “including 65,000 with full-time jobs” as evidence supporting his reasoning why Trump should consider expanding the program.
In addition, Waldman claims that “AmeriCorps programs have done impressive work” in battling “the opioid epidemic.” As evidence, Waldman states that “44 AmeriCorps members have been working with Operation UNITE,” to help fight the drug abuse epidemic in “southern and eastern Kentucky.” He then proclaims that AmeriCorps programs have engaged in helping and recruiting “military veterans.” Waldman states, for example, “in Washington state, 50 AmeriCorps members” are continuously helping “struggling veterans access the services they need.” Clearly, this article is an attempt to urge President Trump as well as Congress to save AmeriCorps given that the program helps address critical problems across the nation.
While I agree that AmeriCorps is a great program and is very effective in helping communities across the country, I disagree with the author that President Trump should not eliminate this program. It is not a question of whether AmeriCorps has value or not because it clearly does; it a question of whether it is crucial to our country right now. Given that our current national debt now exceeds our GDP and we so desperately need to repair our infrastructure and rebuild our military, AmeriCorps is one of those programs that is not essential to our country and, in my opinion, needs to be cut from the federal budget.
