The bill also proposes spending $200 million to allow AmeriCorps, the national-service program, to add 16,000 additional members to help vulnerable people during the recession, and $50 million to allow the National Endowment for the Arts to provide grants to struggling arts groups.
The bill also includes provisions for:
- $2.1 billion to Head Start, the early-education program, to allow it to serve 110,000 additional children and create 50,000 jobs.
- $1 billion for Community Services Block Grants, which helps states provide social services to low-income residents, and $1 billion for Community Development Block Grants, which helps them provide housing and antipoverty projects; $1 billion for Child Care and Development Block Grants, which help states provide child-care services to low-income families.
- $1 billion to help community health centers improve their facilities; $500 million to help them provide care to uninsured and underinsured patients.
- $100 million to the Compassion Capital Fund, which provides grants to religious and other charities to provide social services. The money would be directed to groups that provide job training, energy conservation, and other services for low-income families.
- $50 million to Youth Build USA to put low-income young people to work building affordable housing.
For more details on this plan, visit the House Appropriations Committee's Web site.
