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- Go to Congrats, You’re Being Volunteered! House Passes Mandatory Service Law
"Mandatory Service"
As suspected, it's BS. Here's the explanation from FactCheck.org:
Forced Public Service
Some Internet postings claim the bill says the government must come up with plans for a “mandatory service requirement for all able young people,” but that phrase is nowhere to be found in either the House-passed bill or the Senate version.
The bill as introduced in the House, however, did call for examining whether this would be a good idea. It called for a congressional commission to "address and analyze" several topics, including "issues that deter volunteerism" and how they can be overcome, how expanding international public service might affect diplomacy and foreign relations, and "[w]hether a workable, fair, and reasonable mandatory service requirement for all able young people could be developed, and how such a requirement could be implemented in a manner that would strengthen the social fabric of the Nation." The commission would also investigate "[t]he need for a public service academy, a 4-year institution that offers a federally funded undergraduate education with a focus on training future public sector leaders."
All of that language is now gone. To be clear, the original bill didn't call for a mandatory public service program, but called for the exploration of whether one could be established. But the entire section on creating a "Congressional Commission on Civic Service" was stripped from the bill.
It is part of a separate piece of legislation, introduced on March 11 (two days after H.R. 1388 was introduced) by Democratic Rep. Jim McDermott. H.R. 1444 was referred to a House committee. No other action has been taken on the bill. McDermott introduced a similar bill in 2007 and it died, never making it out of a subcommittee.
Furthermore, Hatch, a Republican cosponsor of the Senate's national service bill, said on the floor of the Senate that nothing in the legislation called for mandatory service:
Hatch, March 23: Consistent with our All-Volunteer Army and volunteer opportunities and individuals' choice in communities, nothing in this legislation is mandatory. This bill simply provides more Americans more choices and opportunities to give back to their neighborhoods and their country all through the means which they freely choose.
The only mention of anything being mandatory in either of the bills passed by the House or Senate is in the definition for "youth engagement zone program." Such a program is eligible for funding under the bill, and it is defined in the House bill as one that provides school-based or community-based "service learning opportunities" in which "(A) not less than 90 percent of the students participate in service-learning activities as part of the program; or (B) service-learning is a mandatory part of the curriculum in all of the secondary schools served by the local educational agency." That's not a call for making public service mandatory, but rather an explanation of one type of program that can get money under the bill. The Senate bill does not include the word "mandatory," saying instead that "service-learning is a part of the curriculum."
Just more fear-mongering and smearing of Obama. Oh, BTW, Civics 101 for you:
A House Resolution (the "HR" in the title) initiates in committee, and if passed, is voted on by the House. If it passes, it's forwarded to the Senate. If passed, it goes to a reconciliation committee. From there, it goes to the President for signature or veto. (You watched Education Rock didn't you? "I'm just a Bill, I'm only a Bill, sittin' here on Capital Hill.
So, until Obama signs or vetoes it, he has very little to do with it. So why blame Barack for it?
posted by
VanArsdale
on April 2, 2009 at 10:54 PM
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Section 6104
I looked up the bill online, and couldn't find any Section 6104, let alone sub para B6. Do you have the cite?
Section 120 only talks about mandatory classes on volunteering.
posted by
VanArsdale
on April 2, 2009 at 2:57 AM
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So now it's work camps!
Benito Obama is a threat to liberty!
posted by
cpklapper
on March 25, 2009 at 7:35 AM
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Its real allright. Now you can join in, have a false flag attack, and be shipped to Afghanistan to fight the wars of the elites....just like our Reservists went to Iraq. Charles Schumer had a bill for a mandatory draft that got lost somewhere. So, this is the next best they can do!
posted by
Soul_Builder101
on March 24, 2009 at 10:20 PM
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i'm a huge supporter of Obama, but that sounds scary.
posted by
calia14
on March 24, 2009 at 9:41 PM
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