Discretionary Spending

Function 500 - Education, Training, Employment, and Social Services

Eliminate Federal Funding for National Community Service

CBO periodically issues a compendium of policy options (called Options for Reducing the Deficit) covering a broad range of issues, as well as separate reports that include options for changing federal tax and spending policies in particular areas. This option appears in one of those publications. The options are derived from many sources and reflect a range of possibilities. For each option, CBO presents an estimate of its effects on the budget but makes no recommendations. Inclusion or exclusion of any particular option does not imply an endorsement or rejection by CBO.

Billions of dollars		2025	2026	2027	2028	2029	2030	2031	2032	2033	2034	2025– 2029	2025– 2034
Change in spending
	Budget authority	0	-1.3	-1.3	-1.4	-1.4	-1.4	-1.5	-1.5	-1.5	-1.6	-5.4	-12.9
	Outlays	0	-0.3	-0.9	-1.1	-1.2	-1.2	-1.3	-1.4	-1.4	-1.5	-3.5	-10.3

This option would take effect in October 2025.

The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), which operates the AmeriCorps and Senior Corps programs, receives public funding—from federal, state, and local governments—and funding from private entities. CNCS programs provide financial and in-kind assistance to students, seniors, and others who volunteer in their communities in areas such as education, public safety, the environment, and health care. Participants in those programs receive one or more types of compensation, which include living allowances, training, health coverage, and child care. In addition, upon completing their service, participants in certain programs can earn education awards, paid from the National Service Trust (NST), which is managed by CNCS.

This option would eliminate all federal funding for CNCS except for funding for the NST. In the absence of federal funding, the volunteer programs would continue to operate only to the extent that state and local governments and private entities chose to fund them.