Washington, D.C. – Senator Barbara A. Mikulski (D-MD) today spoke on the floor of the United States Senate to call for the resignation of Dr. Leslie Lenkowsky, Chief Executive Officer of the Corporation for National and Community Service. The following is Senator Mikulski's statement.

To watch a video of Senator Mikulski's speech today, please go to http://www.mikulski.senate.gov/soundbytes.htm.
To listen to Senator Mikulski's statement or for radio broadcast, please call 1-800-511-0763 and, when prompted, enter actuality number 5324.
Click here to read the letter that Senator Mikulski sent to President Bush and here to read the letter Senator Mikulski sent to Dr. Lenkowski.

"What a mess we have at the Corporation for National and Community Service. The Congress has funded 50,000 AmeriCorps volunteers, as we have year after year. But guess what? The Corporation has enrolled 70,000 volunteers. It seems the Corporation can't count. And as a result, there will be fewer volunteers this year.

"Fortunately, because of a bipartisan, collegial relationship on the VA/HUD [Veterans, Housing and Independent Agencies] Subcommittee, Senator Bond and I are going to fix this problem for the volunteers and for the communities they serve. We're introducing something called the 'Strengthen AmeriCorps Program Act.' Quite frankly, it gives AmeriCorps the fix that it needs to straighten out the mess that it created.

"This bill is simple and straightforward. It gives the AmeriCorps program flexibility within the current funding for 2003 so that there can be 50,000 AmeriCorps volunteers this year.

"Now I've been reading the press reports, but I've also been getting calls from constituents and other Senators who support AmeriCorps. What are they concerned about? They're concerned that there will be cuts by as much as 15,000 volunteers. And I'm concerned too. I'm concerned about our communities and about the young people who serve them while earning their scholarship for college.

"Now I believe the public has a right to know what happened, so I want to explain to the advocates and to my colleagues what is happening and why. Congress has not cut AmeriCorps. The Corporation has cut AmeriCorps. And it's because there is a persistent pattern of mismanagement at AmeriCorps.

"The Corporation has overenrolled 20,000 volunteers. When you make a mistake of 20,000, it's not a mistake. It's mismanagement. Two thousand would have been a mistake. Twenty thousand is mismanagement. The Corporation has violated the law, mismanaged taxpayer dollars, and created uncertainty for our volunteers and our communities.

"In April [2003], at the VA/HUD subcommittee, I called on the National Service CEO, Dr. Leslie Lenkowsky, to fix the problem. He promised that he would do that by June 1. But guess what? He called on May 30 and said he just couldn't do it. Then out came the shrinking of the number of volunteers and out came the blaming on Congress. Instead of fixing the problem, he blamed Congress.

"Well, I wish the corporation was as good at accounting as it is blaming. They had ten weeks to get their act together, and they didn't do it. I was very stern with Dr. Lenkowsky and the Board of Directors at the Corporation and at the hearing.

"I must say I want to thank the Board Chairman, Mr. Steven Goldsmith, for responding instructively to the criticism by myself and other members of the Congress. They took that to heart. They are beginning to reform national service. They are doing due diligence. They're putting more time into the oversight than, quite frankly, Dr. Lenkowsky did.

"Dr. Lenkowsky has failed to respond to the situation, failed to respond to the Subcommittee request, failed volunteers, failed communities. In the schools I went to, when you get that many 'F's, you flunk out.

"Today I'm asking Dr. Lenkowsky to resign. I'm really sorry we've gotten to this point. We cannot continue this. I really think that if we're going to have a national service program, we need to have a national service program that serves the nation and follows the directive of the Congress.

"We have worked on a bipartisan basis in this subcommittee year after year after year. We saved this program. The House of Representatives never provides any funding for AmeriCorps. And now once again, thanks to the leadership and constructive relationship with Senator Bond, we are going to strengthen AmeriCorps. Without our cooperation and leadership at VA/HUD, AmeriCorps wouldn't even be here.

"So we need to pass the "Strengthen AmeriCorps Program Act" quickly. It is an accounting fix that is certified and approved by OMB and GAO.

"I support our president's call to national service. I want to work with President Bush in a bipartisan way to take national service into a new century. That's why I've worked with Senator McCain and Senator Bayh and others to do that. But most of all, I want to work with my colleague, Senator Bond, once again, to sustain national service.

"Now we have legislation to clean up the mess that the Corporation made. But the only way I think the Corporation is going to get any momentum is if its current executive either steps aside or steps down. I hope the Congress really moves this bill in a matter of days. The nation needs it because the volunteers need it and the communities need it."