Protect National Service Act
The Protect National Service Act would prohibit all federal funding from being used to eliminate the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), which oversees national service programs such as AmeriCorps and Senior Corps. The bill declares that CNCS should remain a government corporation and emphasizes that any reforms should preserve national service, honor commitments to program participants (via the National Service Trust), and maintain the federal role in meeting unmet needs and promoting civic responsibility. It also requires CNCS to certify annually to Congress that it is complying with the prohibition, for a total of five years after enactment. In short, the bill is a preservation measure designed to block efforts to dismantle CNCS and to ensure ongoing accountability and commitment to national service works, rather than allowing a rearrangement or elimination of the agency.
Key Points
- 1Prohibition on funding to eliminate CNCS: No federal funds from the American Relief Act of 2025 or prior appropriations may be used to eliminate CNCS as a government corporation.
- 2Policy goal and sense of Congress: The act states that reforms should follow existing law, preserve national service support, protect obligations to AmeriCorps participants, and maintain the federal role in addressing unmet needs and civic responsibility; it also asserts that only an act of Congress can eliminate CNCS.
- 3Certification requirement: The CNCS CEO must certify to the relevant committees that CNCS is complying with the prohibition within 30 days of enactment and then annually for five years.
- 4“Rule of construction”: The law clarifies that nothing in the act should be read as permitting elimination, dismantlement, or subsummation of CNCS under current law.
- 5Defined committees: For purposes of the bill, the “appropriate committees of Congress” are the House Committee on Education and Workforce and the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP).