By U.S. Reps. Jimmy Panetta, Don Bacon, Chrissy Houlahan and Michael Waltz America is witnessing one of the most difficult times in our country's history. With a global pandemic still surging across our nation and with the national unemployment rate spiking at 14.7 percent and the youth unemployment rate at 25.3 percent -- colossal losses not seen since the Great Depression -- Americans are looking for work and for new opportunities. In this difficult moment, America is once again prepared to take bold action to move forward, recover and rebuild. Just as we have done in the past. Our country needs each of us to band together -- and the best way to unite and revitalize America, both economically and socially, is by doing so for a cause greater than ourselves: each other. As military veterans and public servants, we understand the unifying power of service to our nation and to others. We believe national service is part of the solution to today's crisis -- and that's why we are working on proposals to expand our national service programs. Our proposal, the Inspire to Serve Act, is one part of this mission. This legislation nurtures the spirit of American service and builds the future through national service programs. The Inspire to Serve Act would expand and encourage service opportunities in established programs like AmeriCorps and Senior Corps. Our bill would also expand service opportunities in the current National Service Fellowship Program from 25,000 to 250,000 and double the size of the Youthbuild and Youth Conservation Corps, two youth employment programs which engage tens of thousands of young people in meaningful work experiences on national parks, forests and wildlife refuges. This legislation would also create a Civic Education Fund to prioritize civics education so children can learn the value of service, how to be good citizens and how to engage effectively with their communities from an early age.Through these efforts and thanks to the leadership of the bipartisan House National Service Caucus, there is strong demand in the House to take action on national service at this critical time. We are also supportive of the work our colleagues in the Senate have done in introducing the Cultivating Opportunity and Response to the Pandemic through Service (CORPS) Act, which we also believe has the power to help our nation rebuild and recover stronger in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. This legislation, sponsored by U.S. Sens. Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), calls for significant expansion of our already-existing national service programs by funding opportunities from 75,000 to 150,000 the first year and then steadily to 250,000 by the third year. This would ultimately result in 600,000 service opportunities for unemployed youth interested in helping their communities. Though nearly half of these service positions through programs like AmeriCorps will focus on education, there will also be thousands of other opportunities for those interested in giving back. As our country responds to the coronavirus pandemic, health professionals need help to test and treat patients. Some of these positions will connect volunteers with health professionals to expand access to COVID-19 screening and testing nationwide, increasing our responsiveness to this virus. This legislation also prioritizes funding for programs supporting economic opportunity, so more people have the chance to get a job, pay their bills and succeed. Both of these bipartisan bills share the same goal: making it easier for Americans to serve our country. These proposals will help our communities react swiftly to their own pressing needs and create the strongest local approach to address them. In our collective years of military service, we've learned national service can advance two goals. First, national service gives people a mechanism to give back to the community they come from. National service can help get hundreds of thousands of Americans back to work in their own communities. Second, national service can also give Americans the opportunity to work outside their comfort zones, engage with people who don't necessarily look or think like them and learn leadership, followership and teamwork side-by-side with other volunteers and the communities they serve. While these pieces of legislation are a starting point, the hope is that the positive effects of these bills reach far beyond one program and out into our communities, so each city, suburb and town all over our nation is touched by them and hopefully grows closer as a result. America needs more of that today. By encouraging national service, we believe we can help our nation better recover. The expansion of service opportunities will lead to a rebuilding, regrowth and reconnection of Americans yearning to band together once more to foster a more perfect union.

By Rep. Chrissy Houlahan My congressional district is where the Red meets the Blue, and it is truly a Tale of Two Cities. The Pennsylvania 6th is comprised of parts of two counties: Berks and Chester. Berks County is home to 420,000 people, is largely a rural and farming county, but does contain the city of Reading, familiar to many from its storied steel and industrial heritage and its place on the Monopoly board. Reading is now one of the most challenged communities in the state and arguably the nation. Berks County is managed by three commissioners, two Republican and one Democrat. The chairperson is a Republican. Chester County is home to 520,000 people and is one only of two counties in Pennsylvania that is growing in population. Chester Country is a combination of the affluent suburbs of Philadelphia, rolling countryside, and dairy and mushroom farms. This county is managed by three commissioners as well, two Democrat and one Republican. The chair is a Democrat. Both counties have balanced their budgets for years, and even managed a surplus. This is a truly purple place with roughly 40% of people registering as Democrat, 40% as Republican, and 20% as Independent. In the early days of this pandemic, I made a series of calls to the Berks and Chester County Chairs. There were just so many unknowns -- how fast will COVID spread, will our healthcare system be able to handle a surge, should we shut down our nonessential businesses? I remember talking with the Chester County Chair who was trying to figure out how to get ahead of the curve because the Federal response had been so slow, and because the virus was closing in on Philadelphia. In the end, she went to overseas manufacturing sources for both PPE and COVID tests. She also domestically sourced antibody tests for the county. In an unprecedented action, Chester County literally wired millions of dollars to these suppliers to protect the community. Even more remarkably, the county also did this for two neighboring counties, including Berks. Our part of Southeastern Pennsylvania received shipments of PPE and other critical supplies well before Federal support came, precisely because our local leaders acted swiftly and decisively, and, just as importantly, because they had the rainy day funds to support those decisions. Those funds are now dry and county and borough revenues are drying up as well as we head into nearly 60 days of a shutdown that will last at least another 20 according to our state's plan. Chester Country has lost over 200 souls and Berks nearly 200 to COVID-19, with total cases for each at roughly 2,000 and 3,500 respectively.[2] It feels like those early conversations were a year ago, but this was just six weeks ago. At the end of March, I wrote to House leadership to ask that our counties be reimbursed for these purchases of testing materials, PPE and other critical medical supplies that they were making. Thanks to bipartisan support, Congress' CARES Act did provide aid to our states and largest counties and municipalities. Because of Chester County's size, it is able to apply directly for aid and reimbursement. That is not the case for Berks County. So, in my community alone, we have a disparity in the way the existing aid is being dispersed. Both communities are deserving. Both planned well from a fiscal perspective, and both have done what they have been able to protect their citizens. Both communities are holding the line in battling COVID for our Commonwealth and country. Both have done this at a huge cost. My community is not yet "open," and we have held the line -- arguably helping to prevent the spread of the virus to other areas that are now able to return to normal sooner. We will have to live with this for some time, at least until we have widespread testing capabilities and eventually, hopefully, a vaccine. The CARES Act did not allow for states and localities to use Federal aid to make up for lost revenue -- revenue lost for doing the right thing. It is for that reason that I am a cosponsor of U.S. Rep. Don Bacon's R-Neb., bipartisan FLEX Act, which would begin to address this issue. And it is for that reason that today I also voted for the Heroes Act, which contains $875 billion in funding for our states and local governments. Some of my colleagues have questioned whether this just empowers "bail outs" for those who have mismanaged their budgets. You can see from my community's example that that is not the case. Christian Leinbach, the Republican chairman of the Berks County Board of Commissioners said, "We call on Congress and the administration to work together to pass additional aid for county governments now!" Marian Moskowitz, the Democratic chairwoman of Chester County agrees and stated, "It is critical that our local governments and municipalities receive funding allowing them to continue giving much needed services to our residents." I couldn't have said it better myself. We need to listen to our local elected leaders and follow their example to act boldly, and decisively, to ensure they and we all can weather this crisis. I call on the Senate to also vote to help our state and local governments continue to protect us and our way of life. This federal assistance is no bailout, and this is not partisan. There is and old military expression that "an army marches on its stomach." Roughly translated, this means that when you are at war you need to make sure that you are feeding the troops. We are at war against COVID. We need to provide our frontline generals the resources we need to combat our common enemy -- the disease. We do this together so that we can move safely from the worst of times to the best of times again.

By Reps. Chrissy Houlahan and Michael Waltz Turn on your TV and you'll see headline after headline of how America is divided. Politics appears to be full of bitter vitriol -- a reflection of the deep fault lines in our society. Many Americans are seldom placed in situations where they must meet face-to-face with people who look, think or believe differently than they do. No longer are they encouraged to step outside of their comfort zone and unite for a greater purpose. This is why the two of us -- a Democrat and a Republican from different parts of the country -- are working together to incentivize America to rise above the bitter divide and to get back into our communities and serve. To achieve this goal, we are working with the bipartisan For Country Caucus, made up of 21 veterans, to pass the National Service GI Bill. As military veterans -- Chrissy served in the Air Force on ballistic missile defense and Michael served as a U.S. Army Green Beret -- we understand what it means to accomplish the mission, regardless of race, ideology, religious background or party affiliation. In serving your country, you learn how to lead and follow, teamwork, and discipline -- values America could use more of today. But service to this nation extends beyond the military. Service changes you. It encourages you to engage with people who may not be exactly like you or may not share your same background. Service pushes you out of your comfort zone. It compels you to sacrifice on behalf of a greater good. We believe more people, young and old, can and should serve, be it in our military, protecting our national parks, assisting the elderly or teaching our youth. We don't believe this means returning America to a mandatory draft, but we absolutely believe service should be encouraged and incentivized. To do this, we have proposed an idea: In exchange for one year of service, young people who volunteer in a national service program should be eligible for in-state tuition (a current benefit in the GI Bill), paid community college and hiring incentives. Service leads to opportunitiesThrough this legislation, we can create a new normal, where young adults graduate from high school, serve their community and country and then seek higher education. This means that not only will national service participants learn the skills of leadership, followership, communication and working with others, but they'll also have greater opportunities to go to college, get a job and pursue the American dream. Data supports the idea that service leads to greater opportunities later in life. A recent study from the Corporation for National and Community Service found high school graduates who complete volunteer service are 51 percent more likely to find jobs and careers. Let's make it easier to serveMost important, national service is one of the best ways to heal a divided nation. A huge reason America is so fractured today is because many people sit in their echo chambers and rarely venture outside their comfort zone. This needs to change. We must make it easier to answer the call to serve -- and we believe the National Service GI Bill will be an important step on that path. We encourage our colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this measure, and we encourage citizens who agree to call on their members of Congress to be supportive as well. We think America is more than ready for it, and we think that America is more than worth it.