Senator Kennedy´s letter

"Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country."

It was more than 47 years ago that President Kennedy spoke those words and challenged an entire nation to put service above self. You've no doubt heard those words repeated time and again, but simply repeating them does not guarantee they are carried out.

Today, I joined my friend Senator Orrin Hatch in renewing the spirit of service in our great nation. We're introducing the "Serve America Act," a broad new bipartisan bill to expand service opportunities for all Americans and encourage a new generation of our people to take part in something larger than themselves.

Democrats and Republicans may disagree on many issues, but we all share a common faith in the extraordinary potential of the American people to volunteer their time and energy to help those in need.

Millions of Americans are ready, willing and able to serve their communities, but don't know where to start.

This new legislation will help them tap their extraordinary potential for service, and enable them to make a very real difference for our country.

In this spirit, the non-profit organization ServiceNation is sponsoring a National Day of Action on September 27th, in which thousands of communities across the country will host service events. People from all walks of life will come together to clean up neighborhoods, mentor children in need, raise funds for medical research, and much, much more.

Visit the ServiceNation website and sign up to take part in this important effort: http://www.democraticmajority.org/service

The Serve America Act builds on America's long tradition of service. It will encourage Americans of all ages to take part in volunteer opportunities that address the full range of these challenges facing our communities. It will create five new "corps" of volunteers to work in the areas of education, poverty, international service, disaster relief, and green energy.

It will also provide incentives for businesses that give paid leave to employees who perform full-time service, and it will promote and fund community service programs such as City Year, which has done so much good for the city of Boston.

Please show your support for a new spirit of service in our country.

Sign up to participate in the September 27th Day of Action: http://www.democraticmajority.org/service

The American people have shown again and again that they can rise to new challenges with amazing selflessness and resolve.

The Serve America Act will build on this great tradition and launch a new era of service for America.

I hope very much that you'll join me in this effort.

Sincerely,

Senator Edward M. Kennedy

Hatch, Kennedy team for voluntarism

Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., may be away from the Senate fighting a brain tumor. But he and his friend, Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, teamed up anyway Friday to introduce a bill seeking to spend $5 billion to vastly expand national service programs.
"Sen. Kennedy called me," Hatch said Friday, noting that he "wanted me to know that when I made the announcement ... it was to be the 'Kennedy-Hatch' legislation and not the other way around" to ensure top billing.
(...) Hatch said he and Kennedy had long discussed the bill as a way "to marry two formerly competing visions of service," the full-time national service programs such as the Peace Corps and AmeriCorps pushed by Presidents Kennedy and Clinton, and less structured volunteering through charities pushed by Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush.
He said he hopes the bill will help again "ignite the spirit that 9/11 evoked in each of us. I am honored to reach across the aisle and join hands yet again with my good friend for the last 32 years, Ted Kennedy ... to provide more Americans more opportunities to sever each other and the country they love."

Go to:

http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,700258365,00.html

Senator Hatch: both sides "ridiculous" in squabbles

(...) While both nominees reverted back to their increasingly combative campaign today, Hatch urged all of his colleagues to work on a bipartisan basis, as Hatch has frequently done with Kennedy.
``Ted Kennedy is the lion of the Senate. As much as Republicans make a fuss against him, every one of us are praying for his safe return to the Senate in January,'' Hatch said earlier, addressing a summit of Servicenation, a national service group.
(...) Both Obama and McCain, who appeared separately last night at the national service forum, have agreed to co-sponsor the measure, Hatch said.
Caroline Kennedy, the senator's niece, said her ``uncle Teddy'' was delighted to see the legislation moving ahead, and was looking forward to passing the bill under the next administration. ``Theirs is a strong partnership,'' Kennedy said of the two senators. After years of working on health, education and jobs legislation together, ``I'm happy to report that today, they have done it again,'' she told the summit attendees.
Hatch said he had recently spoken with Senator Kennedy, who is under treatment in Massachusetts for a malignant brain tumor.
``He told me he was dealt a rough hand,'' Hatch said, his voice softening as he talked about the friend he considers ``like a brother.''
``But he's going to fight back, and he's going to whip this thing,'' Hatch said.

Go to:

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2008/09/senator_hatch_b.html

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy readies national service bill

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy is introducing a major new national service bill aimed at recruiting 175,000 Americans of all ages to tackle national problems such as health care, education, energy and the environment.
It is Kennedy’s first major piece of legislation since being diagnosed with a malignant brain turmor in May. The 76-year-old senator has been working from his Hyannisport home on the “Serve America Act” with Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, a longtime friend.
Details of the legislation will be presented today at an event in New York City. Kennedy’s niece, Caroline Kennedy, and Hatch are expected to attend.
Aides said the Massachusetts senator did not plan to be at the event.
“Time and again we’ve learned that large numbers of Americans are ready, willing, able and even eager to be involved in service, and that all we have to do is ask them to do so,” Kennedy said in a statement. “The Serve America Act will ask. It will connect every generation through service, and enable them to help tackle a wide range of national challenges, from the dropout crisis that plagues our schools to the lack of health care in our neediest communities to the energy and environmental crises that threatens our planet.”
(...)

Go to:

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/politics/view.bg?articleid=1118531