Obama's Paid 'Volunteers'

These aren't the volunteers I used to know. In fact, they're rewarded quite handsomely. Nice gig. Free room and board, tuition and agitprop and community organizing experience. Sweet deal.

Under the guise of promoting volunteerism, President Obama and congressional Democrats have created a massive government program that will push their agenda.

The legislation that Obama is about to sign will triple the size of the existing AmeriCorps program over the next eight years to 175,000 people. The idea is to enlist so-called volunteers to focus on education, health care, clean energy, and veterans.

The expansion will cost nearly $6 billion over the next five years. But contrary to Obama’s claim that the program will promote volunteerism, it is in fact another massive government employment program. The volunteers, who are between the ages of 18 and 26, will receive $11,800 a year to cover their living expenses and another $5,350 toward college costs or student loans, for a total of $17,500.

That is $3,526 more than if those who sign up for the volunteer program were hired by private companies or local governments to provide the same services and were paid the minimum wage. Meanwhile, the federal civilian workforce is being increased by more than 13 percent.

“We’re talking about a government program that will hire a quarter of a million, supposedly as volunteers that we pay,” Sen. Jim DeMint, chairman of the Senate Steering Committee, tells Newsmax. “That will be the 14th largest employer in the world, assuming the federal government can actually manage this thing.”