Pete Buttigieg wants Americans to expect a year of 'national service' after college


Pete Buttigieg is serving up a brand new plan.
The South Bend, Indiana mayor and 2020 Democrat has proposed "A New Call to Service" that would push the number of people participating in national service to 1 million by 2026. Those positions would come by expanding the existing Peace Corps and AmeriCorps programs, as well as creating a slew of new service corps, and may help recent college graduates alleviate their debt, Politico reports.
Buttigieg's new proposal, which is slated for an official reveal at a Wednesday night town hall, is inspired by his time in the military. But "you shouldn't have to go to war" to feel a sense of "national service," he said in a statement to Politico. So that's why he'd like to expand the ranks of 7,300 Peace Corp volunteers and trainees and 75,000 AmeriCorps members to a total of 250,000, per The New York Times. Buttigieg is hoping to then grow that total to 1 million by 2026, with an estimated cost of $20 billion over the next decade, his campaign said. The proposal also mentions establishing new corps that address climate and health concerns, with the eventual hope that "the first question posed to any job candidate or college applicant would be, 'What did you do with your time in service?,'" Politico writes.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Buttigieg hopes to fill all these programs by promising a credit toward workers' student debts under the already existent Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, the Times reports. That looks similar to debt forgiveness service programs mentioned by fellow candidates Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), and former Rep. John Delaney. Read more at Politico.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.
-
Museum head ousted after Trump sword gift denial
Speed Read Todd Arrington, who led the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum, denied the Trump administration a sword from the collection as a gift for King Charles
-
Trump declares ‘armed conflict’ with drug cartels
speed read This provides a legal justification for recent lethal military strikes on three alleged drug trafficking boats
-
Supreme Court rules for Fed’s Cook in Trump feud
Speed Read Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook can remain in her role following Trump’s attempts to oust her
-
Judge rules Trump illegally targeted Gaza protesters
Speed Read The Trump administration’s push to arrest and deport international students for supporting Palestine is deemed illegal
-
Trump: US cities should be military ‘training grounds’
Speed Read In a hastily assembled summit, Trump said he wants the military to fight the ‘enemy within’ the US
-
US government shuts down amid health care standoff
Speed Read Democrats said they won’t vote for a deal that doesn’t renew Affordable Care Act health care subsidies
-
YouTube to pay Trump $22M over Jan. 6 expulsion
Speed Read The president accused the company of censorship following the suspension of accounts post-Capitol riot
-
Oregon sues to stop Trump military deployment
Speed Read The president wants to send the National Guard into Portland