Politics in America is often synonymous with frustration
It can be a veritable hydra of red tape, monstrously regenerating to block the way just as triumph seems imminent. Such has been the experience of David Burd, yet he persists.
Burd, a College senior, is also the national student coordinator for the effort to pass the Younger Americans Act, a bill which would establish a National Youth Policy and provide communities with the funds to enact it.
His involvement with the bill began while working as an intern in Washington, D.C. as he was investigating his idea for forming an "AARP for young people." Burd became interested in the bill and eventually landed a top position in the campaign to get it passed.
"We just don't spend enough money on young people," he asserts.
Regardless of the obstacles standing in his way, Burd is determined to change that.
The Younger Americans Act hinges on five core necessities that communities must provide for the country's youth. These include ongoing relationships with caring adults, safe places with structured activities, access to services to promote healthy lifestyles, opportunities to acquire marketable skills and opportunities for community service and civic participation.
The bill would provide $5.75 billion dollars over five years, divided and presented in block grant form to all communities throughout the country, allowing for flexible spending.
Lobbying efforts for the YAA began in September 2000, spearheaded by the National Collaboration for Youth, a coalition of major national non-profit organizations such as the America's Promise and United Way. However, since the bill was aimed at helping young people, Burd "felt that there were a lot of students, whether engaged in service or interested in politics, that would want to get involved."
Consequently, in the fall, Burd organized a small group of Penn students, headed by College junior Lauren Cohen, to advocate for the YAA on campus and in Philadelphia. This year, the group's major activity was a letter-writing campaign targeting state senators and representatives. Burd has also been working tirelessly with schools and universities across the country to coordinate the effort to advocate the bill, but he has met with much frustration along the way.
While many school affiliated groups advocate for community service, few engage in lobbying activities.
"Everyone wants to promote involvement, everybody will get on that bandwagon," Burd said. "But when it comes down to a specific piece of legislation, many organized groups have provisions that say they can't do that."
In the case of the YAA, the situation is beyond a paradox because the bill would extend opportunities for service to youth throughout the country, yet few are willing to take up the cause enough to get it passed.
Although the bill has been introduced into both houses of Congress, it is now essential to find more congressmen to sign on as co-sponsors in order to gain momentum to push the bill into committee hearings. With its promotion of government offices and programming as means for aid, Burd explained "the philosophy of the bill definitely falls more in the democratic camp and in Congress, our supporters are reflective."
Burd stressed the need to find additional Republican co-sponsors, and with Cohen's help, he led a group of students in a meeting with a representative for Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.). Although the meeting took place nearly a month ago, results have yet to materialize.
"The senator is still considering the bill and we have no indication of which way he is leaning at this time," Specter spokesman Bill Reynolds said.
Both Burd and Cohen expressed frustration and disappointment that there has been so little response to their efforts.
"In the fall, I spent hours and hours and hours trying to get people involved, and I never realized how hard it was," Burd said.
Cohen concurred, explaining "when you tell people about [the bill], they are more than willing to sign [a letter], and they think it's a great thing, but beyond that it's hard to get people more involved."
Burd and Cohen decided that much of the problem lies in the combination of a "general reluctance to lobby" among students and the stigma attached to politics in America.
"There's a thing between volunteering and advocacy," Burd said. "People think service and they see volunteering, and they don't see advocacy -- they don't see lobbying as a way to achieve the ends they want to achieve."
Ironically, as Cohen pointed out, it may take "something like [the YAA] to pass for youth to get involved in advocacy." She and Burd have discovered that they must advocate for advocacy itself in the process of lobbying for the YAA.
"People act because they think what they do makes a difference," Burd explained. "If people don't believe that the system really works, they're going to go to something they know."
And that something has been community service, action that often provides more visible results and more instant gratification.
As Burd has learned, the gratification in advocacy is slow in coming.
"Last year we generally thought we could pass it this Congress," Burd mused. "We still had a really big surplus and we thought we had a good chance."
In July, the YAA nearly reached committee, but was placed "on the back burner" in light of other proceedings. It nearly entered committee again this September, but Burd noted in light of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the issue was not simply put on the back burner, it was pushed entirely "off the stove."
Regardless of these enormous setbacks and frustration in garnering support, both Burd and Cohen remain hopeful.
"This is probably going to take years," Burd speculated with determination in his eye. "It's not like nothing's happening - it's just slow. It's going slowly but surely."
