Rethinking Rahm Emanuel's Mandatory Student Service

By Nikki Schwab, Washington Whispers

In 2006, former Clinton staffers Bruce Reed and Rahm Emanuel penned the book The Plan: Big Ideas for America, which among other things proposed that 18-to-25-year-old Americans do three months of mandatory civilian service for their country. "We certainly caught a lot of grief from the left and the right on that idea," Reed says. "But luckily, nobody has ever won a name-calling contest with Rahm." Now with his pal Emanuel in the White House as chief of staff, Reed has pinpointed an area where some sort of mandated service might work—in exchange for student aid. "If the government is going to be spending money on solving problems, should it be asking something of citizens in return?" asked Reed at a recent conference called by the Hudson Institute's Bradley Center for Philanthropy and Civic Renewal. "If we're going to provide a lot of money for college aid, should we be saying, 'OK, you can borrow money from the government for as long as you want, you don't have to get a degree, just borrow it, we're fine,' or should we say, 'Look, this society owes you help to get ahead, but you owe something back'?"

Follow Paul and Nikki on Twitter.

Check out more of the new Washington Whispers.

Reader Comments Read all comments (11)

Add Your Thoughts

Comment Name State Select One AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DE DC FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KS KY LA ME MD MA MI MN MS MO MT NE NV NH NJ NM NY NC ND OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VT VA WA WV WI WY International Email

Please enter the two words below into the text field underneath the image.

Incorrect please try again

Enter the words above: Enter the numbers you hear:

Your comment will be posted immediately, unless it is spam or contains profanity. For more information, please see our Comments FAQ.