EXPENSIVE MAKE-WORK PROGRAM

In their zeal to cut government spending and reform expensive budget-buster programs, Congress apparently forgot about President Clinton's brainchild: Americorps.

Granted the $155 million earmarked for the jobs program is small change when compared with Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare. But one has to wonder, how did Americorps slip the budget axe?

The program was started by President Clinton in 1993 and came to Cape Girardeau a year later. The $420,000 spent locally for the program has given 25 full-time and part-time workers experience in helping communities become "safer, healthier and more environmentally aware," as one Americorps officials describes it. Aside from vague skills, workers also receive a little cash for their trouble. Too little, if you consider the cost of the program.

The idea is to let workers earn their way through college. But for the cost of the program, the students -- and taxpayers -- would be better off if the government forked over the cash without the Americorps red tape.

A new General Accounting Office study shows that the costs of the program far exceed those projected by Americorps proponents. Where proponents said the cost per volunteer would be about $6.43 an hour, the real cost came in at $15.65. Instead of an annual cost of $15,000 or $16,000, the real amount has been more like $27,000 per volunteer annually.

Although it wouldn't make a dimple on the federal deficit, Congress should either sack Americorps or transform it into something other than an inefficient and ineffectual make-work jobs program.