Both Bayh and McCain offices point out that they DID NOT say mandatory.
Fox News found some think-tank consultant puke who said it might be maybe kinda' sorta' something to consider, maybe, sometime.
But that doesn't mean that others aren't proposing it and that it's not already required by many high schools.
Do you remember the United States Youth Conservation Corps from back in the 70's? I do--I was a camp director two YCC camps in 1979 and 1980 (when I was young, liberal and foolish--LOL).
This YCC "conservation camp" used high school kids to complete "critical" conservation projects like a nature trail nobody used, a footbridge that nobody crossed, and a cross-country ski trail on an Air Force base that was shut down a few years later. Yeah, we really "saved the environment"--NOT!!! And of course, there were full-time well-paid YCC bureaucrats running around everywhere "supervising" our camp, holding "training sessions" at fancy hotels, etc.
THE YCC was a COPMPLETE WASTE OF TIME AND TAXPAYER MONEY, and that's one of the reasons Ronald Reagan shut the program down the year he was elected.
Americorps is no different and will be no different than the YCC, whether it's mandatory or voluntary. The Call to Service Act would be a FRIGGIN' WASTE OF TAXPAYER MONEY, brought to you by the one Clymer Senator who claims to be The Messiah Guardian Against Pork.
OK, so let's summarize:
"An incredibly stupid, expensive, wholly wasteful, un-Constitutional, politically-correct, mandatory welfare-program-in-drag..."
OR
"An incredibly stupid, expensive, wholly wasteful, un-Constitutional, politically-correct, voluntary welfare-program-in-drag..."
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.....................nope. Little difference to these eyes.