Tomorrow, Wednesday, June 30, 2010, at 4 PM in H-140 of the Capitol Building in the United States Congress, Rep. Nita Lowey (NY-18) will make one of the most important decisions of her career. On that day, the appropriations subcommittee which she chairs, will decide whether or not to include a $65 million increase in appropriations for the Peace Corps, which would enable the agency to break 10,000 volunteers for the first time in 42 years.
Today, the cost of the Peace Corps is less than what America spends in one day prosecuting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Until very recently, the budget for the army marching band was more than that of the Peace Corps. Starved for resources, the Peace Corps is a remnant of its once vibrant presence across the world. But on the eve of the 50th anniversary, there is a special opportunity tomorrow to revive and strengthen it.
Demand has exploded and funding has not kept pace. Last year alone, 15,386 Americans vied for fewer than 4,000 positions, a 34% increase over 2008. Twenty new countries including Vietnam, a nation of 86 million people, have requested new programs. Existing programs in China, Rwanda, Indonesia, and many other countries need more resources but there is no budget and ministries are being told to wait.
Peace Corps is national service and if the demand is there from qualified applicants and interested countries, it is incumbent on Congress to provide the necessary funding.
The synchronicity in the timing of the historic vote tomorrow is telling. On the very day that Rep. Lowey decides whether or not to support the funding for 10,000 Peace Corps volunteers, over 6,000 volunteer leaders and public officials including Mayor Bloomberg will conclude the National Conference on Service and Volunteerism, in New York City, in which doubling of the of the Peace Corps will be a key platform presented before Congress.
Peace Corps enjoys remarkable bipartisan support because it is cost-effective and possesses ancillary language acquisition, diplomacy, and national security benefits. In fact, this year 124 bipartisan House Members signed a Dear Colleague Letter introduced by Democratic Congressman Sam Farr (Colombia 64-66) and Republican Congressman Tom Petri (Somalia 66-67) urging Rep. Lowey to support the $65 million increase.
Rep. Lowey and the 13 other subcommittee members must support the funding for 10,000 volunteers tomorrow to renew America's diplomacy and launch an exciting new beginning for the next fifty years of Peace Corps.
The PushforPeaceCorps.org campaign is asking all former Peace Corps volunteers to call Rep. Lowey's office at 202-225-6506 before 4 PM EST on June 30th to ask her to include the $65 million increase needed to break 10,000 volunteers on this historic anniversary.
Dr. Ronald A. Schwarz
Colombia One 1961-63
I don't like this armchair or advocacy based budget allocation. I'd prefer our citizen legislators make the best tradeoffs armed with the best knowledge they have. Though I believe in my own insights, I do not believe that reading a blog post for a few minutes allows me the authority to say how $65Million should be spent (and it's a heck of a lot of money, except in Washington where it's a rounding error, which in and of itself is a problem....)
Thanks for your reply. I agree with everything you say but the problem stems from very good advocates such as yourself: You advocate for peace corps, another advocates for the joint-strike-fighter, and still another for the boondoggle helicopter replacement for Marine One. Meanwhile very strong advocacy simply gets us more spending -- without any real reductions in those programs. That's my issue.
I wish you well, however...
-Mk
China 10, 2004-2006
Go ask the $65 million from them.
Heather Buckmaster, executive director, Oklahoma Beef Council (The Gambia 1992-94)
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Dan Chace, manager of Wasatch Micro Cap Fund (Paraguay)
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Charlie Clifford, founder, Tumi luggage (Peru 1967-1969)
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Patricia Cloherty, chairman of The U.S. Russia Investment Fund (Brazil 1963-65)
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Edward Dolby, director, Family Dollar Stores, Inc (India 1966-68)
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David S. Geiman, chairman of the executive committee, board of directors, president and chief executive officer of the CattleSale Company (Sierra Leone 1967-70)
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Samuel Gillespie III, senior vice president, Exxon Mobil Corp. (Kenya 1967-69)
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Jan Guifarro, vice president of corporate communications, Colgate Palmolive Company (Honduras 1973-75)
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Frank Guzzetta, president, Ralph Lauren Home (India 1968-72)
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Robert Haas, chairman of board for Levi Strauss (Ivory Coast 1964-66)
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Reed Hastings, founder and CEO of Netflix (Swaziland 1983-85)
These volunteers deserve American and their host government's protection and not being put at risk by the USA for any failed prohibition or promotion of any political agenda.
Bob Arias
Peace Corps Response Volunteer/Panama 2009'2010
RPCV Colombia 1964-1966
Would that we had more Peace Corps and less military but a Tank, an F-22, or a Cruise missile is always so much more impressive than I guy or girl with a shovel or a book!
It has been hard being a Patriot when you've seen what we PCV's have seen.
TheHandyman is a "Level 1 Networker" and has about 250 fans. He is a seasoned Huffington Post veteran. His collective comments on the Huffington Post, which he has surely dedicated hours and hours writing, have been endorsed by literally hundreds of supporters. His observations, while not perfectly articulated deserve the respect of the entire Huffington Post community. He has sacrificed so much time and energy to this forum - few of us have any idea what that is like.
Those of us who have few or no fans in this forum must understand that the red circle to the right of a person's name is a "Red Badge of Courage" denoting valor and distinction. It is not for untested mortals to thumb their noses at.
TheHandyman; for your boundless integrity and service to the internet, I salute you.
If the Huffington Post is to endure in this modern age of flash-in-the-pan blogs and countless inane message boards, we as an "internet community" must come together and demonstrate the respect that TheHandyman and KevinAtlanta deserve. TheHandyman is not perfect - no one is. But who within our ranks can replicate his record of achievement?
[ . . . and now for the rest of the story . . . ]
Even if the Peace Corps were a (fiscal) risk of any consequence, the rewards of full funding are literally beyond measure.
By Rajeev's numbers, more than 10,000 Americans ready to serve were turned away last year. To put it bluntly, are we nuts?
As a Volunteer more than 40 years ago, Iearned both that the world was vastly different from what I had studied and what I read in newspapers -- not because what I read was false, but because it was necessarily and inevitably distorted -- and that if what I read about the U.S. (in the U.S. media I had access to) while overseas from 1966 to 1968 had been all I knew of the U.S., I'd have thought the country had no future but a revolt of half its citizens and a possible second Civil War.
The Peace Corps was a valuable tool in my life and has enriched my life and the lives of those around me, including the hundreds of students I've had the pleasure of teaching over the years. I also know from both the many Iranians I worked and dealt with during my two years in Iran and the people I've met from all over the world since then who had some contact with Peace Corps Volunteers that all those people gained a new and different perspective on America than the one they had before such encounters.