Peace Corps Watch

Peace Corps Volunteer Employees Demand Equality:

House Demands Expansion, Specifies Countries

PEACE CORPS
(INCLUDING TRANSFER OF FUNDS)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Fiscal year 2009 enacted level $340,000,000 Fiscal year 2010 request 373,440,000 Committee recommendation 450,000,000 Change from request 76,560,000 Change from enacted level 110,000,000 --------------------------------------------
The Committee recommendation includes $450,000,000 for Peace Corps, which is $110,000,000 above the fiscal year 2009 enacted level and $76,560,000 above the request.
Management considerations in expansion of the Peace Corps
In light of Congressional support for expansion of the Peace Corps, the Committee urges the Peace Corps to review its management practices in order to accommodate increased numbers of volunteers. The Committee directs the Comptroller General of the Government Accountability Office to conduct an assessment of Peace Corps recruitment, selection, field placement, retention and management practices, as well as steps required to expand the number of volunteers while ensuring volunteer and management quality. This comprehensive review should assess and include recommendations for improvement in: the Agency's ability to recruit, train, equip, deploy, retain and sustain skilled volunteers for the duration of their service term; the Agency's mechanisms for recruiting qualified skilled volunteers and matching those with country requested skills; the process for evaluating the performance of its managers in accordance with federally accepted standards; and the Agency's ability to absorb an increase in volunteers.
Volunteer recruitment and processing
The Committee applauds the Peace Corps' work to shift to electronic processing of volunteer applications, clearance and placement in order to reduce the time between nomination and deployment of volunteers. The Committee urges the Peace Corps to increase and broaden recruitment efforts in order to accommodate a volunteer increase and to increase the ratio of the number of applicants to volunteers deployed, to ensure the highest quality of volunteers.
Domestic offices
The bill includes a provision requiring the Peace Corps to follow the regular notification procedures of the Committees on Appropriations when deciding to open, close, or significantly reduce the number of personnel of any domestic office. In light of the decision to increase the number of Peace Corps volunteers and the corresponding need to intensify applicant recruitment, the Committee recommends that the Peace Corps consider re-establishing domestic offices in Denver, Colorado and Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota, while encouraging the Peace Corps to retain the community-based nature of those operations.
Renewable energy projects
The Committee urges the Peace Corps to find ways to channel the efforts of its volunteers to help increase access to renewable energy sources, including solar-energy based options. The Peace Corps Director should be prepared to report on plans to integrate this into the Peace Corps program at the fiscal year 2011 hearing and should consult with the Committees on Appropriations prior to implementing its plan.
Geographic distribution of volunteers
The Peace Corps' strategy guiding its geographic distribution of volunteers should be examined in light of shifting strategic interests, increasing costs of programs, and limited resources. The Peace Corps shall submit a report on this strategy to the Committees on Appropriations not later than 90 days after enactment of this Act. The report shall include a detailed description of the criteria used to assign volunteers on a country-by-country basis. The Committee encourages Peace Corps to consider expansion into Indonesia and Liberia in fiscal year 2010.

Text of H.R.3081 as Reported in House

More Money Or We Can't Serve There...........

(why you don't serve two masters)

Minimum PCVE service reduced to one year with a new upper limit.

Enforce the five year opportunity limit

PCVEs should be trained in US universities and placed in county with NGOs.

Host countries pay the cost of PC

Decrease PC staff salaries to reflect a percentage of the PCVE salary

Move PC to CN&CS or USIP

Enforce the Hatch Act

Create a PC Institute

Create an association of National Civic Workers

Cancel Peace Corps Response US government funds

Cancel NPCA, morepeacecorps, peace corps connect, etc. US government funds

A 5 year deficit neutral special fast tracked budget (like PEPFAR and Obama's volunteer program legislation)

Ignore in country governments(democratic), post conflict and the Safety and Security limiters

90% Don't know.....

A PCVE costs over $57,000 a year by PC's request and over 47,000 by Obama's budget. He no longer requests doubling PCVEs.

PC is a fully funded US government agency. PC charges for PCVE services.

PCVEs may have lost the resettlement allowance raise for one in country, a few percentage points more...

PC was not part of the Georgia NATO crisis exercise

PC has no ethical relational problem with GM, Chicago, Obama or foreign trade with drug war financed countries like Colombia.

PCVEs are 'hired by and farmed out to' other programs like PEPFAR. PC charges for the PCVEs who are more than 50% under poverty. '5 year deficit neutral fast tracked budgets'

The US consul has stated the Benin PCVE was shot. PC funded reporters have her murdered by PC staff. She was from Georgia, not the country. The Suriname PCVE 'accidentally shot' in the campesino was from Illinois, near Obama's house.

Most requests for PC by third party partners like ONE or Mercy Corps fail. Link Ethiopia/Rwanda.

Peace Corps Response was active in Madagascar.

Congress exempts National Service Workers from minimum pay laws. US Federal service workers are paid $1 above poverty to avoid HHS.
PC Yahoo runs the equivalent of a NAC on names submitted to the group through PC and OIG's new computer system.

NPCA, Connected Peace Corps, morepeacecorps, etc. are paid by the US government.

PC doctors are exempt from the five year opportunity law based on request to be classified. Most PC staff employees waivers are based on this.

The Peace Corps Fund was to make NPCA self funding and grants for PCVEs. The 50th Anniversary Fund doesn't mention grants.

'5 year deficit(federal) neutral special(outside normal budget) fast tracked budgets'

'That loan is illegal in the U.S.'

PCW has lobbied over Fiji since the coup. The new five year plan works with the Obama's domestication of foreign aid. How many natives have left?

PCW has lobbied over Thailand and the Philippines since the coups.........

PC is often compared to a band with musicians or an army band.

A bad election is a way around foreign aid bans under the Foreign Assistance Act funding. Treasury wants FAA enforced. Maybe we should buy the land.

Bulldozers, Civil Society, Judge Corps and squatters land rights don't mix. There were two non RPCVs in the car.

'...Contrary to popular belief, the strongest censorship is from Peace Corps...'

The PCVE reporter who was accidentally beaten to death in the Philippines by a campesino on federal land's original assignment and project financing.

PC has a waiver for all US Foreign Assistance Act, UN or any other sanctions. They operate 'independently.'

90% Dont Know.........continued