House supports $330M appropriation for Peace Corps



House supports $330M appropriation for Peace Corps

House Rpt.108-599 - FOREIGN OPERATIONS, EXPORT FINANCING, AND RELATED PROGRAMS APPROPRIATIONS BILL, 2005
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PEACE CORPS

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Fiscal year 2004 level $308,171,000

Fiscal year 2005 request 401,000,000

Committee recommendation 330,000,000

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The Committee recommends $330,000,000 for the Peace Corps, an amount that is $71,000,000 below the budget request and $21,829,000 above the amount enacted for fiscal year 2004. Prior year language addressing the purchase of motor vehicles, abortion, and availability of funds has been continued in this Act. Last year's language made permanent the Peace Corps' authority to waive the five-year rule for positions involving the safety of Peace Corps volunteers and, as such, is not repeated. The Committee encourages the Peace Corps to utilize this authority.

The Committee recognizes that the life of a Peace Corps volunteer is often challenging and risky and notes the significant improvements the Peace Corps has made in support of the health and safety of its volunteers. However, the Committee remains concerned that potential Peace Corps volunteers do not have enough information available to make informed decisions about the risks they may face in their new positions. Volunteer safety and health must remain the top priority of the Peace Corps.

The Committee notes that the Director of the Peace Corps has not submitted individual Country Security reports as urged in House Report 108-222. The Committee directs the Director of the Peace Corps to submit to the Committee not later than 60 days following enactment of this Act a report containing these reports and describing how the Peace Corps can make available, including through its website, country-specific reports describing the risks volunteers face to their health and safety.

When this story was posted in November 2004, this was on the front page of PCOL:

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Read the stories and leave your comments.