II 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1382 

To improve and expand the Peace Corps for the 21st century, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 25, 2009 

Mr. DODD introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to 

the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To improve and expand the Peace Corps for the 21st 

century, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Peace Corps Improve5 ment and Expansion Act of 2009’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 

8 (1) Firmly established beliefs of the Peace 

9 Corps include the following: 


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1 (A) The act of volunteering has inherent 

2 value. 

3 (B) The foreign policy goals of the United 

4 States are advanced by— 

5 (i) contributing to the reduction of 

6 poverty; and 

7 (ii) fostering international under8 standing. 

9 (2) More than 195,000 volunteers have ably 

10 served in the Peace Corps in 139 countries by— 

11 (A) working towards economic and social 

12 development; and 

13 (B) promoting a better understanding of— 

14 (i) the people of the United States on 

15 the part of the peoples served; and 

16 (ii) other peoples on the part of the 

17 people of the United States. 

18 (3) Today, the importance and necessity is 

19 greater than ever for the Peace Corps— 

20 (A) to promote global economic and social 

21 development; 

22 (B) to promote understanding and friend23 ship; and 

24 (C) to foster collaboration with inter25 national nongovernmental organizations. 


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1 (4) Since 1961, a bi-partisan succession of 

2 Presidents and Congresses have endorsed the expan3 sion of the Peace Corps in order— 

4 (A) to meet requests from countries to in5 crease the size of the Peace Corps programs in 

6 their countries; 

7 (B) to initiate Peace Corps programs in 

8 countries where the Peace Corps does not cur9 rently operate; 

10 (C) to provide more opportunities for the 

11 people of the United States to engage in volun12 teer service abroad; and 

13 (D) to renew dormant Peace Corps pro14 grams. 

15 (5) The purpose of the Peace Corps, as de16 clared by section 2(a) of the Peace Corps Act (22 

17 U.S.C. 2501), is to promote world peace and friend18 ship by helping— 

19 (A) the people of interested countries in 

20 meeting their needs for trained men and 

21 women, particularly in meeting the basic needs 

22 of those living in the poorest areas of such 

23 countries; 


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1 (B) to promote a better understanding of 

2 people of the United States on the part of the 

3 peoples served; and 

4 (C) to promote a better understanding of 

5 other peoples on the part of the people of the 

6 United States. 

7 (6) As the Peace Corps reaches its 50th anni8 versary in 2010, a new forward-looking strategy 

9 should be developed to improve the effectiveness and 

10 efficiency of the Peace Corps in pursuing the goals 

11 described in subparagraphs (A) through (C) of para12 graph (5) by analyzing and accounting for the 

13 strengths and weaknesses of the following: 

14 (A) The program model of the Peace 

15 Corps. 

16 (B) The current and planned distribution 

17 of Peace Corps volunteers throughout the 

18 world. 

19 (C) Partnership opportunities and oper20 ations of the Peace Corps. 

21 (D) Recruitment and management prac22 tices of the Peace Corps with respect to the di23 versity of Peace Corps volunteers and staff. 


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1 SEC. 3. ASSESSMENT AND STRATEGIC PLAN FOR IMPROV2 ING AND EXPANDING PEACE CORPS. 

3 (a) ASSESSMENT.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 

5 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director 

6 of the Peace Corps shall complete the assessment 

7 described in paragraph (2) to determine how best— 

8 (A) to strengthen the management capa9 bilities and program effectiveness of the Peace 

10 Corps; 

11 (B) to expand opportunities for Peace 

12 Corps volunteers; and 

13 (C) to increase the size of the Peace Corps. 

14 (2) ASSESSMENT DESCRIBED.—The assessment 

15 described in this paragraph means an assessment 

16 of— 

17 (A) how the purpose of the Peace Corps 

18 declared under section 2(a) of the Peace Corps 

19 Act (22 U.S.C. 2501(a)) translates into tan20 gible strategic plans for the Peace Corps; 

21 (B) the distribution of Peace Corps volun22 teers in country programs, including how and 

23 why volunteers are assigned to various countries 

24 and jurisdictions of within countries; 

25 (C) the most effective and efficient meth26 ods of improving support for the Peace Corps’ 


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1 goal of promoting a better understanding of 

2 other peoples on the part of the people of the 

3 United States; 

4 (D) the prospects for partnerships with 

5 international and host country nongovernmental 

6 organizations and other entities to achieve the 

7 goals of the Peace Corps through development 

8 projects; 

9 (E) the adequacy of the current program 

10 model of the Peace Corps and the feasibility of 

11 program models such as the Peace Corps Re12 sponse Program; 

13 (F) the effectiveness and efficiency of vol14 unteer recruitment strategies, methods, and re15 source allocations used by the Peace Corps; 

16 (G) the effectiveness of the Peace Corps in 

17 recruiting ethnically, socio-economically, and 

18 geographically diverse volunteers with wide19 ranging skills and interests; 

20 (H) the skills and interests of current 

21 Peace Corps volunteers; 

22 (I) options for diversification of the skills 

23 and interests of Peace Corps volunteers, includ24 ing volunteers with skills and interests that re25 late to public health, information technology, 


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1 urban planning, social services, communica2 tions, and community organizing; 

3 (J) the Peace Corps volunteer training 

4 programs; 

5 (K) the options available to volunteers to 

6 suspend payment of student loans while serving 

7 in the Peace Corps; 

8 (L) the medical care received by volunteers 

9 while serving in the Peace Corps; 

10 (M) the procedures of the Peace Corps for 

11 mandatory medical separation of volunteers 

12 serving in the Peace Corps; 

13 (N) the medical screening process for vol14 unteers entering service in the Peace Corps, in15 cluding— 

16 (i) the cost to the Peace Corps of pro17 viding full reimbursement for medical tests 

18 under taken by volunteers applying for or 

19 entering service in the Peace Corps; 

20 (ii) expanded information for appli21 cants including potentially disqualifying 

22 medical conditions; and 

23 (iii) the cost of extending the medical 

24 care provided by the Peace Corps to volun25 teers serving in the Peace Corps to include 


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1 the 5-month period beginning on the date 

2 on which a volunteer completes service in 

3 the Peace Corps; 

4 (O) the causes of the early termination of 

5 service in the Peace Corps, using the cohort 

6 and other statistically appropriate methods and 

7 the reasons cited by volunteers terminating 

8 their service in the Peace Corps early; 

9 (P) how the Peace Corps can utilize infor10 mation technology to improve— 

11 (i) program efficiency, effectiveness, 

12 and coordination; and 

13 (ii) communication among volunteers; 

14 (Q) mechanisms for soliciting the views of 

15 volunteers serving in the Peace Corps, on a con16 fidential basis, regarding— 

17 (i) the support provided to such volun18 teers by senior staff of the Peace Corps; 

19 and 

20 (ii) the operations of the Peace Corps, 

21 including— 

22 (I) staffing decisions; 

23 (II) site selection; 

24 (III) language training; 

25 (IV) country programs; and 


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1 (V) dialogue with host country 

2 partners and ministries; and 

3 (R) mechanisms for incorporating the 

4 views solicited in subparagraph (Q) into pro5 gramming and management decisions of the 

6 Peace Corps. 

7 (3) METHOD.—The assessment shall— 

8 (A) be built on a review of past experiences 

9 and studies; and 

10 (B) draw on the knowledge of— 

11 (i) current Peace Corps volunteers 

12 and staff, at all levels of seniority; 

13 (ii) returned Peace Corps volunteers 

14 and staff; and 

15 (iii) host country nationals and offi16 cials who have worked closely with Peace 

17 Corps volunteers. 

18 (b) STRATEGIC PLAN.— 

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 

20 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Di21 rector of the Peace Corps shall develop, based on the 

22 assessment required under subsection (a), a stra23 tegic plan for the Peace Corps that— 


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1 (A) encompasses the findings of the Direc2 tor with respect to the assessment required 

3 under subsection (a); and 

4 (B) includes the matters described in para5 graph (2). 

6 (2) MATTERS DESCRIBED.—The matters de7 scribed in this paragraph include the following: 

8 (A) 1-year and 5-year goals and bench9 marks for the Peace Corps that address— 

10 (i) each matter included in the assess11 ment required under subsection (a); and 

12 (ii) such other matters as the Director 

13 considers appropriate. 

14 (B) Strategies for— 

15 (i) distributing volunteers to countries 

16 in which they have maximum value-added 

17 for the host country, for the United States, 

18 and for the volunteers themselves; 

19 (ii) identifying countries with strategic 

20 value to Peace Corps goals, currently not 

21 served or dormant, and proposals for start22 ing new country programs or re-activating 

23 dormant programs, as well as countries 

24 with less strategic relevance to Peace 


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1 Corps goals, including proposals for reduc2 ing or closing such country programs; 

3 (iii) balancing the Peace Corps’ inde4 pendence with its need to remain relevant 

5 to broader United States foreign goals; and 

6 (iv) ensuring that Peace Corps oper7 ations and goals are not adversely affected 

8 in situations where the bi-lateral relation9 ship between the host country and the 

10 United States is problematic. 

11 (c) REPORT.— 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 

13 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Di14 rector of the Peace Corps shall submit to the appro15 priate congressional committees a report that in16 cludes— 

17 (A) the findings of the Director with re18 spect to the assessment required under sub19 section (a); and 

20 (B) the strategic plan developed under sub21 section (b). 

22 (2) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT23 TEES DEFINED.—In this subsection, the term ‘‘ap24 propriate congressional committees’’ means— 


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1 (A) the Committee on Foreign Relations 

2 and the Committee on Appropriations of the 

3 Senate; and 

4 (B) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and 

5 the Committee on Appropriations of the House 

6 of Representatives. 

7 SEC. 4. LIMITATION ON NUMBER OF PRESIDENTIAL AP8 POINTMENTS UNDER PEACE CORPS ACT. 

9 The Peace Corps Act (22 U.S.C. 2501 et seq.) is 

10 amended by inserting after section 19 the following: 

11 ‘‘SEC. 20. LIMITATION ON NUMBER OF POLITICAL APPOINT12 MENTS. 

13 ‘‘Except for appointments made under section 12, the 

14 President may not make more than 15 concurrent ap15 pointments under this Act.’’. 

16 SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

17 Section 3(b) of the Peace Corps Act (22 U.S.C. 

18 2502(b)) is amended to read as follows: 

19 ‘‘(b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

20 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be 

21 appropriated to carry out the purposes of this Act— 

22 ‘‘(A) $450,000,000 for fiscal year 2010; 

23 ‘‘(B) $575,000,000 for fiscal year 2011; 

24 and 

25 ‘‘(C) $700,000,000 for fiscal year 2012. 


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1 ‘‘(2) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS.—Amounts au2 thorized to be appropriated under paragraph (1) for 

3 a fiscal year are authorized to remain available for 

4 that fiscal year and the subsequent fiscal year.’’. 

Æ 


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