LOWEY LEADS THE BEGINNING OF THE BOLD NEW PEACE CORPS
Last night at 5:30pm EST Congresswoman Nita Lowey, appearing with Colombia RPCV Journalist Maureen Orth, on the Chris Matthews show announced that we got the full $450 million for the Peace Corps in 2010, a $110 million increase out of the House of Representatives subcommittee.
Watch the Chris Matthews segment where Lowey makes the announcement.
When the President’s 2010 budget came out $76 million short, people thought the campaign was over. But guess what, the Peace Corps volunteers never gave up. Now, we are helping to fulfill Obama’s own vision of a bold Peace Corps.
Representatives Sam Farr, Betty McCollum, Mark Steven Kirk, Barbara Lee, Jessie Jackson Jr., Steve Rothman, Adam Schiff, Steve Israel, Tom Petri, Kay Granger, Mike Honda, and others made this happen. Marc Hanson and Bill Harper in Farr and McCollum’s offices, both RPCVs, worked around the clock.
It is an affirmation of the grassroots nature of this movement that we will never know who or what did it. Whether it was a passionate letter you wrote, Chris Matthews and Maureen Orth asking Congresswomen Lowey to appear on Hardball last night, a phone call to a chairwoman from one of her peers in the Congress, or Maureen’s meeting with the Vice President of Air Force 2, we’ll never know. And the magnificent fact is that it doesn’t matter. It is imperative we send in emails thanking Congresswoman Lowey for her leadership to her legislative staffer Ann Vaughan (ann.vaughan@mail.house.gov ) who worked incredibly hard over the last few months.
Now we have to bring it home, proving everyone wrong again as we shift our attention to the Senate where the process lags a month behind.
Democrats
Senator Patrick Leahy (VT) (Chair)
Senator Daniel Inouye (HI)
Senator Tom Harkin (IA)
Senator Barbara Mikulski (MD)
Senator Richard Durbin (IL)
Senator Tim Johnson (SD)
Senator Mary Landrieu (LA)
Senator Frank Lautenberg (NJ)
Senator Arlen Specter (PA)
Republican
Senator Judd Gregg (NH) (Ranking Member)
Senator Mitch McConnell (KY)
Senator Robert Bennett (UT)
Senator Christopher Bond (MO)
Senator Sam Brownback (KS)
SAMPLE LETTER
Dear Senator XXXX,
On June 17th, 2009 The House Subcommittee for State Foreign Operations and Related Programs, in its markup of the 2012 Appropriations Bill provided $450 million to the Peace Corps. I am writing to urge you in your roll as a member of the Senate subcommittee to stand up for this full funding.
The Peace Corps is neglected and underfunded. In 2009, we will send fewer than 3,500 volunteers to the Peace Corps – less than half the number in 1966. Over twenty nations without Peace Corps missions including Indonesia, Vietnam, and Sierra Leone have requested new programs, but due to insufficient funds, Peace Corps cannot respond. In 2008 alone, over 13,000 people applied to become volunteers, a 16% increase over 2007. The number of minority applicants and applicants over the age of 50 also rose by double digits in the last year. The desire for Americans to serve internationally is matched by a long list of countries that want volunteers. This is an appropriate time to grow and revitalize Peace Corps.
The Peace Corps had a profound impact on my life and US community. I served in _______________.
I hope you share my view that the Peace Corps is a vital component of our public diplomacy toolbox. Since 1961, nearly 200,000 Peace Corps volunteers have provided meaningful, small-scale development assistance, reversing stereotypes about Americans and returning stateside to enrich communities domestically with new language and other skills. Peace Corps continues to be one of America’s finest expressions of friendship and solidarity across the globe.
The Obama-Biden Administration is working diligently to reinvigorate our foreign policy and burnish America’s image. To do this, we must maximize every element of soft power. Investing in Peace Corps would help to reestablish our credibility and moral standing abroad, while exposing people to the core American values of peace, progress, tolerance and prosperity. It is for these reasons I urge you to support a $450 million Peace Corps appropriation.
I appreciate the ardent support you have provided to the Peace Corps in the past and welcome your support in the subcommittee.
Sincerely,
NAME
PEACE CORPS YEARS (IF RPCV)
ADDRESS
PHONE, EMAIL
TITLE(S)
We’ve made it further than anyone thought possible. Now is the time to act.
