Peace Corps Expansion Act of 2009

Peace Corps Expansion Act of 2009 - Amends the Peace Corps Act to: (1) authorize appropriations for the Peace Corps; and (2) increase readjustment allowances for Peace Corps volunteers and volunteer leaders.

[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office]
[H.R. 1066 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1066

To amend the Peace Corps Act to provide continued funding for the Peace 
    Corps, to increase the readjustment allowances for Peace Corps 
       volunteers and volunteer leaders, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 13, 2009

    Mr. Farr (for himself, Mr. Driehaus, Mr. Honda, Mr. Petri, Ms. 
McCollum, Ms. Kaptur, Mr. Rahall, Mr. Olver, Mr. Welch, Mr. Waxman, Mr. 
 George Miller of California, Mr. Van Hollen, Mrs. Capps, Mr. Tierney, 
Mr. McDermott, Ms. Eshoo, Mr. Faleomavaega, Mr. Visclosky, Mr. Rangel, 
 Mr. Etheridge, Mr. Price of North Carolina, Mr. Calvert, Mr. Taylor, 
    Mr. Engel, Mr. Hastings of Florida, Mr. Berry, Mr. Fattah, Mr. 
Pierluisi, Ms. DeLauro, Mrs. Halvorson, Mr. Meeks of New York, Ms. Zoe 
  Lofgren of California, Mr. Perlmutter, Ms. Solis of California, Ms. 
   Schakowsky, Ms. Hirono, Mr. Jackson of Illinois, Mr. Connolly of 
Virginia, Mr. Hare, Mr. Teague, and Mr. Kagen) introduced the following 
      bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Peace Corps Act to provide continued funding for the Peace 
    Corps, to increase the readjustment allowances for Peace Corps 
       volunteers and volunteer leaders, and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Peace Corps Expansion Act of 2009''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) On October 14, 1960, then Senator John F. Kennedy 
        addressed students on the steps of the University of Michigan 
        Union to enlist their effort to make the world a better place 
        by serving their country abroad.
            (2) On March 1, 1961, then President John F. Kennedy signed 
        an Executive Order establishing a Peace Corps that was 
        ``designed to permit our people to exercise more fully their 
        responsibilities in the great common cause of world 
        development''.
            (3) Since President Kennedy established the Peace Corps, 
        more than 190,000 volunteers have served in 139 countries.
            (4) The Peace Corps is focused on grassroots, bottom-up 
        development, with volunteers working side-by-side with 
        community members in the most humble communities around the 
        world.
            (5) The Peace Corps has an impressive record of engendering 
        good will through the service that American volunteers provide.
            (6) President Obama and Vice President Biden have 
        articulated their intent to double the size of Peace Corps in 
        an expeditious and considered manner.
            (7) 13,011 Americans applied in 2008 to volunteer their 
        service to serve the world's poorest communities in the Peace 
        Corps, a 16 percent increase over the 11,246 received in 2007.
            (8) At the budget level, the Peace Corps is able to provide 
        placements for fewer than 4,000 Americans seeking the 
        opportunity to serve their country and the world.
            (9) Several countries have requested Peace Corps volunteers 
        to work together with their people to advance economic 
        development and human flourishing, but have not yet received 
        volunteers.

SEC. 3. FUNDING FOR THE PEACE CORPS.

    Section 3 of the Peace Corps Act (22 U.S.C. 2502) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (b)(1)--
                    (A) by striking ``$270,000,000'' and all that 
                follows through the end period and inserting the 
                following: ``$450,000,000 for fiscal year 2010, 
                $600,000,000 for fiscal year 2011, and $750,000,000 for 
                fiscal year 2012.''; and
                    (B) by redesignating subsection (h) as subsection 
                (e).

SEC. 4. READJUSTMENT ALLOWANCES FOR PEACE CORPS VOLUNTEERS AND 
              VOLUNTEER LEADERS.

    (a) Volunteers.--Section 5(c) of the Peace Corps Act (22 U.S.C. 
2504(c)) is amended in the first sentence by striking ``$125'' and 
inserting ``$250''.
    (b) Volunteer Leaders.--Section 6(1) of the Peace Corps Act (22 
U.S.C. 2505(1)) is amended by striking ``$125'' and inserting ``$250''.
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