Nearly three months have passed since I left lovely Romania and the town of which I had grown so fond during two years as a teacher and Peace Corps volunteer there. My travels since then have taken me from one side of the United States to the other, seeing friends and family; glorious ventures, but I did feel a tinge of nostalgia on school opening day.
Fortunately, my travels soon took me to Washington, DC, during several days of events organized to mark 50 years since President Kennedy signed the legislation that officially brought the Peace Corps into being. And even more fortunately, the daughter I was staying with, also a returned volunteer, had received a schedule from the National Peace Corps Association. Attending several events reinvigorated my belief in the continuing value of what the Peace Corps does.
Thus, long before the sun arose on Thursday, September 22, I was on a bus from suburban Virginia into Washington to participate in Advocacy Day. Along with several hundred other returned volunteers -- most from the PC's early years -- I had been assigned to a team calling on members of Congress from my home state of Illinois. We were led by a veteran of such events, a man who had been in Colombia five decades earlier. Others included a university librarian who'd been in Ghana, a banker who'd been to Niger, a dancer turned social worker who'd been in Peru. Another on our team was a retired teacher who had also served recently, but in Armenia.
With badges swinging from our necks and ready to be screened at the door of various congressional office buildings, we began our round of appointments, which included the offices of seven members of the House of Representatives and our two Senators. Usually, we met with a staff member, and after a few visits, we had our pitch in good shape.
We'd been asked to make three main requests: please support the upcoming PC budget for 2012, agree to authorize the building of a (privately funded) commemorative work, and support a Volunteer Protection Act named in honor of a young volunteer who had been murdered while serving.
The fact sheets given to us explained the funding issue -- an inescapable impression, the Peace Corps is a good deal, even in a time of austerity. One factoid -- I only heard this, never read it -- is that it takes $250,000 to keep one U.S. foreign service officer in the field for a year, but only $25,000 to keep Peace Corps volunteer in country. And volunteers are all in the field, not working in offices.
Other, printed and thus possibly more reliable, information -- the House has passed a bill funding the PC at $374 million for 2012; the Senate has yet to do so. That's less than the White House had asked for initially, but it represents a 6.5% decrease from the year before - and that's with a lot more volunteers in the field. (On my last year in Romania, I was aware of the many ways in which our PC office was learning to get by on less -- and the Romania program will be closing down in two years.)
Two other compelling pieces of budget information -- at its current level of funding, the entire Peace Corps costs each U.S. taxpayer $1 per year. Even more striking -- the Peace Corps has cost, for the entire 50 years of its existence, ONE DAY of spending for FY 2010. Real facts: one day of spending: ca. $9.86 BILLION; 50 years of the Peace Corps: $8.7 billion.
It's a great bang for the buck -- and more about that in a blog to follow.
Among things we learned: one, congressional offices are neither spacious nor luxurious (one exception to be mentioned below). Next, they are often crowded with staff people, all of whom are political appointees; the legislative assistants we spoke with were well aware of the issues and tend to support the Peace Corps. One noted that the Peace Corps is less vulnerable to further cuts; it's regarded as cost effective and largely noncontroversial. An exception to the latter is the widely publicized hearings held last spring about volunteers' safety in some countries -- the Volunteer Protection Act currently before Congress addresses that.
Arguments our team made based on our own experience -- volunteers frequently make a long-term commitment to the communities in which they have served. Several I spoke with are continuing to support projects they started, some bring local young people to study in the United States, or work with host-country organizations here. Most of us come from a background dedicated to volunteer service -- and few break the habit after returning.
Illinois, I learned, has produced far more than its share of volunteers -- something like 8,600 over the past 50 years. Also, Northwestern University in my home town of Evanston is among the top 20 in the number of graduates it has sent into the Peace Corps.
Highlights of our visits, for me, were my "own" congress people. We visited the office of Republican Senator Mark Kirk; his major interest is foreign affairs, and his staff assistant -- he was out of town -- assured us of his support, while noting that all federal programs have to take some cuts.
Shortly thereafter, we called on Rep. Jan Schakowsky, a good liberal Democrat from Evanston. A member of her staff assured us of her continuing support, and then, to our delight, we were ushered into Rep. Schakowsky’s private office. Of course, she joined us for a picture – most of us were constituents.
Our last visit was also the most awesome -- Illinois Senator Richard Durbin is majority whip of the Senate, which means second in charge of the party that still holds the most seats. As such, he has an office in the U.S. Capitol itself -- but getting in there required several extra doses of security (I had to discard a nail file I've carried with me for 20 years).
The building itself is a glory; the Senate side was built in the 1850s; I was so impressed by the stately but colorful floor tiles, I missed some of the ceiling mosaics. In the senator's office itself, a portrait of Abraham Lincoln hangs behind the desk; its view of the mall goes all the way to the Washington Monument. A copy of the recent biography of the Peace Corps's first director Sargent Shriver was sitting on the low table we gathered around, while enjoying an informal conversation with a leading member of the Senate. Among his comments -- stay connected through all the high-tech communications devices we can avail ourselves of.
Not bad advice from someone who shares my birthday -- a fact I've noted on previous encounters with Senator Durbin. He commented that I look better; I replied that he has a nicer office. And I surely hope he gets to stay there, i.e., that the Democrats maintain control of the Senate in next year's election.
Another educational aspect of the day was noting all the other advocates (those of us who volunteer to support a specific cause) and the lobbyists (they get paid -- and wear suits). The halls of Congress are loaded with both. Friday's events would include a baseball game; on Saturday, a fascinating discussion led by Bill Moyers -- more on that in another blog.
Fascinating insider glimpse. Thanks!
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