[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 111 (Tuesday, July 11, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H6817-H6818]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 COST EFFECTIVENESS OF THE PEACE CORPS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Connecticut [Mr. Shays] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SHAYS. Mr. Speaker, I just want to be here tonight to say that 
the Peace Corps changed my life in an extraordinary way, as it did my 
wife, but I get my greatest satisfaction in thinking about what 
volunteers have done through the course of the past 30 years to change 
the lives of so many people around the world.
  Joining with my colleague to just express the tremendous satisfaction 
I have in knowing that Peace Corps volunteers are not those fancy 
consultants, high priced consultants going to countries, staying for a 
month or two and writing a report, the thing about a Peace Corps 
volunteer is that they are actually living in the communities. They are 
riding the buses that the indigenous people ride, they are living in 
the same communities, in the huts that they live in, eating the food 
and speaking their language.
  While I am not here to criticize the 4-percent reduction in cuts to 
the Peace 

[[Page H 6818]]
Corps, given the other cuts that are taking place throughout our 
budget, I am
 here to just caution my colleagues to make sure that we recognize that 
the Peace Corps is one of the most cost-effective organizations that 
you could possibly have. The real fact is that you cannot ask for an 
organization that has done more to help people in Third World countries 
than this organization begun by President Kennedy and continued by 
Presidents of both parties.

  At this time I would like to yield to the gentleman from California 
[Mr. Farr] and just thank him for his willingness to speak out on this 
issue.
  Mr. FARR. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman very much.
  Mr. Speaker, we wanted to show tonight that there is a bipartisan 
support for the Peace Corps, that this is not an issue that has ever 
been just a one party effort.
  I would just caution my colleagues in the House that as the world 
grows smaller and as we need to have more effort to sort of 
hypereducate the world population, there is not a more cost effective 
way of doing that than allowing young Americans and old alike, because 
there is no limit on serving in the Peace Corps, to be able to 
volunteer. They get paid, we got paid a small amount when we were in 
the Peace Corps, a stipend.
  Mr. SHAYS. Reclaiming my time, it was not quite the minimum wage, but 
it sure met our needs.
  I notice our colleague from Kentucky, and we have very little time 
left. I would love to yield time to my colleague.
  Mr. WARD. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman yielding that time. 
I have a 5-minute opportunity coming up, and we can continue this 
discussion, because I think it is important to recognize and to 
emphasize that this is a bipartisan effort.
  Mr. Speaker, there are six former Peace Corps volunteers who serve in 
the House of Representatives, and it is evenly divided, three Democrats 
and three Republicans. I think that speaks to the fact that all sorts 
of folks have made the commitment, have been willing to spend the time 
and go far afield from where they grew up to give a little back and to 
learn a lot, because one thing that I often tell people about my time 
in the Peace Corps is that I benefited far more than the people I was 
there helping.
  Mr. SHAYS. Mr. Speaker, I just would say to my colleague, I think 
about this experience, remembering being in a Fijian hut and seeing a 
picture of President Kennedy, and how much the Third World reached out 
to this President who was reaching out to the Third World, and thinking 
about a great African leader who visited President Kennedy, and 
President Kennedy, who was sensitive to the culture of the African 
community, instead of inviting him into the East Room or the Green Room 
or the Blue Room, invited him up into his own personal living quarters. 
And volunteers know the symbolism and the significance of when we were 
visiting a neighbor, if they would actually bring us into the most 
personal part of their own home, it was a great honor. That electrified 
the Third World, that he had shown such respect to a great African 
leader by inviting him into his own personal quarters.
  Becoming sensitive to the concerns and the ways that people live in 
other countries was just a definite part of this whole Peace Corps 
experience. Candidly, this has brought a tremendous ability for me to 
interact with people of all income levels and all different social 
economic circumstances, all educational levels, and realize that behind 
that income level or that education is an extraordinarily real person 
that I am about to interact with.


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