[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 137 (Thursday, October 17, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10651-S10653]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              PEACE CORPS CHARTER FOR THE 21ST CENTURY ACT

  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I rise today to express my satisfaction with 
last night's passage by unanimous consent of S. 2667, the Peace Corps 
Charter for the 21st Century Act. I would like to thank Gaddi Vasquez 
and the staff of the Peace Corps for their willingness to work with me 
to come up with a bill that I believe will make it possible for the 
President to achieve the goal that he set during the State of the Union 
address in January, namely the doubling of the size of the Peace Corps 
over the next several years. I am proud of the bill we have passed, and 
I am confident that the provisions it contains will help us continue to 
fulfill President Kennedy's original vision of the Peace Corps as an 
American volunteer service dedicated to ``promoting world peace and 
friendship.''
  It is always with tremendous fondness and pride that I speak of the 
Peace Corps, as it gives me occasion to recall my own years as a 
volunteer in the Dominican Republic. I have often spoken of how these 2 
years changed my life. Indeed, living and working outside of the United 
States and seeing the way other nations operated for the first time, I 
grew to appreciate our nation more and more, and developed a strong 
sense of what it means to be an American. I was proud to share my 
experience as an American citizen with the people I was there to help. 
Those 2 years were invaluable to me, and truly brought home to me the 
value of public service.
  As remarkable as the success of the Peace Corps has been, and as 
important a symbol and example it is of public service, in the 
aftermath of the tragic

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attacks on America on September 11, it has become something more. It 
has become a necessity. The terrorist attacks of last year have shown 
us that the world has become a much smaller place. The United States 
can no longer afford to neglect certain countries, or certain parts of 
the world. We need to find ways to help developing countries meet their 
basic needs, and we need to do so now. We especially need to act in 
places where the citizens are particularly unfamiliar with American 
values. Now, more than ever, Peace Corps volunteers play a pivotal role 
in helping us achieve a greater understanding of America abroad, 
especially in predominantly Muslim countries.
  However, if we are to expand the aims of the Peace Corps, to broaden 
its scope, and to send our volunteers into more countries, then we must 
provide the Peace Corps with a new charter and adequate resources to 
safely and effectively pursue these objectives. I believe that the 
legislation that passed the Senate last night, the Peace Corps Charter 
for the 21st Century Act, will go a long way to meeting anticipated 
funding needs, as well as charting the future course for this valuable 
organization.
  I believe that the Peace Corps Charter for the 21st Century Act will 
do an excellent job of modifying the Peace Corps Act to better meet the 
needs of both our volunteers and an expanding and changing 
organization. The Peace Corps is a truly remarkable institution in 
America, a symbol of the very best of our ideals of service, sacrifice, 
and self-reliance. Our volunteers are to be commended again for their 
enduring commitment to these ideals, and for the way they are able to 
communicate the message of the Peace Corps throughout the world. They 
deserve the very best from us, and the passage of the Peace Corps 
Charter for the 21st Century Act is an important step toward fulfilling 
our responsibility to the Peace Corps and its volunteers.
  Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, I support S. 2667, The Peace Corps Charter 
for the 21st Century Act. I commend Senator Dodd for developing this 
legislation and for working closely with the administration to advance 
it through the Foreign Relations Committee, where last week it was 
reported unanimously. Support for the Peace Corps is not, and should 
not be, a partisan issue. Senator Dodd's quiet work in moving this 
legislation forward is a testament to that principle.
  From promoting environmental conservation, to teaching primary school 
classes; from working to increase food production to training health 
care workers, Peace Corps volunteers do a lot of good throughout the 
world. Since the organization was founded 40 years ago, over 165,000 
volunteers have served in 135 countries. If you multiply that number by 
the number of people reached by each volunteer, the phenomenal impact 
of the Peace Corps becomes apparent. Our Peace Corps volunteers 
represent, in many ways, U.S. diplomacy at its best--reaching remote 
communities as well as urban neighborhoods, and helping people improve 
their lives in immeasurable ways.
  The Peace Corps is stronger and more popular than ever. Since 
January, the organization estimates that there has been a 300 percent 
increase in inquiries from potential volunteers. We must ensure that 
the Peace Corps has the necessary resources to capture and utilize this 
unprecedented surge in interest.
  For these reasons, I am pleased to support S. 2667, which goes a long 
way in advancing and strengthening the Peace Corps. The legislation 
authorizes yearly increases in funding for the Peace Corps to $560 
million in fiscal year 2007, in order to double the number of 
volunteers over the next 5 years. This increase in funding and 
volunteer capacity is long overdue, and is now more crucial than ever.
  Furthermore, the bill calls for the Peace Corps to develop a strategy 
for special placement of volunteers in countries whose governments are 
seeking to foster greater understanding between their citizens and the 
United States, particularly in countries with significant Muslim 
populations. Through person-to-person contact, Peace Corps volunteers 
can make great strides in eroding the deep misconceptions of the United 
States that exist in many cultures. The volunteers give a human face to 
the term ``American,'' bringing personal knowledge of our ideals and 
attitudes to communities all over the world.
  The legislation also establishes a global infectious disease 
initiative to comprehensively train Peace Corps volunteers in the 
education, prevention and treatment of the infectious diseases HIV/
AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. The HIV/AIDS epidemic has killed more 
people than the bubonic plague of the Middle Ages. Five million people 
were infected with HIV/AIDS in the past year alone, creating an 
unthinkable number of orphans worldwide. In some countries, the disease 
threatens to wipe out an entire generation. Tuberculosis and malaria 
have also caused millions more preventable deaths. It is imperative 
that Peace Corps volunteers be equipped with the knowledge and 
resources to protect their health, and that of the communities in which 
they serve, to the greatest extent possible.
  Again, I congratulate and thank Senator Dodd for his enduring 
allegiance to the Peace Corps. At a time when we must do all we can to 
promote mutual understanding worldwide, this legislation is an 
important effort to strengthen the Peace Corps, the United States' most 
valuable international volunteer program.
  Mr. KYL. Mr. President, I rise today to cosponsor the Protection of 
Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, S. 2268. I feel that this bill is 
necessary in light of the large numbers of lawsuits initiated in recent 
years seeking to impose liability on gun manufacturers and dealers for 
the violent conduct of third-party criminals. At common law, tort 
liability would not lie for harm that was proximately caused by the 
intervening acts of a third party. It was universally understood that 
you could not hold a person responsible for the behavior of another 
person whom he did not control. Applying these long-standing 
principles, the vast majority of courts have thrown out these types of 
gun lawsuits.
  Unfortunately, however, some courts have allowed these suits to go 
forward. Ohio's Supreme Court, for example, recently overruled both 
trial courts and appellate courts when, in a 4-3 vote, it reinstated a 
lawsuit against firearms manufacturers brought by the City of 
Cincinnati. Lower courts in Massachusetts have also allowed such 
lawsuits to go forward.
  This type of politicized litigation affects all firearms 
manufacturers' and dealers' right to conduct lawful commerce. These 
lawsuits thus affect all Americans' second amendment rights, not just 
the rights of those in the jurisdictions that have allowed these suits 
to go forward. For this reason, a Federal solution to this problem is 
appropriate.
  I, therefore, am pleased to cosponsor S. 2268, though I do so with 
one reservation. The bill as introduced in the Senate appears that it 
would not only bar political lawsuits, but would also bar recovery for 
a type of claim that I believe to be legitimate: an action for damages 
that result if a dealer knowingly or negligently sells a gun to a 
criminal. The same concern about barring this type of lawsuit was 
raised during the House of Representatives' consideration of the House 
companion to this bill, one member knew of a case in his district in 
which a dealer was sued for selling a gun to someone who was 
intoxicated. In response, the House Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, 
Trade, and Consumer Protection added an additional exception to the 
bill's preemption for actions arising from: the supplying of a firearm 
or an ammunition product by a seller for use by another person when the 
seller knows or should know the person to whom the product has been 
supplied is likely to use the product, and in fact does use the 
product, in a manner involving unreasonable risk of injury to himself 
and others.
  I believe that this House amendment is sufficient to allow legitimate 
lawsuits for harm arising from improper gun sales to go forward, while 
still protecting dealers and manufacturers from politicized anti-gun 
litigation. On the understanding that Senate conferees would accede to 
this or an equivalent provision in the House-Senate conference on this 
legislation, I am pleased to cosponsor the Protection of Lawful 
Commerce in Arms Act.

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