COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS NINETY-FIFTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION Review of Peace Corps Authorization Request for Fiscal Review of H.R. 9774 and Various Proposals Relating to Peace Markup of Peace Corps Supplemental Authorization Request COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS CLEMENT J. ZABLOCKI, Wisconsin, Chairman L. H. FOUNTAIN, North Carolina BENJAMIN S. ROSENTHAL, New York DON BONKER, Washington GERRY E. STUDDS, Massachusetts ANDY IRELAND, Florida DONALD J. PEASE, Ohio ANTHONY C. BEILENSON, California WILLIAM S. BROOMFIELD, Michigan BENJAMIN A. GILMAN, New York ROBERT J. LAGOMARSINO, California Statement of Hon. Carolyn Payton, Director of Peace Corps---- ACTION statement regarding Peace Corps recruiters with skilled trade Opening statement of Subcommittee Chairman Michael J. Harrington--- Executive Communication 3247 transmitting the administrations request for fiscal year 1978 supplemental and fiscal year 1979 authorization Subcommittee staff briefing memorandum on Peace Corps budget. Text of the clean bill H.R. 11679 approved by the subcommittee in open APPENDIX 1. Additional statements for the record: (a) The Development Group for Alternative Policies, Washington, Page (d) Father T. Byron Collins, and Father Willlan L. George, special assistants to the president, and Father Harold Bradley, director of International Programs, Georgetown University, 2. Responses by ACTION to additional questions submitted in writing by Subcommittee Chairman Harrington.. 3. Responses by ACTION to additional questions submitted in writing by 4. Letter from the Agency for International Development submitted to PEACE CORPS Review of Peace Corps Authorization Request for TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1978 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, SUBCOMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, Washington, D. C. The subcommittee met at 2 p.m. in room 2172, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Michael Harrington (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Mr. HARRINGTON. Before we hear testimony from our witnesses, I want to emphasize that our purpose here today is not to dwell on the philosophy, purpose, and organization of the Peace Corps. These are essential considerations which we have deliberated in recent oversight hearings and will continue to examine when we begin our Peace Corps legislative hearings on March 1. Our purpose today is to examine the Peace Corps fiscal year 1978 supplemental and fiscal year 1979 authorization requests and our focus is on performance. Our question to Sam Brown and Mary King is "How can we on this subcommittee be assured that the Peace Corps is meeting its legislative goals?" "How do we know that the Peace Corps is providing real and durable benefits for the developing countries and how can we be confident that the volunteers are both personally rewarded and better citizens for their experience?" During the past year you and this subcommittee have been engaged in a dialog concerning programmatic reforms for the Peace Corps. You have reported that recruitment, training, and volunteer support are changing and presumably improving. Greater emphasis is being given to training and placement for human needs and development. These are desirable changes in the fabric of a bureaucracy, and I commend you for having initiated them. The ACTION budget submission represents costs in relation to numbers of trainees and volunteers and costs per trainee and volunteer. At the same time, the budget emphasizes concern for improving the quality of the Peace Corps. Consistent with this concern for quality, we must begin to formulate ways in which to assess the quality and impact of the Peace Corps. I would hope that we can get on the record, if not a definitive, at least a tentative discussion of what the Peace Corps performance |