HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.C.R. NO.	303
TWENTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE, 2009
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

SUPPORTing the PEACE CORPS EXPANSION ACT OF 2009.

WHEREAS, on March 1, 1961, President John F. Kennedy signed an Executive Order establishing the Peace Corps; and

     WHEREAS, since President Kennedy established the Peace Corps, more than 195,000 volunteers, 1,274 from Hawaii, have served in 139 countries; and

WHEREAS, Peace Corps continues to be one of America's finest expressions of friendship and solidarity across the globe; and

     WHEREAS, 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; and

     WHEREAS, Peace Corps has reported that over 20 countries requested a Peace Corps program, and that many countries with existing programs would welcome additional volunteers; and

     WHEREAS, in Fiscal Year 2008, Peace Corps reported its volunteers provided assistance to more than 2.1 million people around the world, helped train nearly 160,000 service providers and assisted with nearly 600 grassroots projects through the Peace Corps Partnership Program; and

     WHEREAS, at the cost of less than $45,000 per volunteer, Peace Corps volunteers are highly cost-effective; and

     WHEREAS, in so many ways, returned Peace Corps volunteers continue to provide service and play important roles as leaders in our community; and

     WHEREAS, in so many ways, returned Peace Corps volunteers continue to provide service and play important roles as leaders in our community; and

     WHEREAS, 13,011 Americans applied in 2008 to volunteer their service to serve the world’s poorest communities, Peace Corps is able to provide placements for fewer than 4,000; and

     WHEREAS, in his December 5, 2007 speech entitled "A Call to Serve," President Barack Obama made a commitment to double the size of the Peace Corps by its 50th anniversary in 2011 and reach out to other nations to engage their young people in similar programs enabling us to work side by side to take on the common challenges that confront all humanity; and

WHEREAS, the United States House of Representatives is considering H.R. 1066, the "Peace Corps Expansion Act of 2009," to increase the 2010 fiscal year budget of Peace Corps to $450,000,000; now, therefore,

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-fifth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2009, the Senate concurring, that it supports President Obama's commitment to doubling the number of Peace Corps volunteers by 2011 as well as urges the United States Congress to pass and fully fund the Peace Corps Expansion Act of 2009; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to Hawaii's Congressional delegation, President Barack Obama, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate President Harry Reid, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Peace Corps Acting Director Josephine Olsen.

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title: 

Peace Corps Expansion Act of 2009; support