Authorizing the Peace Corps to Provide Separation Pay for Host Country Resident Personal Services Contractors

Floor Speech

AUTHORIZING THE PEACE CORPS TO PROVIDE SEPARATION PAY FOR HOST COUNTRY RESIDENT PERSONAL SERVICES CONTRACTORS -- (House of Representatives - September 17, 2007)

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I rise in support of H.R. 3528, legislation introduced by our distinguished chairman, TOM LANTOS, that will help the Peace Corps eliminate a small but important discrepancy between its accounting and its expenditures.

Under foreign local law and the terms of their contracts, the Peace Corps is frequently required to make separation payments to personal service contractors overseas, for example, a lump sum payment equal to 1 month's salary for every year of service. The Peace Corps is required to account for that liability on its books every year even though those funds are not paid out to the contractor until the end of their service with the Peace Corps, which sometimes can be more than a decade.

However, because unspent funds revert back to the U.S. Treasury 5 years after they are obligated, the Peace Corps must pay obligations from beyond that time frame out of current operating funds. The bill would create a fund into which those obligations could be paid as they accrue, which can be used only for that purpose. Since this does not affect Peace Corps appropriations or obligations, there are no costs associated with this fix.

This also provides us with an opportunity, Mr. Speaker, to again commend the Peace Corps and its many volunteers for the important work that they do in building bridges of understanding between the American people and communities, families, and individuals overseas.

We support this legislation

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source