Dear Colleague Letter

While action on the annual House Peace Corps funding letter has concluded, opportunities for Senators to sign onto their version of this important letter continues. However, this is the final week for Senators to sign the letter.

Senate

A bipartisan Senate letter asking for robust funding for Peace Corps in fiscal year 2021 is co-authored by Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Susan Collins (R-ME).

Take Action with your Senators**

• If you wish, you can read the Senate letter here.
• Ask your Senator(s) to "sign the Feinstein-Collins Peace Corps funding Dear Colleague letter that is now circulating".
• TAKE ACTION HERE: Write and ask you Senator(s) to sign the letter (or, thank them if they already signed! - see list below).
• Find the phone number of your Senators if you want to contact them by phone.

Deadline to sign on: Friday April 10th.

Signatures as of Tuesday, April 7, 9:00 AM: 27 (see list below)

Additional Signatures Needed to Reach Last Year's Record: 14

(** Along with the Peace Corps letter, we encourage you to urge your Senator(s) to also sign a similar letter - being circulated by Senators Todd Young (R-IN) and Richard Durbin (D-IL), requesting strong funding for all international affairs funding, including Peace Corps)

Senators who signed the Feinstein-Collins Peace Corps Funding Dear Colleague Letter (List of Current Signers Below)

California: Feinstein (co-author)

Connecticut: Blumenthal, Murphy

Colorado: Bennet

Delaware: Carper, Coons

Hawaii: Schatz

Illinois: Duckworth

Maine: Collins (co-author), King

Maryland: Cardin, Van Hollen

Massachusetts: Warren

Michigan: Peters, Stabenow

Minnesota: Klobuchar

Nevada: Rosen

New Hampshire: Hassan, Shaheen

North Carolina: Tillis

Ohio: Brown

Oregon: Wyden

Rhode Island: Reed, Whitehouse

Vermont: Sanders

Virginia: Kaine

Washington: Cantwell

House of Representatives

The co-chairs of the House of Representatives Peace Corps Caucus, RPCVs John Garamendi (D-CA) and Joe Kennedy (D-MA), and Representative Garrett Graves (R-LA) circulated a letter that their colleagues can sign, asking that Peace Corps funding for the fiscal year that begins this coming October (FY 2021) be increased to $450 million.

THIS LETTER IS NOW CLOSED.

Our thanks to all who reached out to their House Reps on this important action.

We await a final update on signers of this letter.

You can read the House letter here.

Lawmakers who Signed the Garamendi - Graves - Kennedy Peace Corps Funding Dear Colleague Letter (List of Current Signers Below)

Deadline to sign on: Thursday March 12, 2020 (a final signature count is still pending)

Signatures as of Thursday, March 12, 4:00 PM: 167

Additional Signatures Needed to Surpass Last Year's Record: 15

Alabama: Sewell

Alaska: Young

American Samoa: Radewagan

Arizona: Gallego, Grijalva

California: Barragan, Bass, Bera, Brownley, Carbajal, Chu, Cisneros, Costa, Susan Davis, DeSaulniers, Eshoo, Garamendi (co-author), Harder, Khanna, LaMalfa, Barbara Lee, Mike Levin, Lieu, Lofgren, Lowenthal, Matsui, McNerney, Napolitano, Panetta, Scott Peters, Porter, Rouda, Roybal-Allard, Sanchez, Schiff, Speier, Swalwell, Takano, Vargas, Waters

Colorado: DeGette, Neguse, Perlmutter, Tipton

Connecticut: Courtney, DeLauro, Hayes, Himes, Larson

Delaware: Blunt Rochester

District of Columbia: Norton

Florida: Castor, Deutch, Hastings, Murphy, Shalala

Georgia: Bishop, Hank Johnson, Lewis, David Scott

Hawaii: Gabbard

Illinois: Bustos, Casten, Davis, Foster, Garcia, Kelly, Lipinski, Rush, Schakowsky, Schneider

Indiana: Carson

Iowa: Steve King, Loebsack

Kansas: Davids

Kentucky: Barr, Yarmuth

Louisiana: Graves (co-author)

Maine: Golden, Pingree

Maryland: Brown, Raskin, Ruppersberger, Sarbanes, Trone

Massachusetts: Kennedy (co-author), Keating, Lynch, McGovern, Moulton, Pressley, Trahan

Michigan: Dingell, Kildee, Andy Levin, Slotkin, Tlaib

Minnesota: Craig, Peterson, Phillips

Mississippi: Thompson

Nevada: Horsford, Lee, Titus

New Hampshire: Kuster, Pappas

New Jersey: Gottheimer, Kim, Malinowski, Pallone, Pascrell Jr., Payne Jr., Sires, Chris Smith, Van Drew

New Mexico: Haaland

New York: Clarke, Delgado, Engel, Espaillat, Higgins, Katko, Sean Patrick Maloney, Meeks, Morelle, Rice, Suozzi, Tonko, Velazquez

North Carolina: Adams, Butterfield

Northern Marianas: Sablan

Ohio: Beatty

Oregon: Blumenauer, Bonamici, DeFazio

Pennsylvania: Boyle, Evans, Fitzpatrick, Wild

Puerto Rico: Gonzalez-Colon

Rhode Island: Ciciline

Tennessee: Cohen

Texas: Allred, Castro, Doggett, Escobar, Vicente Gonzalez, Green, Jackson-Lee, Veasey, Vela

Vermont: Welch

Virginia: Beyer, Connolly, Luria, McEachin, Spanberger, Wexton

Washington: DelBene, Heck, Jayapal, Larsen, Schrier, Adam Smith

Wisconsin: Kind, Moore

Each spring, the Peace Corps community mobilizes to support letters issued in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives urging robust funding for the Peace Corps.

Senators Johnny Isakson (R-GA) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) circulated a Dear Colleague letter asking for an increase in Peace Corps funding, and the Peace Corps community responded. The Dear Colleague letter, an official correspondence sent by Members of Congress to encourage others to support or oppose a bill, received a record 41 signatures this year. That number surpassed the previous high of 37 signatures, achieved in both 2009 and 2018. 

Coupled with a record breaking House Dear Colleague letter and its 181 signatures, a combined 222 lawmakers, representing 41 percent of Congress (also a new record), demonstrated strong support for the Peace Corps. With such a high number of signatures, it is more likely that Congress will include an increase in Peace Corps's budget for the 2020 Fiscal Year.

To read the Senate letter, follow this link.

If you Senator(s) are listed below, follow this link to call or write them to thank them for signing the bi-partisan Isakson-Feinstein Peace Corps funding letter!

Senators who signed the Isakson-Feinstein Peace Corps Funding Letter

ARIZONA

Kyrsten Sinema

CALIFORNIA

Dianne Feinstein (co-author)

COLORADO

Michael Bennet

CONNECTICUT

Richard Blumenthal

Chris Murphy

DELAWARE

Tom Carper

Chris Coons

GEORGIA

Johnny Isakson (co-author)

HAWAII

Mazie Hirono

Brian Schatz

ILLINOIS

Tammy Duckworth

MAINE

Susan Collins

Angus King

MARYLAND

Ben Cardin

Chris Van Hollen

MASSACHUSETTS

Ed Markey

Eliabeth Warren

MICHIGAN

Gary Peters

Debbie Stabenow

MINNESOTA

Amy Klobuchar

Tina Smith

MONTANA

Jon Tester

NEVADA 

Catherine Cortez Masto

Jacky Rosen

NEW HAMPSHIRE

Maggie Hassan

Jeanne Shaheen

NEW JERSEY

Cory Booker

Robert Menendez

NEW MEXICO

Martin Heinrich

NEW YORK

Kirsten Gillibrand

NORTH CAROLINA

Thom Tillis

OHIO

Sherrod Brown

OREGON

Jeff Merkley

Ron Wyden

RHODE ISLAND

Jack Reed

VERMONT

Bernie Sanders

VIRGINIA

Tim Kaine

Mark Warner

WASHINGTON

Maria Cantwell

WEST VIRGINIA

Joe Manchin

WISCONSIN

Tammy Baldwin

A record number of 181 members of the House of Representatives signed a letter calling for a $40 million increase for the Peace Corps!

The letter, which was drafted by National Peace Corps Association (NPCA), was circulated by the three co-chairs of the House Peace Corps Caucus: RPCV Congressmen John Garamendi (D-CA) and Joseph Kennedy III (D-MA), and fellow Congressman Garret Graves (R-LA).

172 Democrats (making up 73% of House Democrats) and nine Republicans signed the letter to the House Appropriations Subcommittee for State/Foreign Operations requesting an increase in funding for the fiscal year that begins this coming October from $410.5 million currently to $450 million. Thirty-five new members of Congress also signed the letter.

NPCA advocates from all fifty states sent more than 2,000 messages to Congress in the past week, urging members to sign the letter.

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Take Action - Say Thank You!

The following members of the House of Representatives signed the Peace Corps funding Dear Colleague letter. If your representative is listed below, contact them and say "thank you for signing the Peace Corps funding Dear Colleague letter."
 

ALABAMA

• Terri Sewell

ALASKA

• Don Young

AMERICAN SAMOA

• Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen

ARIZONA

• Ruben Gallego
• Raul Grijalva

CALIFORNIA

• Karen Bass
• Ami Bera
• Julia Brownley
• Salud Carbajal
• Tony Cardenas
• Judy Chu
• Gilbert Cisneros
• Jim Costa
• Susan Davis
• Mark Desaulnier
• Anna Eshoo
• John Garamendi (co-author)
• Jimmy Gomez
• Katie Hill
• Ro Khanna
• Doug LaMalfa
• Barbara Lee
• Mike Levin
• Ted Lieu
• Zoe Lofgren
• Alan Lowenthal
• Doris Matsui
• Jerry McNerney
• Grace Napolitano
• Jimmy Panetta
• Scott Peters
• Katie Porter
• Harley Rouda
• Lucille Roybal-Allard
• Linda Sanchez
• Adam Schiff
• Jackie Speier
• Eric Swalwell
• Mark Takano
• Juan Vargas
• Maxine Waters

COLORADO

• Diana DeGette
• Joe Neguse
• Ed Perlmutter

CONNECTICUT

• Joe Courtney
• Rosa DeLauro
• Jahana Hayes
• Jim Himes
• John Larson

DELAWARE

• Lisa Blunt Rochester

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

• Eleanor Holmes Norton

FLORIDA

• Kathy Castor
• Ted Deutch
• Alcee Hastings
• Al Lawson
• Stephanie Murphy
• Donna Shalala
• Darren Soto
• Frederica Wilson

GEORGIA

• Sanford Bishop
• Hank Johnson
• John Lewis
• David Scott

GUAM

• Michael F.Q. San Nicolas

HAWAII

• Tulsi Gabbard

ILLINOIS

• Cheri Bustos
• Sean Casten
• Danny Davis
• Bill Foster
• Jesus Garcia
• Robin Kelly
• Daniel Lipinski
• Bobby Rush
• Jan Schakowsky
• Brad Schneider

INDIANA

• Andre Carson

IOWA

• Cynthia Axne
• Dave Loebsack

KENTUCKY

• Andy Barr
• John Yarmuth

LOUISIANA

• Garrett Graves (co-author)
• Cedric Richmond

MAINE

• Jared Golden
• Chellie Pingree

MARYLAND

• Anthony Brown
• Elijah Cummings
• Jamie Raskin
• Dutch Ruppersberger
• John Sarbanes
• David Trone

MASSACHUSETTS

• William Keating
• Joseph Kennedy III (co-author)
• Stephen Lynch
• James McGovern
• Seth Moulton
• Richard Neal
• Ayanna Pressley
• Lori Trahan

MICHIGAN

• Debbie Dingell
• Dan Kildee
• Andy Levin
• Elissa Slotkin

MINNESOTA

• Angie Craig
• Jim Hagedorn
• Collin Peterson

MISSISSIPPI

• Bennie Thompson

MISSOURI

• Emanuel Cleaver

NEVADA

• Susie Lee
• Dina Titus

NEW HAMPSHIRE

• Ann McLane Kuster
• Chris Pappas

NEW JERSEY

• Josh Gottheimer
• Andy Kim
• Tom Malinowski
• Donald Norcross
• Bill Pascrell Jr.
• Frank Pallone Jr. 
• Donald Payne Jr.
• Mikie Sherrill
• Albio Sires
• Jeff Van Drew

NEW MEXICO

• Deb Haaland
• Ben Ray Lujan

NEW YORK

• Yvette Clarke
• Antonio Delgado
• Eliot Engel
• Adriano Espaillat
• Brian Higgins
• Hakeem Jeffries
• John Katko
• Carolyn Maloney
• Sean Patrick Maloney
• Gregory Meeks
• Joseph Morelle
• Jerry Nadler
• Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
• Kathleen Rice
• Thomas Suozzi
• Paul Tonko
• Nydia Velazquez

NORTH CAROLINA

• Alma Adams
• G.K. Butterfield

NORTHERN MARIANAS ISLANDS

• Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan

OHIO

• Joyce Beatty
• Marcia Fudge

OREGON

• Earl Blumenauer
• Suzanne Bonamici
• Peter DeFazio

PENNSYLVANIA

• Brendan Boyle
• Mike Doyle
• Dwight Evans
• Brian Fitzpatrick
• Susan Wild

PUERTO RICO

• Jennifer Gonzalez-Colon

RHODE ISLAND

• David Cicilline
• Jim Langevin

TENNESSEE

• Steve Cohen

TEXAS

• Colin Allred
• Joaquin Castro
• Lloyd Doggett
• Veronica Escobar
• Al Green
• Sheila Jackson Lee
• Eddie Bernice Johnson
• Marc Veasey
• Filemon Vela

VERMONT

• Peter Welch

VIRGINIA

• Don Beyer
• Gerald Connolly
• Donald McEachin
• Bobby Scott
• Abigail Spanberger
• Jennifer Wexton

WASHINGTON

• Suzan DelBene
• Denny Heck
• Pramila Jayapal
• Rick Larsen
• Kim Schrier
• Adam Smith

WISCONSIN

• Ron Kind
• Gwen Moore

A record-breaking 180 members of the House of Representatives signed the Peace Corps Funding Dear Colleague Letter, encouraging their colleagues to support Peace Corps funding! This bipartisan letter additionally hosts a record 13 signatures from House Republicans (versus nine House Republican signatures last year).

Our advocates have played a vital role in the success of the Peace Corps Funding Dear Colleague Letter. Over the last few weeks, many proponents have spent hours organizing and contacting legislators to lobby for support. NPCA is grateful for the dedicated efforts by our community that contributed to the submission of the Peace Corps Funding Dear Colleague Letter.

The letter, authored by Representatives John Garamendi (D-CA), Garrett Graves (R-LA), and Joe Kennedy (D-MA), was dispersed to Chairman Hal Rogers (R-KY) and Ranking Member Nita Lowey (D-NY) of the House Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Problems requesting a $410 million appropriation for Peace Corps in FY2019.

With this level of funding the agency should be able to sustain the sending of approximately 3,400 new volunteers a year to serve.  As the letter stated, “Today, approximately 7,000 Volunteers serve in 64 countries to train, elevate, and inspire the next generation of global leaders.” These volunteers are fundamental representatives of our nation around the world. Supporting Peace Corps Volunteers is a cost-effective investment to address international issues. From combating infectious disease outbreaks to helping combat poverty through education, Peace Corps volunteers undertake pressing intersectional issues in innovative ways. Further, these volunteers return to the United States with unique skills that enrich their human capital in a competitive workforce.