WASHINGTON D.C.
Rep. Garamendi reintroduces bipartisan Peace Corps Reauthorization Act
Congressman John Garamendi (D-CA), returned Peace Corps volunteer (Ethiopia 1966-1968) and co-chair of the Congressional Peace Corps Caucus, on Monday reintroduced the “Peace Corps Reauthorization Act.” The reintroduction coincides with the 60th anniversary of the Peace Corps’ founding by President John F. Kennedy, and the start of National Peace Corps Week.
Representative Garamendi (Ethiopia 1966-1968) is a returned Peace Corps volunteer and Representative Aumua Amata was a former Peace Corps staffer (Northern Mariana Islands 1967-1968).
The “Peace Corps Reauthorization Act of 2021” would provide additional federal funding and resources to advance the Peace Corps’ mission around the world and better support current, returning, and former Peace Corps volunteers.
“My wife Patti and I owe so much to our service in the Peace Corps. It inspired a lifetime of public service that began in Ethiopia during the late 1960s and continued into state government in California, the Clinton Administration, and now the U.S. Congress,” said Congressman John Garamendi (D-CA), co-chair of the Congressional Peace Corps Caucus. “Now more than ever, Congress must support the Peace Corps’ mission and realize President Kennedy’s vision of generations of young Americans ready to serve their nation and make the world a better place.
The “Peace Corps Reauthorization Act of 2021” among other provisions:
- Authorizes $600 million in annual funding by fiscal year 2025 for the Peace Corps to support the goal of deploying 10,0000 volunteers worldwide, once safe and prudent to do so following the subsidence of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is an increase over the flat $410 million funding level provided by Congress in recent years.
- Expedites re-enrollment of volunteers whose service ended involuntarily due to the COVID-19 pandemic and allows volunteers to resume in-country service, once safe and prudent to do so.
- Directs the Peace Corps to provide benefits (readjustment allowance, health insurance, noncompetitive eligibility status for federal hiring) to volunteers whose service ended involuntarily due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Guarantees 3 months of health insurance coverage for returned volunteers paid by the Peace Corps, with the option to renew for additional 3 months at individual expense. Currently, the Peace Corps only offers automatic enrollment for 2 months of paid health insurance coverage, with the option to renew for another month at individual expense.
- Requires the Peace Corps to outline various public and private health insurance coverage options to returned volunteers, including for returned volunteers under the age of 25 with coverage on their parent’s health insurance under the Affordable Care Act.
- Includes the “Menstrual Equity in the Peace Corps Act” sponsored by Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY) since 2020.
- Extends whistleblower and anti-retaliatory protections that currently apply to Peace Corps contractors to Peace Corps volunteers, including protections against reprisals by any Peace Corps employee, volunteer supervisor, or outside contractor.
- Includes the “Respect for Peace Corps Volunteers Act” sponsored by Rep. Albio Sires (D-NJ) since 2013.
- Extends Peace Corps volunteers’ 12-month hiring preference for most federal job openings during any federal hiring freeze, government shutdown, public health emergency (such as COVID-19 pandemic), or while a volunteer receives federal worker’s compensation benefits for any injury during their Peace Corps service.
Congressman Garamendi’s bipartisan bill builds upon the Sam Farr and Nick Castle Peace Corps Reform Act of 2018 and the Kate Puzey Peace Corps Volunteer Protection Act of 2011. The bill also builds upon legislation sponsored by former Congressman Sam Farr (D-CA), who served in the Peace Corps in Colombia from 1964-1966.
Congress last reauthorized the Peace Corps in 1999 (Public Law 106-30), which expired at the end of fiscal year 2003. Congressman Garamendi’s “Peace Corps Reauthorization Act of 2021” currently awaits action by the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
The bill text of the “Peace Corps Reauthorization Act of 2021” is available at https://garamendi.house.gov/sites/garamendi.house.gov/files/GARAME_205_xml.pdf
—Submitted
NEW YORK
National criticism mounts: SNL rips Newsom, French Laundry
Gov. Gavin Newsom was skewered in this weekend’s episode of Saturday Night Live for dining at the French Laundry and for California’s chaotic vaccine rollout — adding to growing national criticism as he fends off a potential recall.
In SNL’s opening skit, Dr. Anthony Fauci, played by Kate McKinnon, hosts a game show called “So You Think You Can Get the Vaccine.” She describes Newsom, played by Alex Moffatt, as being “hated by every single person in California except for those 10 people he had dinner with in Napa that one time.” When asked how things are going in California, Moffatt, who is wearing the governor’s signature bear-emblazoned jacket, responds, “Teeth: White. Body: Tight. COVID: Pretty bad.”
The skit also lampooned Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, whose name has appeared alongside Newsom’s in a slew of recent headlines characterizing the two men as fallen Democratic stars. Cuomo — facing numerous allegations of sexual harassment as well as accusations that he obscured the number of coronavirus-related deaths in nursing homes — is in hotter water than Newsom. But Newsom continues to be haunted by the nearly 4-month-old specter of the French Laundry, as well as widespread frustration over business and school closures and unemployment fraud. He’s also facing pushback for holding recent press conferences inside shuttered restaurants.
- Andrew Gruel, chef and owner of Slapfish Seafood: “California is the only state where indoor dining is banned. Industry gutted. It’s an explosive topic. Newsom holds an event INSIDE a restaurant … people are actually saying this is OK? If it’s ok for them then open it all up.”
Meanwhile, the list of potential recall challengers is growing. Richard Grenell, former President Donald Trump’s acting national intelligence director, strongly hinted at a run for California governor in a Saturday speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference.
- Grenell: “If a public official is still failing to deliver on their promises … there’s always one other option: You can run against them yourself.”
—CALMatters
SACRAMENTO
New vaccine system starts this week
Blue Shield will took over California’s vaccine distribution Monday, ensuring all counties play by the same eligibility rules while setting aside 10% of the state’s weekly doses for education workers. Ten counties are slated to onboard to the Blue Shield system — a week behind schedule — with the remaining counties making the switch by the end of March, CalMatters reports. Under the new system, Blue Shield will recommend the number of doses each county should receive and decide which providers can administer them. (It’s already approved health care operations firm OptumServe, which has quietly assumed a significant role in California’s vaccine rollout.) The counties will also be required to transition to MyTurn, a statewide appointment system that’s grappled with glitches and delays.
- Blue Shield CEO Paul Markovich: “Give us a chance to make this work.”
Health officials said California will today attain the capacity to administer 3 million vaccines weekly, up from its current pace of 1.4 million. But that goal is highly dependent on supply. California is set to receive this week 380,000 doses of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine — which won emergency use authorization Saturday from the Food and Drug Administration — in addition to around 1.6 million doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccine.
—CALMatters
