Ahead of today’s House consideration of H.R. 1456, the Peace Corps Reauthorization Act of 2022, Education and Labor Committee Republican Leader Virginia Foxx (R-NC) submitted the following statement for the Congressional Record slamming a flawed provision in the bill:
“I won’t mince words: H.R. 1456 includes a Peace Corps payout. Section 16 of this bill gives injured Peace Corps Volunteers an arbitrary increase in Federal Employees’ Compensation Act (FECA) benefits—increasing the current deemed pay level that is used to calculate benefits from GS-7, step 1, to GS-7, step 5.
“No one has put forward a rationale for why this increase is necessary or appropriate for Peace Corps Volunteers. Not a single hearing has been held to discuss or examine this issue. In fact, the increased benefit level in H.R. 1456 is out of line with deemed pay rates for other volunteers. For example, Job Corps Volunteers have a deemed pay level of GS-2 and AmeriCorps Vista Volunteers are deemed GS-5.
“I would also note that tens of thousands of federal workers are at GS-7, step 1, or lower on the federal pay scale. But again, no one has explained why Peace Corps Volunteers should be deemed to have a higher GS level than these federal workers.
“Furthermore, this bill sets a terrible precedent for other programs that will inevitably ask for an increase in FECA benefits. Congress will have no basis to reject their requests if this proposal passes. And guess who will be breaking out their checkbooks to foot the bill of these benefit increases?
“Hardworking taxpayers.
“And I’m willing to bet they won’t get an explanation either. I urge my colleagues to oppose this Peace Corps payout and vote no on H.R. 1456.”
