House Votes to Authorize a 'Civilian Response Corps'
For immediate release - March 5, 2008
Washington, DC…The House approved legislation today that would strengthen the U.S. government’s capability to respond quickly to emerging crises around the world, prevent and resolve violent conflicts, and rebuild war-torn countries.
The House passed by voice vote the Reconstruction and Stabilization Civilian Management Act (H.R. 1084), which would authorize the creation of standby groups of civilian specialists with diverse skills and the capability to rapidly deploy in a crisis to prevent weak states from collapsing or rebuild war-torn states.
“This legislation is a critical first step toward changing the way the U.S. engages the world,” explained Ann Vaughan, a lobbyist for conflict prevention with the Friends Committee on National Legislation, a 64-year-old Quaker lobby. “Many of the problems in the world today cannot be solved by military force. Problems such as economic disparity and the lack of a functioning, legitimate government can’t be solved by the military. Yet U.S. policymakers lack a corps of civilian experts to send to crisis torn areas to help countries help themselves and provide basic services to their citizens. This legislation addresses that need.”
"Today’s vote was a first step towards increasing U.S. non-military tools to respond to crisis and conflicts,” added Vaughan.
Background
The Reconstruction and Stabilization Civilian Management Act (HR 1084) would authorize a “Response Readiness Corps” and a “Civilian Reserve Corps,” two groups of civilian specialists with diverse skills and the capability to rapidly deploy in a crisis to prevent weak states from collapsing or rebuild war-torn states.
The first group, a Response Readiness Corps, has both ‘active’ and ‘standby’ components, which would be composed of federal employees from U.S. civilian agencies such as State, USAID, Agriculture, Commerce, Justice and Treasury. This group of civilian experts would be able to deploy within 72 hours of a crisis and work in a conflict zone for up to one year.
The second group, a Civilian Reserve Corps, would be comprised of non-federal civilians from the private sectors. It would function much like the military reserve, giving civilians the opportunity to serve and support critical peace building missions abroad.
The legislation would also authorize the Office of the Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization (S/CRS), created in 2004 by then Secretary of State Colin Powell to coordinate the U.S. civilian response to strengthen weak and failing states.
President Bush’s budget proposal for fiscal year 2009 includes $249 million dollars, to fund S/CRS and the Response Corps.
The Senate still must approve this legislation, before it is sent to the President—to sign into law. The “companion” bill in the Senate, sponsored by Senators Lugar (IN) and Biden (DE), passed favorably out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last year in April. Shortly after that, Senator Tom Coburn (OK) placed a “hold” on this legislation, a legislative tactic used to prevent legislation from moving quickly to the Senate floor for a vote.
Read more about FCNL's Peaceful Prevention of Deadly Conflict Program.
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The Friends Committee on National Legislation, the oldest registered religious lobby in Washington, is a non-partisan Quaker lobby in the public interest. FCNL works with a nationwide network of tens of thousands of people from every state in the U.S. to advocate for social and economic justice, peace, and good government. For more information: http://www.fcnl.org
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