To provide authority to the Peace Corps to provide separation pay for host country resident personal services contractors of the Peace Corps.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3528) to provide authority to the Peace Corps to provide separation pay for host country resident personal services contractors of the Peace Corps.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, again I rise in strong support of this legislation and thank my good friend, the gentleman from New Jersey, on the other side of the aisle for his support in managing this legislation. I also want to thank the leadership of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Chairman Lantos and our senior ranking member, Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, for their leadership and support of this bill.

Mr. Speaker, to millions around the globe, Peace Corps is the ``human face'' of America. For more than 46 years, the Peace Corps has helped the people of developing countries meet their needs for trained men and women and in the process has promoted a better understanding of America.

The legislation before the House today is a technical bill requested by the administration. It will facilitate the provision of separation pay to the many foreign nationals who work for the Peace Corps overseas. The bill accomplishes this objective in an open and transparent manner to ensure the complete accountability to the American taxpayers.

With that, I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time

Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 3528, received from the House and at the desk.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read a third time, passed, the motion to reconsider be laid on the table, and that any statements be printed in the Record without further intervening action or debate.