Peace Corps Volunteer Service Improvement Act of 2011

I thank the gentlelady for yielding. And I appreciate the chair and the ranking member for relentlessly pushing this issue to the House floor as fast as it was possible and to the good folks down at the Senate, Senator Boxer and Senator Isakson, who are the initial sponsors of

H.R. 2337 on which we will, here today, vote on in a bipartisan way.

This legislation is bipartisan because it deals with victims of crime, American victims of crime. And victims are not a partisan bunch; they're just victims. And when someone picks out a victim to commit a crime against, partisanship doesn't play any part in it. And it's good to see that partisanship doesn't play any part in this legislation in opposing it, but it's a bipartisan piece of legislation.

Mr. Speaker, there's a group of Americans; they are really special people. I call them the American ambassadors abroad. They are young people. A lot of them are young females right out of college. It started with a concept that President Kennedy had many years ago, and it's called the Peace Corps, where these American angels abroad leave their homes in the 50 States and they go to remote parts of the world where many of us would have to look up on a globe or an atlas or the Internet to find out exactly where they are. We've never heard of these places. They are in third-world countries, primarily. They go out where many times the first Americans these folks have ever seen in this country are those Peace Corps volunteers that show up, and they show up for the sole purpose to make life better for these people overseas, sometimes in very small villages. They go and they work in very primitive conditions and live very difficultly, trying to do something really important to make the world a better place. And they do. They are remarkable people.

When they go overseas, as they have done for the last 50 years, and all over the world, sometimes crimes are committed against them. Sometimes they are very serious crimes. Sometimes that includes sexual assault, rape. And it occurs for a lot of reasons, but it does occur. Unfortunately, the Peace Corps back home for a long time ignored some of these crimes and some of these victims, and they just weren't treated right when they were trying to cry out, saying, Hey, this happened to me over there; take care of me when I come back home.

But now this legislation that has been very carefully drafted will fix that problem. It will move us to a direction where we are going to take care of these Peace Corps volunteers because what they do is important. What the Peace Corps does is important. We just want to improve it so that more and more people go and join the Peace Corps, but yet they feel safe in what they do.

These crimes against our Peace Corps volunteers came to light really at the end of last year, the beginning of this year. One reason it came to light was because of an ABC ``20/20'' special that aired on January 14, outlining the plight of individual Peace Corps volunteers and how they were treated--first the crime, and then sometimes continuing to be criminalized. In some cases, our volunteers were treated like the criminals and they weren't treated like victims--the offender sometimes was treated like a victim of a crime--and those days need to end.

Mr. Speaker, I have been around a courthouse most of my life down in Texas as a prosecutor, as a criminal court judge, and I tried a lot of bad, serious cases. One of those cases that comes to the courthouses throughout our country is the crime of sexual assault, or rape. That is a unique crime because, you see, many times when the offender commits that crime against primarily a female, it has nothing to do with sex; it has everything to do with power and the destruction of that person's identity. These offenders in some cases try to destroy the soul of that victim, destroy their identity. And that is why, when the crime is committed, we treat those victims with special respect, as they rightfully deserve.

This legislation does that. It improves the Peace Corps. It makes it a better institution. But it tells our young people that when you go somewhere in the world to represent America, to do something good, just to do something good for somebody else with no other motive, that we are going to do everything we can to protect you, and then we are going to hold people accountable for what they do to you. And we are going to do everything we can, as Americans, to take care of you if a crime is committed against you.

In the last 10 years, Mr. Speaker, the Peace Corps has witnessed over 100 sexual assaults a year against its volunteers. That's 100 too many. We want to bring it down to zero.

As the chairman has mentioned about this legislation, it does several things:

It creates and requires the Peace Corps to follow best practices in training volunteers and responding to assaults against these young people;

Second, it creates a system of restricted and unrestricted reporting so victims have control over their own information and can report only as much as they are comfortable with; and

Third, it sets up an advisory council to help the Peace Corps develop programs. It helps the Peace Corps' sexual assault policy and implements it.

I do want to thank the 87 cosponsors in the House for signing on the legislation that I have sponsored. I do want to thank the chairman again for the legislation she has sponsored; both passed, as she said, the House Committee on Foreign Affairs unanimously in a bipartisan way.

And I do want to thank the Puzey family, sending their daughter overseas and having dealt with the murder of their own child. None of us want to ever see our children die before our time. I have got four kids. Three of them are girls. I've got nine grandkids. And as parents, we don't want to see that happen.

But their ability to come forward to tell that story and the story that others have told, Peace Corps volunteers who are here today, Jess, Karestan, Carol, and Liz, they were willing to come before the Foreign Affairs Committee and testify about what happened to them and the consequences of that. I want to thank them for being willing to be here today and also to testify.

But I also want to thank the Members of Congress for moving this as fast as we can. With all that we're doing and going on and the economy and all of this, it's important that this legislation pass today.

I do believe these young people are America's angels abroad. Sometimes because of the economy and other reasons, we forget the greatness of America. This is a great land. And one of the reasons, one of the reasons it's great is because of the people who are here. One of the reasons those people are great is because they do things for other people. They go to lands they have never been to and they do things for people they don't even know. And those are the Peace Corps volunteers.

I appreciate the time to speak on this. I hope that it passes unanimously and sends a message to those Peace Corps volunteers: We support you. We support the Peace Corps. We want it to live 50 more years, and this bill helps those American ambassadors abroad.

Sarah Lee, Current Volunteer from Texas

A woman, let's call her Sarah Lee, who is serving in the Peace Corps in a foreign country right now contacted me. Sarah Lee loves her job and the organization, but can't get past the fact that she feels completely unsafe.

``Throughout my service,'' she writes, ``I have witnessed the sorry manner in which volunteers are regarded, treated, and protected by Peace Corps. It is patently false that volunteers in X country could ever be regarded as `safe.' ''

Last year, Sarah Lee was assaulted by another person that was old enough to be her father. They were staying at another volunteer's house and she fell asleep on the couch. She was awakened in the middle of the night by the assailant inappropriately touching and kissing her.

She reported this to national Peace Corps staff, and talked to several members of the executive staff, as well as the Peace Corps Medical Officer. She was told to not leave her village. Another volunteer came to stay with her because she was having anxiety attacks and insomnia and didn't want to be alone.

While Peace Corps was investigating, the accused volunteer was traveling the country, staying at overnight PC houses in bedrooms occupied by female volunteers.

The investigators assigned to her case were terrible. Because she was from Texas, they asked if she didn't have more ``conservative'' notions of propriety than the perpetrator--as if this was just a violation of her southern sensibilities and the perpetrator had every right to assault her. They also told her she was attractive, so she must be assaulted like this a lot. When she asked about pressing charges, they discouraged her. They said a case like this had never been tried before, that it would be

a precedent setting case, and that if she failed, it could hurt future cases.

Eventually the Peace Corps flew Sarah Lee back to the United States, but her counselor was just as bad as the investigators. While she was sobbing, the counselor kept asking her how she felt. Because a Peace Corps Volunteer can only be kept on medical hold for a certain amount of days, she was rushed back to her country even though she did not feel ready and was still suffering from panic attacks and insomnia. When a fellow in-country volunteer urged her supervisor to give Sarah Lee more counseling, they let her talk to a counselor twice on the phone before telling her to just email--even though she has to drive to the next town for Internet access.

In the end, the perpetrator quit rather than face being fired. Nothing will appear on his record. Peace Corps never did give Sarah Lee information on how to press charges.

Sarah Lee also talks about how male teachers at the school she teaches at have repeatedly raped her students, but she can't tell anyone. The Peace Corps still has not provided a mechanism through which volunteers can report crimes without the fear of reprisal.

Mary Joe, Mozambique 2007

Mary Joe always wanted to help people. After she graduated from Seattle University, she worked for a year at a non-profit that tutored low-income housing kids.

She joined the Peace Corps the next year because she wanted to help people abroad and, given Peace Corps' reputation, thought this was the safe way to go.

In 2007, she was sent to Cambine, Mozambique to teach English to high schoolers.

One night in the fall she went to dinner in the next town over with some fellow volunteers. While at the restaurant, her drink was drugged by a man the group had met there. The next thing she remembers is being in a car with a man sexually assaulting her. A fellow Peace Corps volunteer saw what was going on and pulled her from the car. Mary Joe blacked out again until the next morning, when she woke up and called the Peace Corps medical officer, who told her to come to the capital and get checked out.

When she arrived the next day, she was denied a rape kit by the medical officer, who said she was drunk--not assaulted. In fact, before he would give her medicine to fight against possible AIDS exposure as a result of the assault, the medical officer made her write down that she was drunk and not raped. She was told to come back in a month to find out if she had AIDS.

With no further care, it was clear that Mary Joe was not okay. Back at her post, she was startled by and had crying fits over the littlest things, couldn't sleep, was depressed, didn't want to leave her house, and had terrible nightmares. Mary Joe was disoriented and couldn't think clearly for months, yet she was asked to make big decisions. She needed someone intimately familiar with her case who could advocate on her behalf. After 2 weeks, she finally called her country director, who put her in touch with a Peace Corps psychologist in Washington, DC. The psychologist had her medevaced back to her hometown in Tucson on Halloween in 2007.

While in Tucson she was given 3 sessions with a counselor and 3 sessions with a psychiatrist. Following her counselor's recommendation, Mary Joe was medically separated from the Peace Corps.

Because she was no longer with the Peace Corps, she had to go through the Department of Labor to get her medical care. She was never told that she had to have a psychologist or psychiatrist sign her workers compensation claim, so when she submitted it with her counselor's signature, it was denied. By the time she was able to see a psychologist, it was too late to appeal the claim. She never received any more care from the Federal Government for her PTSD.

Billie Jo, Romania 1993

Billie Jo served in Romania from 1993 to 1995. From the day she arrived until the day she left, she was constantly harassed physically and verbally.

She couldn't walk out of the house without hearing cat calls. She was spit on, punched, had chestnuts and rocks thrown at her, and her life threatened. She was fondled so much while riding public transportation that she finally gave up and walked everywhere.

Peace Corps knew sexual assaults were happening to all volunteers and even talked about it in training, but they didn't take it seriously, she said. No legal recourse was offered and when a young man exposed himself to Billie Jo and her friend on the beach, the Peace Corps country director told her to ``stay out of harm's way.''

Eventually, Billie Jo requested a new location, Peace Corps staff refused. ``No one seemed to care,'' she explained.

When she got back to the U.S., Billie Jo had to get counselor services through her own health care insurance because Peace Corps didn't provide any help.

Billie Jo warned Peace Corps staff not to send women to her post, but they did anyway. The young Jewish woman that came after her returned home after only a few months into her service when swastikas were drawn on her building wall.

Jess Smochek, Bangladesh 2004

Jess Smochek joined the Peace Corps in 2004. Her first day in Bangladesh, a group of men groped and kissed her as she walked towards her host family's house, but no one did anything to stop them.

She told Peace Corps staff over and over again that she felt unsafe, but again, no one did anything.

Months later, this same group of men kidnapped her, beat her up, and sexually assaulted her.

They left her unconscious in a back alley.

The Peace Corps did everything they could to cover it up because they were more worried about what the officials in Bangladesh might think than caring for her.

The Peace Corps blamed Jess for the attack, saying she shouldn't have been walking alone after 5pm and forced her to write down all the things she had done wrong that caused this to happen.

Rape is never the victim's fault. Ever.

When she finally got to return home, she was to tell volunteers that she was having her wisdom teeth pulled out.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 1280) to amend the Peace Corps Act to require sexual assault risk-reduction and response training, the development of a sexual assault policy, the establishment of an Office of Victim Advocacy, the establishment of a Sexual Assault Advisory Council, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on this bill.

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

I rise in strong support of Senate bill 1280, the Kate Puzey Peace Corps Volunteer Protection Act of 2011.

This bill represents the culmination of bipartisan and bicameral efforts to remedy long-standing problems in the Peace Corps regarding the way that rapes, sexual assault, and other violent crimes committed against Peace Corps volunteers serving overseas are handled.

Senate bill 1280 incorporates structural reforms in the Peace Corps that I had proposed in my bill, H.R. 2699. These are based on recommendations made by the Peace Corps Inspector General. It also incorporates the essential provisions of Representative Poe's bill, H.R. 2337, to bring best practices to the Peace Corps' response to victims of sexual assault. Both of these bills, Mr. Speaker, were adopted by our House Foreign Affairs Committee by unanimous consent.

Senate bill 1280 is named in honor of a brave Peace Corps volunteer from the State of Georgia who lost her life while serving in Africa. Kate Puzey was brutally murdered in Benin when she tried to end the continuing rape of her students by reporting the assailant.

Earlier this year, in an oversight hearing held by our Committee on Foreign Affairs, we heard from Kate's mom, Lois Puzey, who testified that the Peace Corps failed to protect the confidentiality of Kate's report, and this ultimately led to the murder of her daughter. We also heard testimony from three former Peace Corps volunteers who were raped overseas. They all relayed accounts about the deplorable treatment they received by the Peace Corps after they reported their rapes.

Without the chilling testimony of these brave individuals who came forward, I do not believe that successful reform legislation like this would have been possible. They deserve the utmost respect, and they are to be commended for their bravery. Many of them are in the visitors' gallery today. Jess, Carol, Karestan, and Kate are the voices of the Peace Corps' own volunteers from across the decades, voices that can no longer be ignored.

During the course of our investigation, the House Foreign Affairs Committee received dozens of affidavits from other victims in the Peace Corps, echoing their plea for change. The accounts of these victims unveiled an institution that had too often blamed the victim and treated reports of rape as a threat to its reputation. Despite their harrowing experiences, most volunteers who have been victims of sexual assault continue to support the Peace Corps and remain committed to its noble mission--to promote world peace and friendship between peoples from different cultures.

Director Aaron Williams has begun to make important changes to better protect and serve volunteers in the Peace Corps. However, deeper reforms are needed; and the legislation before us today, which was adopted by our Foreign Affairs Committee, requires the Peace Corps to make these changes.

Senate bill 1280 combines two of our House bills, and it requires the Peace Corps to establish a confidentiality policy for reporting sexual assault. The bill sets up an Office of Victims Advocacy to oversee the response to sexual assault and other violent crimes. It also establishes a Sexual Assault Advisory Council to provide guidance to the Peace Corps volunteers and to ensure that it continues to follow the best practices as they evolve in the field.

Under this bill, the Peace Corps must keep crime statistics and track them in annual safety and security reports. It directs the Peace Corps to perform portfolio reviews to evaluate the countries where volunteers serve, including an evaluation of their safety and their security. This bill enhances the independence of the Peace Corps Inspector General by exempting that office from the 5-year limitation of Peace Corps tenure. It instructs that a Memorandum of Understanding be entered into between the Department of State and the Peace Corps, delineating responsibility for crime victim support.

I urge all Members to support this important legislation in honor of Kate Puzey and to vote in favor of Senate bill 1280. Help reform the Peace Corps to make it the polished gem of U.S. diplomacy that it was always meant to be.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

I am honored to yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Texas, Judge Poe, the wind beneath our wings, the man who started this ball rolling, the author of H.R. 2337, which was incorporated into the bill before us today. And as Mr. Berman, my good friend from California, has pointed out, Judge Poe has been the inspiration for this legislation before us today.

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

For 50 years Peace Corps volunteers have given their generous talents and skills to help the poor in developing countries, thereby increasing understanding between diverse cultures. Peace Corps volunteers live within the communities that they serve, and they are often located in places with unreliable access to communication, nor to the police, nor for medical services. And historically, sadly, media have underplayed the dangers of serving in the Peace Corps and they have underreported or overlooked any criticism or any problem related to the Peace Corps.

But now their own volunteers, the Peace Corps' own volunteers, have come forward with a demand for change. Congress has had several previous opportunities to help pass reform legislation to help the Peace Corps better protect its volunteers overseas. But, sadly, these efforts and these previous attempts have fallen short.

Now we have this bill, Senate bill S. 1280, that has had bipartisan and bicameral support and was drafted with the input from the Peace Corps itself and from the volunteers also.

It is unacceptable that U.S. citizens, Peace Corps volunteers, do not enjoy protection from regional security officers who are stationed at our overseas diplomatic posts because their role in protecting volunteers has not been clearly defined. Regional security officers are United States law enforcement officials. They're deployed overseas, and they are in the best position to serve U.S. citizens and work with their foreign law enforcement counterparts to seek justice on behalf of crime victims. As the Peace Corps Inspector General reported over 18 months ago, further delay in forming this Memorandum of Understanding could compromise volunteer safety and hinder response to crimes against volunteers.

The language in this bill states that if the MOU is not entered into within 6 months of the bill becoming law, then the Director must report to the committee on the reasons for failing to meet this deadline, along with a detailed certification on steps taken toward meeting this requirement in a timely fashion.

This language is the result of extensive bipartisan consultation, including regular discussion with our counterparts in the Senate. This bill is a substantial step forward and will help address longstanding safety and security problems for volunteers. For the brave victims who came forward and for Kate Puzey who gave her life in the service of the Peace Corps, help us pass this bill.

With that, Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to take from the Speaker's table the concurrent resolution (S. Con. Res. 31) directing the Secretary of the Senate to make a correction in the enrollment of S. 1280, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of S. 1280, ``The Kate Puzey Peace Corps Volunteer Protection Act of 2011.'' This bill amends the Peace Corps Act to require sexual assault risk- reduction and response training. It requires the development of a comprehensive sexual assault policy, the establishment of an Office of Victim Advocacy, and the establishment of a Sexual Assault Advisory.

On October 14, 1960, during the final three weeks of the presidential campaign, candidate John F. Kennedy addressed students at the University of Michigan. He challenged these students to give two years of their lives to help people in developing countries. The root of the Peace Corps is in former President Kennedy's challenge to those students, and to us all. Since the Peace Corps was founded, more than 200,000 volunteers have served in 139 countries, helping people build better lives for themselves, and better futures for their children.

The Peace Corps mission trains the citizens of developing nations in a vast variety of skills and subjects, promotes a better understanding of Americans, and promotes a better understanding of the culture of the nation in which they are serving. Those who volunteer their service to the Peace Corps are fulfilling an unwritten commandment of service to the least among us, and their safety must be protected. The Peace Corps has served as a great vehicle of cultural exchange and awareness for the last 50 years and I applaud the organization and all of its volunteers. However, the Peace Corp must do more to address the concerns raised by current and former volunteers and establish a comprehensive sexual assault program.

At this time 234 of the 7,109 volunteers, nearly five percent of all members, are from my home state of Texas, where I represent the 18th Congressional District. These altruistic Texans currently serve people in Belize, Zambia and Kazakhstan, and other developing nations throughout the world. I commend all of the brave humanitarians serving in the Peace Corps. We must ensure that all Peace Corps volunteers receive the training they need to provide for their safety and security as they travel the world.

This bill was named after a Peace Corp volunteer Kate Puzey. Kate was serving in Benin on the Western coast of Africa when she began to suspect that some of the young girls in the village were being sexually exploited. Kate informed the School Director, who did not want to confront the suspected individual. Kate's mother reports that Kate was becoming increasingly concerned with his behavior, and in February, 2009, he confessed to Kate that he had raped two students. Because there were no clearly outlined procedures to report such complaints, Kate had no official avenue to report the disturbing information. Furthermore, Constant Bio's brother worked as an Assistant Director in local Peace Corps Headquarters, so, in late February 2009, Kate elected to travel to another Peace Corps work-station where she requested assistance from the Peace Corps Benin Director.

On March 2, 2009, Kate was emailed, confirming receipt of her report, and four days later, she was sent another email informing her Mr. Bio's contract would not be renewed, and that he would be informed why. Kate never received these emails; not having Internet access in her village, she had requested to be contacted by phone. Her confidentiality was not maintained, and her accused killer was informed of her role in his firing. On March 11, 2009, Kate was found murdered at her home in the village of Badjoude. Mr. Bio is currently in custody for this horrific murder.

Unfortunately, the tragic murder of Kate Puzey is not the only devastating event that has affected a Peace Corps volunteer. An average of 22 women reported being raped in the Peace Corps every year between 2000 and 2009. I am greatly saddened that any of our Peace Corp volunteers, our nation's representatives have suffered from the malicious crimes of sexual assault.

I am further troubled that many of these crimes have not received the attention they deserve. The victim of a sexual assault, should not be victimized again by inaction. This bill would provide men and women with the knowledge they need to report and act upon reports of sexual assault. According to the Congressional Research Service, 60 percent of volunteers in the Peace Corps are women, with an average age of 28 years old. It is essential that these volunteers are protected.

The Peace Corps was established to show the world that America's greatness is cemented in its goal to maintain world peace and friendship. Thousands of Americans have volunteered to promote these values through kind deeds in countries whose cultural attitudes and values are much different than those of America's, especially towards women. In this country, we value women's rights, and implement laws and policies to protect those rights. When those laws are violated, we go to great lengths to see that justice prevails.

We, as all Americans, value the Peace Corps. This Congress has passed legislation that makes it possible for the Peace Corps to continue doing its great work representing the essence of America's values. With this legislation, in honor of Kate Puzey, Congress will ensure that the Peace Corps will be sufficiently responsive and sensitive to victims of crime. I am pleased to support this bill, and urge my colleagues to do the same.

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

I rise in strong support of S. 1280, the Kate Puzey Peace Corps Volunteer Protection Act of 2011. Today marks an important step towards improving the safety and security of volunteers who serve in the Peace Corps.

The Foreign Affairs Committee took up the issue of volunteer safety earlier this year after the broadcast of an extremely disturbing report on the ABC News program ``20/20.'' The segment detailed the experiences of a number of young volunteers who were sexually assaulted while serving overseas but who did not receive the care and support they needed from the Peace Corps. The show also examined the circumstances surrounding the tragic death of Kate Puzey, a volunteer in the west African country of Benin who was murdered after reporting that a fellow teacher was sexually abusing some of his students.

In May we held a very useful hearing on these issues, with witnesses that included returned volunteers who were survivors of sexual assault, the Inspector General of the Peace Corps, and the Peace Corps Director. Based on the testimony we received at the hearing and in consultations with other interested parties, we drafted a bipartisan bill to improve the Peace Corps, and that legislation is reflected in the Senate bill we are taking up today.

Some of the key provisions include requiring the agency to have comprehensive policies and training for volunteers and staff on risk reduction and response; the establishment of a victim support office to focus exclusively on supporting victims of sexual assault and other crimes; and completing a Memorandum of Understanding between the Peace Corps and the State Department, clarifying security-related responsibilities.

I think it's important to point out that Peace Corps Director Aaron Williams has already taken a number of important steps to improve the support for victims of sexual assault and other crimes. For example, the Peace Corps has hired a victim's advocate, established a confidentiality policy, and started the process of rewriting and updating their sexual assault risk reduction and response policies and training.

This bill codifies some of the important measures that Director Williams has put in place to ensure that they're retained by future Directors.

On its 50th anniversary, the Peace Corps continues to perform a vital role in promoting community-based development in some of the world's poorest countries, sharing American values and enriching our own Nation by bringing knowledge of other countries and cultures back to the United States.

No agency with such a modest budget has done more than the Peace Corps to extend America's presence in nearly every part of the world, and none has enjoyed such strong bipartisan support. This comprehensive, balanced, and bipartisan bill will strengthen the Peace Corps and help ensure that the agency can continue to do its important work well into the future.

I want to thank Chairman Ros-Lehtinen and Senators Boxer and Isakson and their staffs and all our staffs for working so well together on these important issues. And I particularly want to single out Congressman Poe, because without his initial thrust, I don't think we would be at this point today. I think he deserves the appreciation of the entire body and of the people who are most impacted by this legislation for his efforts and for his willingness to work with us in such a cooperative fashion.

I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time; and with the urging that the body do pass this, and hopefully pass this unanimously, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak about the Kate Puzey Peace Corps Volunteer Protection Act. I am a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer, steadfast Peace Corps champion, and original cosponsor of the House version of this legislation. Kate Puzey was an intelligent, brave young woman from Georgia who was tragically murdered while serving in the Peace Corps in Benin. I was

privileged to speak with Kate's family about what a remarkable person Kate was, and I am deeply inspired by the Puzey family's commitment to turn unspeakable heartbreak into important action to ensure that what happened to Kate never, ever happens again. Kate truly represented the best of what Peace Corps can be and this legislation in her honor ensures that all Volunteers will get the best possible protections and training.

I was very troubled to hear the stories of other Volunteers who have received insufficient or insensitive support during their Peace Corps service. Earlier this year, I spoke with two courageous returned Volunteers, Karestan Koenen and Jessica Smochek, and learned about their traumatic experiences of rape and sexual assault while serving in the Peace Corps and the inadequate assistance they received afterward. These two women, like every Volunteer, deserve the best possible support, and I commend them and the other returned Volunteer victims who have bravely come forward and shared their stories. Like the Puzey family, the trauma these individuals have suffered is unimaginable, but their actions have already helped to make Peace Corps a stronger agency.

I applaud Peace Corps Director Aaron Williams for taking immediate action to reform the agency's commitment to safety, sexual assault prevention and response, and security. Director Williams has worked closely with the Puzey family, returned Volunteers, and experts in victims' rights to develop new policies and strengthen existing ones to enhance the support and safety of Volunteers. These reforms include appointing the agency's first Victim Advocate, implementing a new Volunteer and staff sexual assault training, and signing a Memorandum of Understanding with the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN) to collaborate on sexual assault prevention. Peace Corps has also created a Peace Corps Volunteer Sexual Assault Panel which provides advice and input on sexual assault risk reduction and response strategies. The Kate Puzey Peace Corps Volunteer Protection Act both codifies and compliments the important reforms that Director Williams has put in place so that the next generation of Volunteers like Kate, Karestan, and Jessica will have the safety protections; compassionate, informed support; and necessary resources they deserve.

Mr. Speaker, Peace Corps Volunteers represent the best of what America has to offer and it is only right that America offers them the best. I thank the Puzey family, Karestan, Jessica, and all the returned Volunteers and advocates who have committed themselves to making Peace Corps a better, stronger agency. The efforts of their work will forever benefit future generations of Peace Corps Volunteers.