Senate panel moves bill creating reconstruction reserve corps
Corps would be made up of 250 active-duty personnel and 2,000 standby personnel, with most employees coming from the State Department and USAID.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday sent a bill to the Senate that would strengthen the U.S. government's international reconstruction capabilities.
The bill (S. 613), the Reconstruction and Stabilization Civilian Management Act, was passed by unanimous voice vote. It answers the president's call in his State of the Union address for a civilian reserve corps to assist in post-conflict situations to ease the burden on the armed forces' role in reconstruction and stabilization.
The bill was sponsored by Senate Foreign Relations ranking member Richard Lugar, R-Ind., and Foreign Relations Chairman Joseph Biden, D-Del., who introduced a similar bill in 2006 that passed the Senate but stalled in the House.
"Our committee's focus has been on boosting the civilian side of our stabilization and reconstruction capabilities, while encouraging improved mechanisms for civilian and military agencies to work together on these missions," Lugar said when he introduced the bill in February. "Those who were once unconvinced of the need for such a corps have only to look at our experience in Iraq and Afghanistan to understand its value."
The act authorizes the Office of the Coordinator for Reconstruction and Research within the State Department that will organize and recruit for the new Response Readiness Corps. The corps will be made up of 250 active-duty personnel and 2,000 standby personnel, with most employees coming from the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development.
The bill also contains language that calls for 10 percent of State Department and USAID employees to be members of the corps within three years. There would also be a 500-member civilian corps of private sector experts and consultants. The bill authorizes $80 million for fiscal 2008 and each fiscal year after that, along with a $75 million crisis response fund for each fiscal year.
"If we cannot plan better as a government, the United States may come to depend even more on our military for tasks and functions far beyond its current role," Lugar said.