My other favorite offices have candy or biscuits made locally in the states and counties they represent.  I remember in Congressman Zach Wamp’s office there was a bucket of delicious strawberry cream cookies and sure enough they were made in Tennessee.  With back to back meetings I had had nothing to eat so I started wharfing down the cookies before my appointment.  The legislative aide came out and we were halfway into what I thought was a good meeting, when I looked down and saw this pink cookie stuck to my tie.  As we were leaving, she took the remaining four packets from the basket, handed them to me and said, “Have some more, we need you working hard for the Peace Corps.  Can’t have you starved if you’re going to walk on these hard marble floors all day.”

Over those two weeks leading up to Regan airport I must have been in forty offices. These offices are amazing rooms, filled with the most interesting pictures, many of them signed with personal messages by former Presidents, world leaders like the Dalai Lama, famous actors and musicians.  Many of the offices have interesting books and magazines about Congressional history and some have TVs that play CSPAN and Fox News.   Some of the books say something about the stance of the member of Congress.  The phones ring off the hook and some of the hardest working people on the Hill are the  secretaries that pick up those phones and log what constituents are saying.  It’s interesting just sitting there on the nice furniture listening because you find out what paper care enough about to call their elected officials. Most offices have big state flags outside. Congressman Farr’s office is my favorite not just because he has been the main proponent of our cause but because of his office itself as well.  It’s filled with black and white landscape photographs and a beautiful collection of bottles of wine from the different counties on the California coast he represents. It’s the only office where the secretary recognizes me and says, “Peace Corps campaign right?”  Outside Congressman Farr’s office standing tall in the hallway is the Peace Corps flag.  Even though he is now a Congressman, he is still a Peace Corps volunteer, he’s never lost that quality. Early in the campaign I had the opportunity to meet him at a friend’s home and I remember he said, “Squeeky wheel gets the grease Rajeev. Just get all our volunteers making calls zip code by zip code and we can do this, we can double the Peace Corps. It’s actually not that hard.”It was very good advice:  Squeaky wheel gets the grease.

[To be continued…]

The two weeks leading up to that day at Regan Airport were a roller coaster ride.  The Congress is a fascinating place.  Members sit and eat in a basement cafeteria that is open to the general public.  I met Congresswoman Mary Joe Kilroy there and we ate meals on plastic cafeteria trays and talked about Peace Corps.  She listened with close attention and she thanked me for the update and said she would call Rep. Nita Lowey to hang tough for the full $450 million.  Just being there you run into some of the most powerful people in the world and many of them are really grounded.  I remember once, back in March 2009 standing on the steps of one of the House building talking on the phone with my mom when a black SUV pulled up and out walked Peter Orszag and Larry Summers, President Obama’s OMB director and White House Senior Economic Advisor. It was the very day they were delivering President Obama’s 2010 budget to the Congress.  I walked up to Mr. Orszag and said, “Mr. Orszag, Peace Corps is half the size it was in 1966.  I hope it’s $450 million in your budget today.”  He smiled, shook my hand with a strong handshake and said, “We’re right there with the Peace Corps.”  Later that day we learned “right there” was $76 million less than $450 and I remember thinking I wish I had met him the day before when maybe he could have changed the number in his word processor.

“Senator I was a volunteer in Nepal, I lived in a small village for two years and taught English, and it was the most important experience in my life.  We need a much bigger Peace Corps budget so more men and women from your state, Tennessee, can be volunteers and go to places like Nepal and serve the world.”

Still looking at me, though now I think he was moved a little, he quietly pulled out his blackberry from his blazer pocket and started typing.  Then he said to me, “Done.  I just notified my staff to schedule the call.”  I said thank you (and really meant it, what a nice man he was to listen to me, I’m sure he had hundreds of important things on his mind) and walked back to my gate. I missed the chance to get that free flight but it didn’t matter.

What luck! I remember thinking no one is going to believe I met two Senators within minutes of each other, the co-authors of an important bipartisan Peace Corps letter from the Senate, on the very day the subcommittees were expected to go to vote on the Peace Corps budget (the vote ended up getting delayed, more on that later). No one is going to believe me I thought..

[To be continued]

Standing there outside the restroom of Regan airport, I saw another man I recognized standing near my gate but could not place.

The man looked incredibly familiar. Several people were lined up to talk to him, and he seemed very powerful yet relaxed. Something about him told me he was probably a Senator and not a Congressman. He was wearing a grey suit and was just an inch or two taller than me. I did what I always do in those circumstances. I got out my Congressional picture book from my backpack. I have forgotten now who gave me this little treasure but I cannot thank them enough. The cover was missing from all the wear and tear and the first page had a pizza sauce stain on it from late night meals at the hotel. This book had become my most valuable resource. I knew nothing about the Congress. But the book contains pictures of every Senator and member of the House of Representatives and knowing someone’s name can give you the confidence to start a conversation, which can lead to something important. The book also has biographical information about education, place of birth, and other stuff  which can help in conversation.

I’m a pretty visual person and I can remember faces pretty well but not names. I flipped through it, trying to find out who he was. He was doing last handshakes, about to go. I started to wonder if he was a senator at all, when I spotted his picture and I swear he was wearing the same exact suit he had on then. It was Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee. Of course! I put the book back and pulled out a photocopy of a letter written by Congressman Sam Farr urging the Senate to support $450 million. An aside: those of you following the campaign know that Congressman Sam Farr, who has been the Congressman from central California for 16 years and was a volunteer in Colombia, has been our Peace Corps hero and the success we may have in a few weeks is entirely his doing. He sponsored the legislation, drafted “Dear Colleague” letter after letter, and in a unique way ran a kind of campaign of his own on the Hill, meeting literally hundreds of his colleagues to help Peace Corps. He even wrote personal notes on bonded stationery which he hand-delivered to every Senator on the appropriations subcommittee. He is one of the most inspiring people I’ve ever met.  I had the chance to meet him once at a small dinner party and after we all ate, he washed the dishes.  That’s the kind of person he is.

A bit more confidently now, I said his name, “Senator Corker.” He smiled, reached out his hand to shake mine and looked me right in the eye and said, “That’s me!” Yes! I got it. “Senator Corker, in March 2009 you co-wrote a letter with Senator Chris Dodd urging robust funding to the Peace Corps in 2010. Thirty-five Senators signed that letter, more than a third of the entire Senate.” I took out a photocopy of the letter which had his signature on it and showed it to him. “I don’t know if you know what’s going on, but we need your help. The House and Senate subcommittees are supporting vastly different numbers for the Peace Corps. The House bill has $450 million, the $110 million increase needed to create significant expansion and improvement but the Senate version has just $374 million, a small $34 million increase which would allow little growth and keep things as they are. They are in conference trying to resolve the difference but we need the whole $450 million. Can you call Senator Judd Gregg, who is the ranking member on the subcommittee, and ask him to support the higher number?” He didn’t say a word.

[To be continued…]

Friday. October 9, 2009.  It’s 2 PM, and I am standing at the airline counter trying to find my boarding pass at Regan International Airport. Passengers willing to go on a later flight to JFK were being given free flights, and I am trying to volunteer when out of the corner of my eye I see the profile of Senator Chris Dodd.  He is wearing a black suit walking slowly and people are waving at him.  I apologize to the lady at the counter, take my boarding pass from her hands, and run after Senator Dodd as he enters the restroom. I call out, probably too loudly, “Senator Dodd!” He turns towards me slowly and stares without saying anything. Out of breath I say, “Senator Dodd, we’re getting closer to $450 million.” Standing there at the entrance of the restroom, he has literally no reaction. I continue, “ President Jimmy Carter spoke to Senator Leahy this week asking him to help the Peace Corps budget.” I wasn’t sure if he had any idea what I was talking about. Then, to my great relief, he nodded in deep approval, smiled and said, “Very good young man.” He emphasized the word good.

I felt so happy. The dots were beginning to connect and in the oddest ways. For the past 22 months I have been coordinating a campaign to double the size of the Peace Corps. Friday October 9th I was heading home to New York after two incredible weeks on the campaign. Senator Dodd is the lone Peace Corps volunteer in the Senate, and I had never spoken to him before this, though tried to on several occasions. It was important for Senator Dodd to know about the phone call from President Carter which his grandson Jason Carter (South Africa 99-01) set up. Jason has helped us a lot, he is incredible.  I remember when we asked Jason if he could speak to his grandad about this issue, he said, “I don’t know where in the world Papa is, but he would want to help.”  When I learned that he had called the chairman of the subcommittee that funds Peace Corps, I was nearly in tears sitting in my hotel room in Woodley Park.  When I was 15 I had been a Habitat for Humanity volunteer and helped build homes down in Homestead Florida.  I remember thinking what a great man Jimmy Carter was to have created Habitat and now to work with him to expand the Peace Corps was pretty amazing.  President Carter frequently talked about his mother Miss Lillian who had been a volunteer working with a leper colony in India.  It’s all because of Jason that President Carter learned about our efforts.

Getting exciting information to people helping you often made them want to help even more, and the excitement just builds and builds - I have learned this on the campaign.
[To be continued…]

Today, together with my friends, I am launching a new campaign,
PushforPeaceCorps.org, a grassroots movement powered by the energy and individual actions of tens of thousands of former volunteers, their
families, friends, and many more Americans who believe in the mission
of the Peace Corps. By securing funding boosts in 2010, 11, 12
and beyond, we aim to add thousands of additional volunteers to the
Corps, open work in new countries, empower volunteers with
state-of-the-art programs and capabilities, and streamline the Peace
Corps’ administrative process. Because of Congressman Sam Farr’s incredible leadership in the House of Representatives and what we did together in 2008 and 2009 from the grassroots , Peace Corps is poised to receive the largest single-year increase in decades, but a lot more advocacy is needed.  Rep. Farr (Colombia 64-66)  rallied hundreds of his peers to help the Peace Corps.   He has been our Peace Corps hero.

The Peace Corps is one percent of the US foreign aid budget which is
one percent of the total US budget. Isn’t the Peace Corps worth more
than 1% o 1%? When you look at other issue areas, domestic and
international, many have trade associations, lobbyists and independent
organizations that alternately support them and criticize them. There
are many organized groups of RPCVs, one national group, and more than
100 country and geographical groups. Who knows how many sub-groups
there are in addition. None see it as their sole mission to advocate
vigorously for it on Capitol Hill or to put pressure on the Peace
Corps itself to expand and improve. This is why PushforPeaceCorps.org
was needed. Please sign up when you have a couple minutes.

We are a small but very responsive team so please get in touch as soon as you can: rajeev@pushforpeacecorps.org.

Rajeev Goyal (Nepal 01-03)
PushforPeaceCorps.org

[to be continued…]