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Peace Corps Prepares To Cut Costs, Volunteers, Offices

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 23, 2008

Updated: 08/23/2008 12:27 am

WASHINGTON - The Peace Corps, the popular service program that President Bush once promised to double in size, is preparing to cut back on new volunteers and consolidate recruiting offices as it pares costs amid an increasingly tight budget, agency officials said.

The program, which has a budget of $330.8 million, is facing an anticipated shortfall of about $18 million this fiscal year and next, officials say.

Much of the gap is attributed to the dollar's falling value overseas and the rising cost of energy and other commodities, officials said. That boosts expenses for leases, volunteer living costs and staff salaries, most of which is paid in local currency. Those factors "have materially reduced our available resources and spending power," Peace Corps Director Ronald Tschetter wrote.

The agency estimates its foreign-currency-related losses at $9.2 million for fiscal 2008 alone, a spokeswoman said.

The 8,079 volunteers are the most in 37 years but far fewer than the goal of 14,000 by fiscal 2007 that Bush set in 2002.

The Washington Post

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