Department of Peace - Provisions of The Kucinich Bill

Provisions of The Kucinich Bill

Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich introduced U.S. Department of Peace legislation to Congress in July 2001, two months before the September 11 attacks. Kucinich has reintroduced the legislation every 2 years since. The bill currently has 52 cosponsors. Some of the numerous organizations endorsing the legislation include Amnesty International and the National Organization for Women.

This bill includes several additional proposed mandates that would work in partnership with the U.S. Department of State and go beyond the existing mandates of the United States Institute of Peace. Some highlights among the areas of proposed additional responsibility include:

• Provide violence prevention, conflict resolution skills and mediation to America's school children in classrooms as an elective or requirement, providing them with the communication tools they need to express themselves beginning in elementary school through high school.
• Provide support and grants for violence prevention programs addressing domestic violence, gang violence, drug and alcohol related violence, and the like.
• To effectively treat and dismantle gang psychology.
• To rehabilitate the prison population.
• To build peace making efforts among conflicting cultures both here and abroad.
• To support our military with complementary approaches to ending violence.
• Monitoring of all domestic arms production, including non-military arms, conventional military arms, and of weapons of mass destruction.
• Make expert recommendations on the latest techniques for diplomacy, mediation, conflict resolution to the U.S. President for various strategies.
• Assumption of a more proactive level of involvement in the establishment of international dialogues for international conflict resolution (as a cabinet level department).
• Establishment of a U.S. Peace Academy, which among other things would train international peace-keepers.
• Development of an educational media program to promote nonviolence in the domestic media.
• Monitoring of human rights, both domestically and abroad.
• Making regular recommendations to the President for the maintenance and improvement of these human rights.
• Receiving a timely mandatory advance consultation from the Secretaries of State, and of Defense, prior to any engagement of U.S. troops in any armed conflict with any other nation.
• Establishment of a national Peace Day.
• Participation by the secretary of peace as a member of the National Security Council.
• Expansion of the national Sister City program.
• Significant expansion of current Institute of Peace program involvement in educational affairs, in areas such as:

1. Drug rehabilitation,
2. Policy reviews concerning crime prevention, punishment, and rehabilitation,
3. Implementation of violence prevention counseling programs and peer mediation programs in schools,

• Also, making recommendations regarding:

1. Battered women's rights,
2. Animal rights,

• Various other "peace related areas of responsibility".

Proposed funding for a U.S. Department of Peace would initially come from a budget that is defined by the prevention bill as, "at least 1 percent of the proposed federal discretionary budget, FY 2008 of which 53% is already allocated to the Department of Defense (budget)". Whether or not the U.S. Institute of Peace would be promoted to a cabinet level position, is not addressed by this bill.

A growing, national movement of citizens continues to actively promote and lobby for this legislation.

The Peace Alliance is the National Organization spearheading the passage of the legislation.