The Institute of Peace was established in 1984 to advance the cause of international peace and conflict resolution. The Institute spends millions of dollars on hosting meetings to facilitate communication and negotiate between groups, primarily in areas where the U.S. military or State Department are already active. The Institute also holds numerous symposia in Washington, D.C. on topics such as global innovation, legitimacy and peace processes, and the effects of Iranian sanctions.
The FY 2014 funding level for the Institute for Peace was $37 million. For FY 2015, the Administration has requested $35.3 million in funds for the organization.
According to Salmon, in an era of ever-growing federal spending, even the Obama Administration has sought to curtail the funds wasted on this program—requesting almost $2 million less for its budget in FY 2015.
“For my eighth SOS bill, I introduced legislation that would eliminate funding for the Institute of Peace,” said Salmon. “The Institute of Peace was established by Congress in 1984 as an independent nonprofit corporation that receives millions in federal funds to achieve ambiguous goals such as ‘promote international peace and conflict resolution’ and ‘provide, promote, and support peace education and research’ programs.”
“The Department of State is best suited to advance efforts toward international peace through diplomatic channels and USAID can easily prioritize grant funding toward those objectives,” concluded salmon. “It is foolish to waste taxpayer dollars on a private organization with a redundant purpose and negligible efficacy.”