right when he said, never has america had a stronger warrior for peace and against poverty than sargent shriver. shriver said it best when he said the peace corps represents some of, not all, of the best things about society. it stands for everything america stands for and everything we hope to achieve in the world. i want to thank my colleague for putting this together, i want to thank my friend mr. petri for his friendship on the other side of the aisle. i say -- we say the other side of the aisle but i don't think the aisle exists with our commonality in the peace corps. the peace corps allowed me to go up, to believe in mist. peace corps was responsible for me being here today, to be able to speak fervently and hopefully convincingly to encourage other young people that service to this country through the peace corps are two years you'll never, ever, ever regret and never exchange for 10 years of regular life in this country. thank you. mr. garamendi: congressman honda, thank you very much. let me turn to our colleague on the republican side, tom petri, who also served. you can share some o

under the masterful direction of sargent shriver, it grew to 1,500 volunteers. i was one of those early recruits. i found myself in peace corps training and found myself in medellin, colombia. i saw the grinding cycles of poverty that left so many men, women and children without hope. i committed then to work to end the culture of poverty. it is in no small part due to that experience in the peace corps that i am standing here in the congress. yes, i will yield. mr. dreier: i'd like to con gradge late my friend for his service in the peace corps. he not only served then but he continues to share that with us today and as we deal with countries around the world, the peace corps has been very important and i'm happy to recognize their 50th anniversary. mr. farr: thank you, mr. dreier. over the past 50 years, the peace corps has shown the hopeful, uplifting side of america that shows our grass roots development. that great legacy continues today. at this moment, 865,000 volunteers are serving in 76 developing countries around the world. i am proud to say that 25 of