Sam Farr

Mr. FARR

Mr. FARR. I can't believe what a stupid amendment this is because of the message it sends. The majority party whacked the hell out of the Peace Corps in your H.R. 1, and now you want to whack the heck out of the Institute of Peace. What message are you sending to the world? We can't put a price tag on peace. But we certainly can put a price tag on war. Try $6.7 billion. That's what we spend every month in Afghanistan. That amounts to $260 million a day. What a misguided amendment before us. To eliminate the Institute of Peace only spends the equivalent of 5 hours, 5 hours in Afghanistan. Come on. You are surrounded by peace givers in this room. Look at the law givers. They are not warriors; they are people that tried to make peace. You are not going to win the war in Afghanistan militarily. You are going to win it through peace.

Mr. FARR

Mr. FARR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the career of Marilyn Dorman, who retires as the Executive Director of the Housing Resource Center of Monterey County on May 31, 2011. The HRC is a non-profit HUD- certified housing counseling agency that provides home-ownership education and counseling as well as homeless prevention services. Marilyn has a real gift for grant writing, which has served the agency well as its primary fundraiser. Marilyn has been active professionally and personally in the housing arena for over twenty-seven years. She was the founding Executive Director of the Housing Advocacy Council in 1984, which merged with the Monterey County Housing Alliance in 2009 to become the Housing Resource Center of Monterey County. Throughout her many years of service Marilyn advocated for the development of affordable low-income housing and worked tirelessly with direct assistance programs to prevent homelessness. With the 2009 merger, Marilyn's focus expanded to include homeownership education and counseling, as well as foreclosure prevention and loan modification. To date, HRC has successfully modified over 200 loans for Monterey County homeowners. Collectively, the merged organization has served over 24,000 Monterey County households. Marilyn has also been an active Board, Committee member, and volunteer for the Coalition of Homeless Services Providers, St. Paul's Episcopal Church, the Salinas Downtown Community Board, the ACTION Council of Monterey County, Common Ground, the League of Women Voters, Community Advisory Council for the Salinas Permit Center, Salinas Planning Commission, Salinas Parks and Recreation Commission, Salinas Housing Trust Fund, the Salinas General Plan Parks Task Force, Girl Scouts, and the Volunteer Services Coordinator for the Volunteer Center of Salinas. Marilyn's husband of thirty-eight years, Mark, has been the grounding force in life. They have three grown daughters and two beautiful grandchildren. Mr. Speaker, I know I speak for the whole House as I commend Marilyn Dorman for all she has done and all she will undoubtedly continue to do. I extend my most sincere thanks and warmest wishes for her success and much happiness in her retirement.

Mr. FARR

Mr. FARR. Madam Speaker, it appears that there are some in this body who believe that if you state a falsehood often enough people will believe that it's the truth. That's what the bill before us is all about. It's an attempt to legislate something that isn't. The proponents of H.R. 3 want you to believe that abortion is rampant in America, and we spend zillions of Federal dollars a year, and this bill will stop the use of those Federal funds. This is a crock of baloney. Everyone in this House knows that Federal funds are not spent on abortions. It's been the law of this land for the last 35 years. H.R. 3 will have no effect, zero, nada, on the use of Federal funds for abortion services in America because it's the law under which we are already operating. But what H.R. 3 will do is drastically codify an untruth. It will reach into the pockets of women and prevent them from using their own money, their own private money, on purchasing health care insurance which covers abortion services. This is a mass intrusion into the private lives of people and to businesses. It should be defeated.

Mr. FARR

Mr. FARR. Madam Speaker, H.R. 3 is an extremely misleading piece of legislation. Supporters of the bill argue that it will simply codify the Hyde amendment and permanently prohibit taxpayer funding of abortion. However, we all know that is false. H.R. 3 is actually much more nefarious than that. It seeks to restrict women's reproductive rights and access to health care; increase healthcare premiums for many Americans and small businesses; and, limit the private insurance choices of consumers. It will almost certainly guarantee that insurance companies will no longer offer abortion coverage to consumers. The Republicans in the House have been on a mission, ever since they took over the Majority, to completely eliminate women's reproductive rights and their access to healthcare. I recently received a letter from a male constituent who is 68 years young; someone we can all agree is definitely not in need of reproductive health care. This man is a recipient of Medicare and receives his primary care at the Santa Cruz chapter of Planned Parenthood. His doctor is the one of the few doctors in Santa Cruz County who currently accepts Medicare patients. If the Republicans get their way and federal funding is denied to Planned Parenthood and other organizations that provide primary healthcare for low income patients simply because they also provide reproductive healthcare, then this man, along with millions of other low income Americans, will be denied their only access to primary healthcare in their communities. Hospital emergency rooms will become the health care provider of first resort. Hospitals that are currently overwhelmed would be further inundated, thereby driving up healthcare costs even higher and costing the federal government even more taxpayer dollars. If saving taxpayer dollars is truly the goal, then the Majority should be supporting family planning and reproductive healthcare services, not attacking them. We all know that for every $1 spent on family planning, $4 of taxpayer money is saved. This bill is radical and extreme. It is a far cry from any kind of middle ground or compromise on abortion policy. It will make abortion as difficult to obtain as possible without actually criminalizing the procedure. H.R. 3 overreaches in every possible way. More importantly, it would penalize rather than help taxpayers, impede basic government functions, and discriminate against women who are struggling to do their best in a difficult situation. Madam Speaker, the American people want both parties to work together. H.R. 3 only inflames an already intense and intractable debate and further polarizes this House. I urge my colleagues to object to H.R. 3.

Mr. FARR

Mr. FARR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of Edith Wilkie Edwards. Most often known as Edie, I am honored that I have this opportunity to recognize such a caring, giving and loving woman. Edie's tireless and dedicated work towards making the world a safer and more humane place is remarkable. She was an activist on peace and arms control issues, a former congressional staff member and wife of former Congressman Don Edwards, (D-CA). Edie passed away in Carmel, California at the age of 64. She had cancer and pulmonary disease. Edie will forever be remembered as one of Capitol Hill's most talented, driven and selfless individuals. She directed Congress' bipartisan and bicameral Arms Control and Foreign Policy Caucus from 1978 to 1995. In that role, she worked to halt the development of new nuclear weapons, strengthen congressional support for the United Nations, end funding for proxy wars in Central America and expand and encourage human rights around the world. Prior to directing the caucus, she served as chief of staff to Reps. Fortney (Pete) Stark (D-CA) from 1975 to 1978; and Ogden R. Reid (R-NY) from 1968 to 1975. Additionally, Edie served as president of the Peace Through Law Education Fund, a spin-off of the Arms Control and Foreign Policy Caucus, where she co-authored two reports examining the views of key military leaders on peace operations. The reports, ``A Force for Peace'' (1999) and ``A Force for Peace and Security'' (2002), foresaw the increasing need for U.S. troops to participate in multi-lateral peace operations in failed states. Edie was also an active board member of the Ploughshares Fund, the San Francisco-based foundation that is the largest U.S. grant-making organization focused on peace and security issues; Council for a Livable World, a leading nuclear arms control lobbying organization in Washington; Peace-PAC, which supports arms control activists seeking election to the House of Representatives and the Center for International Policy, an organization started after the war in Vietnam by former diplomats and peace activists to promote human rights and international cooperation. She was a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. In 1981, after 11 years together, she married Rep. Edwards, the 32- year Member of Congress from San Jose, CA, who chaired the Civil and Constitutional Rights Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee. They were married at Martha's Vineyard in a small and beautiful ceremony. After they both retired from their careers on Capitol Hill in 1995, the Edwards decompressed by living in the village of Loumarin in Southern France. For more than a decade, the Edwards lived half the year in Carmel-by-the-Sea in California and half at Holly Point, their home overlooking the Chesapeake Bay in Edgewater, Maryland. They settled in Carmel for the last three years. Born in New York on October 5, 1946 to the late John and Dorothea J. Wilkie, Edie graduated from Concord Academy and Vassar College. Tall and slim and athletic, she was an avid tennis player with a forehand her opponents considered lethal. In addition to Mr. Edwards, she is survived by five stepsons; a sister and two brothers, Rennie Wilkie Lieber, John McNeil Wilkie and Peter Wilkie, and their families. She is also survived by her stepmother, Margot Loines Wilkie, of New York and Martha's Vineyard and two stepsisters, Faith Morrow Williams and Constance Morrow Fullenweider and their families. Mr. Speaker, Edith Wilkie Edwards touched many lives in her community and devoted her life to building a more peaceful world. It is a privilege and a high honor to recognize her life. She will be missed and I know I speak for the whole House in honoring the life of this dedicated and loving woman.

Mr. FARR

Mr. FARR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of Abraham Breehey, who recently passed away at the age of 35. I am honored that I have this opportunity to recognize this bright, caring and loving man. Through his role as the Director of Legislative Affairs for the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Abe proved to be a strong force within the labor movement. He was able to transcend political differences and generate consensus for many noble causes. Not only was Abe committed to improving the lives of all Americans, but he was also an outstanding leader in the fight against global warming and involved many unions in that effort. Abe's dedication to the labor movement and the promotion of environmental stewardship has been an inspiration. Abe's sense of civic duty even led him to testify several times before Congress, and was especially supportive of the Clear Skies Act before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. He is survived by his loving wife, Sonya and his daughter, Abigail. Mr. Speaker, Abraham Breehey touched many lives in his community and around our nation. Abe was a champion for progressive causes who loved the Grateful Dead and Phish and it is a privilege to recognize his life. He will be missed and I know I speak for the whole House in honoring the life of this dedicated and loving man.

Mr. FARR

Mr. FARR. Mr. Speaker, I join the chorus of those thanking Father Coughlin for his service and dedication and wishing him well. I also rise today in observance of the National Day of Silence. Today is the 14th year we have commemorated the National Day of Silence, a time when students across the country remain silent for the whole day to draw attention to discrimination toward their LGBT peers. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and questioning youth and their allies face verbal and physical bullying on a daily basis just for being who they are, for expressing their sexuality, or for demonstrating a non-normative gender identity. I am proud that my constituents are calling for a stop to this harassment, and I encourage all Americans to join them. Our Nation is at her best when we are celebrating our differences, not punishing individuals for being different. I am proud to say that in my district Queer Youth and allies work together to make life better for queer youth. Middle schools and high schools in my district host student-run Gay-Straight Alliances, which create a supportive space so that queer youth do not feel isolated. My district also hosts Queer Youth conferences and award events that celebrate our queer youth. Though many lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender advocates and straight allies are silent today, we in Congress must never be silent.

Mr. FARR

Mr. FARR. I thank the gentleman from Washington for yielding me this time. Madam Speaker, I rise today in appreciation for the hard work that has gone on in our Appropriations Committee. When you think about it, this Saturday will mark 2 months from the day this House passed H.R. 1, which was a really draconian bill that put all kinds of riders and eliminated all kinds of family planning money for things like Planned Parenthood. It sort of knew the price of everything and the value of nothing. I would like to compliment the Republican leadership for coming around on this agricultural bill. It certainly is an improvement over what it was in H.R. 1. It also shows that they are not wedded to H.R. 1. The message goes out that they make adjustments. They restored nearly all of the $1.9 billion, 9 percent higher than H.R. 1, in overall spending. The WIC program, the program that feeds low-income women expecting children or who have children, is funded at a level sufficient to support what we think will be the participation levels this year when a lot of people are unemployed and in poverty. The food safety activities at the USDA are increased by more than 8 percent over H.R. 1. They broke the H.R. 1 hold and have come up, and I compliment them for that. The Food and Drug Administration was increased by nearly 17 percent; 17 percent in an era when we are really worried about food safety and the issues of food safety. The McGovern-Dole program, which is food aid to foreign countries, provides our American food to needy countries. It is nearly twice what it was in H.R. 1. The rural water and waste programs are 30 percent higher than they were in H.R. 1. But the agriculture title really falls short from the President's request of 2011, particularly for emergency food for people around the world who are in desperate need. We take surplus American food and give it to countries that are really starving. When we are trying to win the hearts and minds of people and fight the war on poverty, we need to have this program not decreased but increased when the world is in a lot of hurt. Lastly, I would just like to point out that what really bothers me is we are putting $5 billion more in the Defense Department, at the same time cutting $25 million from the Peace Corps. The Peace Corps is only $400 million. It is a small weapons system for the military, the entire thing. We have 7,000 Peace Corps volunteers in 77 countries. Ten more countries want us; 14,000 Americans want to be in the Peace Corps, and we're cutting it? You can't win the war without winning the hearts and minds. The war corps with $5 billion isn't going to do as much as the Peace Corps with another $25 million.

Mr. FARR

Mr. FARR. Mr. Speaker, I would just like to take a few moments and put some of this in perspective. I've been here 18 years now, and I've seen a lot going on in government, and I've had the experience in the State legislature and also in local government before getting here. This is nothing but a ploy to shut down the government for ideological purposes. It has nothing to do with running the greatest Nation on earth and trying to be a responsible government, trying to teach democracy to countries around the world, that if you copy our system you may have a freer and more open system. This is about shutting down the entire United States Government over use of birth control. It's also the party that has a history of shutting down government. The last time government was shut down it was shut down by the Republicans. And after they shut it down, what we did, before that, is we enacted taxes to pay off the debt under President Clinton. And guess what? That was a tough vote. Not a single Republican cast a vote for that. That was probably one of the greatest economic votes ever cast in modern Congress because it put the country back on foot. We didn't have a deficit. We removed it because we earmarked those taxes to pay off the debt. Along came President Bush. The first thing he did was repeal all those taxes. The question was, well, how are you going to pay for this? Oh, no, no. We don't have to pay for this. Well, Mr. President, you are about to go into a war. How are you going to pay for that? We don't have to pay for it, we'll just put it on the credit card. They came up with a great plan to give senior citizens Medicare drug reimbursements but instead of using the Medicare program, no, they invented another one. They gave the money to the pharmaceutical companies and said, you take care of the poor, charity work. And guess what, it won't cost you anything. Well, it cost us a lot of money. And when asked, how are you going to pay for it? We'll put it on the credit card. The fact is this huge deficit we got into was driven through by the party now that wants to shut down government, the party that has shut down government in the past, the party that keeps not wanting government to work. You took an oath of office when you came here, an oath to uphold the Constitution. That Constitution is based on, if you look around this room, the lawgivers, people of history who've done incredibly bold things. Our Constitution is incredibly bold. There's nothing in that Constitution that says that your job in Congress is to make the rich richer and the poor poorer. And that's exactly what their budget is doing, their strategy is doing, and now the shutdown of government. They're gleeful about it. And it's a very, very sorry state that we have to, in these modern times, think that the greatest country in the world has to deal with shutting down government. That's the last thing we ever came here to do. It's a sorry state.

Mr. FARR

Mr. FARR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of swift U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. This decade-long war is costing our country tens of hundreds of lives and hundreds of billions of dollars. In 2010 alone, nearly 500 brave American men and women lost their lives, which is 63% more than the 2009 death toll. And as I speak, our government, which has vowed to reduce the deficit, has sent millions more overseas for a war with no foreseeable end. From 2008 to 2011, overall government spending has increased by 9%, while funding for the war in Afghanistan has increased by a startling 25%. As many of my colleagues demand $100 billion budget cuts, they need look no further than our reckless war spending. For the good of our troops and the health of our economy, this war must end. And this viewpoint is shared across the nation. According to a recent Washington Post poll, nearly two-thirds of the American people support an immediate withdrawal from Afghanistan. Mr. Speaker, our job in this chamber is to represent our constituents, and they have spoken loud and clear. The American people are fed up with a war that has done little to improve our national security or bolster our international standing. Furthermore, after nearly ten years of fighting, it is crystal clear that the problem in Afghanistan cannot be solved by military means alone. Stabilization and reconstruction, governance, and peace-building activities can help to stabilize states, promote rule of law, and bring enduring peace at a sliver of the cost we pay for troops on the ground. Make no mistake about it: I firmly support our men and women in uniform. For this reason, we must bring them home from a battlefront with no real hope of military victory. I thank my colleague, Mr. Kucinich from Ohio, for re-introducing this Resolution. I was proud to cosponsor it in the last Congress, and I will firmly offer my support today in hopes that we can finally end this war.

Mr. FARR

Mr. FARR. Mr. Speaker, while the media may focus on NPR, the federal dollars being targeted by this awful bill now go directly to local public radio stations, not to NPR. The federal dollars received make up a small percentage of the budget for larger stations, but these dollars represent a significant percentage of budgets for local public radio stations, like KAZU and KUSP in my district. It's important to note that stations are then able to leverage those federal grants into millions of dollars in donations from listeners, corporate supporters and foundations. That's the definition of a good federal investment. Those federal grants enable our local public radio stations to do in- depth stories on local issues important to our region--our world famous tourism events like the AT&T Pebble Beach golf tournament, the Monterey Jazz and Pops festivals, our multi-billion dollar agriculture industry or the budget crisis in California. Unlike commercial media, local public radio employees have only one concern--to serve their audience. Public broadcasting gives voices to the smallest and most diverse communities in our country that are overlooked by commercial broadcast radio. These are the voices that will be lost if H.R. 1076 is enacted. H.R. 1076 is an ideological attack on public broadcasting masquerading as a fiscal issue. Without so much as a single hearing on a subject that affects 34 million Americans weekly who depend on public broadcasting for their commercial-free news and more, this legislation dismantles fifty years of quality public broadcasting and thousands of jobs because of a political bias. I hope my colleagues will consider the impact that any cuts or elimination of the ability to buy NPR programming would have on institutions in your district.

Mr. FARR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of swift U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. This decade-long war is costing our country tens of hundreds of lives and hundreds of billions of dollars. In 2010 alone, nearly 500 brave American men and women lost their lives, which is 63% more than the 2009 death toll. And as I speak, our government, which has vowed to reduce the deficit, has sent millions more overseas for a war with no foreseeable end. From 2008 to 2011, overall government spending has increased by 9%, while funding for the war in Afghanistan has increased by a startling 25%. As many of my colleagues demand $100 billion budget cuts, they need look no further than our reckless war spending. For the good of our troops and the health of our economy, this war must end. And this viewpoint is shared across the nation. According to a recent Washington Post poll, nearly two-thirds of the American people support an immediate withdrawal from Afghanistan. Mr. Speaker, our job in this chamber is to represent our constituents, and they have spoken loud and clear. The American people are fed up with a war that has done little to improve our national security or bolster our international standing. Furthermore, after nearly ten years of fighting, it is crystal clear that the problem in Afghanistan cannot be solved by military means alone. Stabilization and reconstruction, governance, and peace-building activities can help to stabilize states, promote rule of law, and bring enduring peace at a sliver of the cost we pay for troops on the ground. Make no mistake about it: I firmly support our men and women in uniform. For this reason, we must bring them home from a battlefront with no real hope of military victory. I thank my colleague, Mr. Kucinich from Ohio, for re-introducing this Resolution. I was proud to cosponsor it in the last Congress, and I will firmly offer my support today in hopes that we can finally end this war.

Mr. FARR

Mr. FARR. Mr. Speaker, I come to the House floor today to raise a glass of scotch in memory of Jim Mannassero, who died late last year following a brief illness. Jim was a giant among giants in the Salinas Valley's $4 billion produce industry. He was involved for decades in vegetable production at all levels and was admired as a true leader by colleagues and competitors alike. So while you may have never heard of Jim Manassero, I can guarantee that every member of Congress has eaten something that Jim helped to grow. Those fortunate enough to know Jim will remember his gravely voice--a voice that he never hesitated to use to tell it as he saw it. Jim was always free with his opinions and observations, but he never let those opinions stray from his own deep knowledge and wisdom. When Jim spoke, you always knew that there was thought behind his words, even if those words came with a kick in the pants. He never left you in doubt about where you stood with him. But Jim's leadership and authority didn't come from being loud or pushy, it came from unfailing honesty and deep integrity. So while you may not have agreed with Jim, you always trusted him. Jim's friends will also remember his sense of style, with one pant leg tucked into his boot and accessorized whenever he could with a glass of scotch. Jim worked for D'Arrigo Bros. of California for thirty two years, serving as Vice President of California Operations for the last 25. He was a member of Class I of the prestigious California Ag Leadership Program. He was the current Chairman of the Monterey County Agriculture Advisory Group which counsels the Monterey County Board of Supervisors on issues facing the agricultural industry. He was a founding member, and past President, of the Salinas River Coalition, where he worked with other Salinas Valley land owners to reduce the flood risk to Salinas Valley Communities and the surrounding farmland. Since 1979, Jim served as a member of the California Lettuce Research Board, serving as the organization's Chairman from 1997 to 1999. Jim served as Chairman of the Board of the Grower-Shipper Association in 1985-1986. Just last year he was the recipient of the Association's highest honor, the E.E. ``Gene'' Harden Award for Lifetime Achievement in Central Coast Agriculture. The additional boards, commissions, organizations and committees on which Jim served are too numerous to mention but, it is enough to say that Jim did the work of a dozen people. The United States is a better place for Jim's efforts. Mr. Speaker, Jim leaves behind his wife, Ginny, his two children, Victoria and Paul, and one grandson, Julian. I know that I speak for the whole House in extending to them and to Jims friends and colleagues our deepest condolences.

Mr. FARR

Mr. FARR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the 100th Anniversary of International Women's Day. Around the world, this global milestone is marked as a time to celebrate women and their achievements throughout history. It is also a time to reaffirm our commitment to ending discrimination and violence against women and pursuing policies to guarantee the basic rights of every woman and girl. Over the past century, tremendous progress has been made in achieving full gender equality. Internationally, women account for 80 percent of the 70 million micro-borrowers, 67 countries have gender equity laws on their books, and women have been elected to government leadership roles in every country. Here in the U.S., women continue to play an important role in caring for their families, but now, more than 50% of college students are women and nearly 60% of the American workforce is female. I am also extremely proud that today in the United States, more women than ever before are being elected to public office. I was honored to serve with the first woman Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, and the 18 women Members of Congress from California. But there is still more work to be done. At this very moment, there are too many parts of the world where women and girls are denied access to education, lack adequate health care, die from preventable causes, or are targets of sexual and physical violence. Even here, in our own country, women on average still earn 77 cents for every dollar earned by their male counterparts. In the midst of our recession, pay parity is no longer solely a question of gender equity; it is an issue of economic necessity. Mr. Speaker, I am proud to be a cosponsor of Rep. Jan Schakowsky's International Women's Day Resolution. And while this day is of unique importance, I believe that we can and must treat every day as an opportunity to fight for gender equality around the world.

Mr. FARR

Mr. FARR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the memory of a good friend and great American who passed away tragically on November 18, 2006. The Defense Language Institute is dedicating its newest classroom building for Middle Eastern languages in honor of Alfie Tawfick Khalil. Alfie, who was a native of Egypt, came to this country in the late 1960s. In 1979, Alfie joined the faculty of the Monterey, CA Defense Language Institute (DLI) where he taught Arabic to U.S. military personnel. He soon stood out as a leader among the DLI faculty. In 1980, he became a shop steward with AFGE Local 1263, the union representing the DLI faculty. By 1987 he was elected president of Local 1263. In the post 9-11 world, foreign language capacity is a national security tool. In 2005, General John Abizaid, former Commander of U.S. Central Command, testified before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Quality of Life and Veterans Affairs, that the ``ability to cross the cultural divide is not an Army issue. It is a national issue. We have to be able to deal with the people in the rest of the world as the globe shrinks in terms of communication and problem solving and sharing.'' As the world's largest foreign language school, DLI plays an indispensable role in moving this defense strategy forward. But DLI can't do it without its faculty. They are native speakers of their mother languages who, like Alfie, come from the distant places of the globe to help our nation better defend itself. Alfie understood this and made the advocacy for DLI faculty and staff his life's work. After my first election to Congress, I learned quickly that there were two people I needed to know at DLI: the commandant, a Colonel who would move on or retire after a two year stint, and Alfie, who would always be there representing the best interests of the faculty. Alfie made his presence felt in so many ways. One of the best examples of this was his hard work on behalf of ``locality pay''--the small salary boost for federal workers based in particularly high cost areas. Alfie pointed out that Monterey County was, indeed, one of those areas, but that the federal government still considered it rural so paid DLI faculty at much lower rates. Alfie and I worked together for more than three years to secure a decision by the Office of Personnel Management that Monterey County based civil service workers deserved locality pay. This hard work on Alfie's part has helped DLI attract and retain the best language teachers in the world. However, Alfie was about more than just pay at DLI. He was about professionalism. That became clear in the most recent fight to keep DLI off the base closure list. Alfie was a never-ending resource to my office and the BRAC Commission. He provided information and statistics on the level of expertise and depth of training of the DLI faculty. With this information it was easy to make the case that DLI could not be recreated anywhere else--that it was dependent on and unique to the talent of the Monterey area. Alfie was a key player in keeping DLI open and in Monterey. Mr. Speaker, I know that I speak for the entire House of Representatives in sharing our sincere condolences to Alfie Khalil's family both here in the United States and in Egypt and to his extended family of students and colleagues throughout the DLI community.

Mr. FARR

Mr. FARR. I think that's very important. One of the things I did today, because I was in the same conversation that you were having, somebody asked me about it who was my age and wanted to know whether he could go in the Peace Corps. And I said, go look up the Peace Corps on the Internet. Not only that. It shows every one of those countries, 77 countries, and what jobs are in that country. You can go out and look around the world and see the country you want to go to and find a job that you think you're qualified to do, and that gives you a motivation to do that. Also, not all Peace Corps volunteers live in mud huts. If you're teaching in a university or in a school in an urban area, you could be in a much more comfortable, middle class setting than people out--the image of sleeping in a hammock in a mud hut. So it's all kinds of opportunities, just depending on the skill sets of you, the individual, and the needs of the host country. We are always there as a guest being asked by the country to be there, and we do the jobs they ask us to do. And, frankly, I think we have enough innovation, as you and I found out, that sometimes if the job isn't working exactly as they described, you just look around and see what else is needed and adapt yourself. That's a lot of fun. That's a lot of creativity and I think a lot of satisfaction for the volunteer.

Mr. FARR. He met his wife there too. They are happily married. So some Peace Corps volunteers come home with new families.

Mr. FARR. Thank you very much, Congresswoman Lois Capps. I'm so fond of you and the service you give in your wonderful district, the Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo County coastlines. Yes, I was with Congresswoman Capps last week when we hosted, in Surabaya, dinner with Peace Corps volunteers. And what struck me is, one, some of their assignments were much tougher than the one I had in a barrio in Medellin, Colombia, back in the 1960s, that women live with Muslim families because Indonesia is the largest Muslim country in the world. They teach in schools. Very interesting how, and essentially progressive even, those Muslim schools were, allowing the American women not to have to be covered and to essentially be themselves and represent this country, and how fond the students are of their teachers and the faculty of the teachers. So Peace Corps was there. And it's interesting that, as we pay tribute on the 50th anniversary, there's no age limit to joining the Peace Corps. We're in, I think, 77 countries now. We're about half our full size. We once were 15,000 volunteers. We're down to 7,000. Growing. Congressman Garamendi and myself and others have been working to try to increase the Peace Corps budget because it's the only thing that's standing in the way between more volunteers being overseas. There's 20 countries that want Peace Corps. There's 20,000 people that apply to the Peace Corps. And there's only, every year, about half of 7,000, so about 4,000, 3,500 jobs available. So only one in three or four ever can get a chance to get accepted, and that's not fair. And we need to double the size of Peace Corps. And lastly on that point is that it costs, I think it's for every soldier we sent to Afghanistan, we could send 12 Peace Corps volunteers abroad. So we really get a good bang for our buck. Why I rise tonight and I will try to be quick before I give it back to Mr. Garamendi is to, on behalf of all four of us who are returned Peace Corps volunteers now serving in Congress, we circulated a letter asking the President of the United States to issue a proclamation honoring the 50th anniversary of the Peace Corps. It was signed by 136 Members of Congress. Today, on the 50th anniversary of the Peace Corps, the President of the United States said the following: ``In 1961, President John F. Kennedy signed an Executive order establishing the Peace Corps''--remember, Executive order. It wasn't done by a congressional act; it was a Presidential act--``establishing the Peace Corps, forever changing the way Americans see the world and the world sees us. ``Today, one of President Kennedy's most enduring legacies can be found in the over 200,000 current and returned Peace Corps volunteers who have collectively given over a half a century of service to the cause of peace. On its 50th anniversary, the United States Peace Corps remains an enduring symbol of our Nation's commitment to encouraging progress, creating opportunity, and fostering mutual respect and understanding throughout the world. ``Over the past five decades, Peace Corps volunteers have served in nearly 140 countries, bringing a wealth of practical assistance to those working to build better lives for themselves and their communities. From the first group of volunteers to arrive in Ghana and Tanzania in August of 1961, they have been emissaries of hope and goodwill to the far corners of the world, strengthening the ties of friendship between the people of the United States and those of other countries. ``Living and working alongside those they serve, volunteers help address changing and complex global needs in education, health, HIV/ AIDS, business and information technology, agriculture, environmental protection, and youth development. With each village that now has access to clean water, each young woman who has received an education, and each family empowered to prevent disease because of the service of a Peace Corps volunteer, President Kennedy's noble vision lives on. ``In our increasingly interconnected world, the mission of the Peace Corps is more relevant today than ever. Returned volunteers, enriched by their experiences overseas, bring a deeper understanding of other cultures and traditions back to their homes here in the United States. The lasting accomplishments of the Peace Corps continue to strengthen the partnerships with leaders in countries around the world. ``This year, we also mourn the loss and pay tribute to the extraordinary life of Sargent Shriver, the founding director of the Peace Corps. The impact of his decades of public service will echo forever in countless places across the globe that have been touched by the Peace Corps. ``On this anniversary, we honor the men and women from across the country who have carried forward our Nation's finest tradition of service, and we rededicate ourselves to fulfilling the dream and continuing the work of all those who aspire and yearn for peace. ``Now, therefore, I, Barack Obama, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby claim March 1, 2011, as the 50th Anniversary of the Peace Corps. I call upon all Americans to observe this day with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities that honor the Peace Corps and its volunteers, past and present, for their many contributions to the cause of global peace and friendship. ``In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this 28th day of February, in the year of our Lord 2011, and of the Independence of the United States of America the 235th. Barack Obama.'' So in that honor I am very pleased that my colleague and friend from California, John Garamendi, has asked us to pay tribute to the Peace Corps on its 50th anniversary. And I yield to my good colleague, who had the wisdom to set up this moment of special order.

Mr. FARR. We had small business development in Colombia. There was also a whole bunch of people working on educational television, which the country was implementing and needed teachers who knew how to do that, and technicians on how to run the studios and set it all up. We also had architects helping design public facilities and parks. You don't work on your own. You work with host country counterparts who are professionals like you are.

Mr. FARR. You did it even more so, because you were married, you were a rock star athlete out of California, you were at the University of California Berkeley. And to be married and to take that risk, sort of walking away from what was just the ideal life to go off to Ethiopia must have been an incredible pull.

Mr. FARR. Would you share for me, I got here a little late, maybe you already did, but I think you did one of the most remarkable diplomatic missions ever in being asked to come back to Ethiopia with some colleagues of the Peace Corps by the president of the country to see if you could help to settle the dispute with neighboring Eritrea. And as I recall, it was a band of Peace Corps volunteers that put that peace agreement together.

Mr. FARR. It's one thing to be a Peace Corps volunteer. It is one thing to bring two nations at war together living in peace because you are Peace Corps volunteers. I think that's a great tribute. You mentioned Chic Dambach. He was a student of mine when he was going into volunteer service in the Peace Corps in Colombia. It seems that you and I have developed a great fondness for Chic. Maybe he is more important than either of us because he has been so instrumental in your life and what happened in Ethiopia and Eritrea, and was instrumental in my life in Colombia. I am glad he is here tonight because he really is part of the Peace Corps legacy.

Mr. FARR. I would also like to mention that we could use a lot more Peace Corps volunteers because of these countries that want us. They want us to come in for the first time, they want us to grow. Vietnam is interested in getting the Peace Corps. We were just in East Timor. They were there. We were pulled out due to unrest. They are now in peace. They want them back. Surabaya in Indonesia, there are, I think, 18 volunteers there now. They could grow that to hundreds of volunteers. The country wants it. But the one thing we have to do here in Congress is give them more money. Frankly, I want to really salute the President of the United States, because in these tough fiscal times, where everything else has to be cut back, this year he has asked Congress to give the Peace Corps more money than we gave them last year, and that's one of the bounce-up programs. We have gotten strong bipartisan support on this, and hopefully in this Congress, which is going to be mostly a cut, squeeze, and trim Congress, we don't throw the baby out with the bath water, as you said. What an incredible opportunity at a time when peace might be breaking out in the Middle East. They are going to need a lot of this. They are going to need a lot of community development. You are going to need people to understand. I mean, I could go on for hours at what I just saw in East Timor where women had, three, four, five babies in houses with no electricity, mud floors, before anyone got to them and said, you know, you need to go through a prenatal discussion and some postnatal treatment. Even in that poverty, what they are just trying to do is sequence the babies so they won't be born so quickly one next to another because there is a high risk of low birth rate. You know who is there right on the ground doing that--that is what the Peace Corps does. So the need, the war on poverty never ends. The war, or the path to peace, the process for peace, as we have seen hopefully breaking out in the Middle East, that we can get a democratic society, they are all going to need teachers, and as we need them here at home we need them abroad. Teachers and not just traditional reading, writing, and arithmetic but teachings of health care and HIV prevention and so on. And I know you and Patti have dedicated your lives to that work and what a wonderful way to celebrate on this 50th anniversary.

Mr. FARR

Mr. FARR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the 50th anniversary of the Peace Corps and the nearly quarter million people who have served in the Peace Corps in the name of peace. Fifty years ago, John F. Kennedy signed the executive order creating the Peace Corps, and the significance of this executive order reverberated around the world. At that moment in our history, America was in the throes of a Cold War, and the international community viewed our great Nation with increasing cynicism. Amidst this global tension, the Peace Corps showed the world the enduring values of peace, commitment to national service, and an optimism that had been eclipsed in the Cold War and World War II. Under the masterful direction of Sargent Shriver, the Peace Corps' ranks swelled to 15,000 volunteers in 44 developing countries within the first 5 years of existence. I was one of those early recruits. Right after college, I found myself in Peace Corps training and ended up in a poor barrio 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 because of that experience in the Peace Corps that I am standing here today in the well of the United States Congress.

Mr. FARR. Thank you, Mr. Dreier, and I appreciate your support as well. Over the past 50 years, through war and conflict, the Peace Corps has shown the world the hopeful, uplifting side of America that reflects our fundamental ideas of peace, service and grass-roots development. That great legacy continues today. At this moment, 8,655 volunteers are serving in 76 developing countries around the world. I am proud to say that 25 of those volunteers are from my district. Among them is Gabe LaHue, who was the valedictorian at Aptos High School. He then went on to study plant sciences at Cornell. Just 4 months after graduating summa cum laude from college, Gabe entered into the Peace Corps in Paraguay to serve in an agricultural role there. Right now, Gabe is working shoulder to shoulder with community members in eastern Paraguay on rural agricultural development. Like many Peace Corps volunteers, Gabe's service ripples out far beyond one single project. He also helped to start a composting initiative, teaches English, and is working to set a library up and get it running. There are others, like Ashley Burke from Marina, who is teaching English at an orphanage in Rwanda; and there is James Staples from Pacific, who is working on sustainable rural tourism in Guatemala. Gabe, Ashley, and James are powerful ambassadors who have committed 2 years of their lives to serving America's best values abroad. The American taxpayers reap a huge return on their investment in this remarkable program. To date, more than 20 countries have requested Peace Corps volunteers, and other countries want an increase in the number of volunteers allocated to them. The Peace Corps is able to build this goodwill on a shoestring budget. Dollar for dollar, Peace Corps volunteers are one of our most effective ambassadors of international development and diplomacy. In fact, the Peace Corps amounts to, roughly, 1 percent of our total Federal budget. For the cost of sending one soldier to Afghanistan, the Peace Corps can send 13 volunteers to developing countries to serve U.S. interests in the name of peace. In the midst of our tight budget climate, the Peace Corps is one of the most low-cost, high-return tools in our foreign policy toolbox. In honor of the 50th anniversary of the Peace Corps, I am proud to join my fellow returned Peace Corps volunteers, who are Tom Petri, Mike Honda and John Garamendi--all Members of Congress--to introduce a bipartisan bill to establish a commemorative work in the District of Columbia to recognize the founding of the Peace Corps, which will be at no expense to the U.S. taxpayer. This bill, which passed the House by voice vote last Congress, commemorates the creation of a unique form of public service that promotes peace through people-to-people diplomacy and cross-cultural understanding, and it doesn't cost the taxpayers a single penny. I urge my congressional colleagues to honor America's commitment to peace by supporting the swift passage of this timely legislation. So today, as we mark a significant milestone in America's history, I urge each of you to join me in honoring your constituents who have served in and who are supporting the Peace Corps funding so that we can usher in the next generation of Americans who want to serve this country in the name of peace.