Chris Dodd: “I rise today to express my satisfaction with last night's passage by unanimous consent of S. 2667, the Peace Corps…”

“I rise today to express my satisfaction with last night's passage by unanimous consent of S. 2667, the Peace Corps Charter for the 21st Century Act. I would like to thank Gaddi Vasquez and the staff of the Peace Corps for their willingness to work with me to come up with a bill that I believe will make it possible for the President to achieve the goal that he set during the State of the Union address in January, namely the doubling of the size of the Peace Corps over the next several years. I am proud of the bill we have passed, and I am confident that the provisions it contains will help us continue to fulfill President Kennedy's original vision of the Peace Corps as an American volunteer service dedicated to 'promoting world peace and friendship.' It is always with tremendous fondness and pride that I speak of the Peace Corps, as it gives me occasion to recall my own years as a volunteer in the Dominican Republic. I have often spoken of how these 2 years changed my life. Indeed, living and working outside of the United States and seeing the way other nations operated for the first time, I grew to appreciate our nation more and more, and developed a strong sense of what it means to be an American. I was proud to share my experience as an American citizen with the people I was there to help. Those 2 years were invaluable to me, and truly brought home to me the value of public service.”