; Whereas Congress created the Peace Corps in 1961 and the United States has since sent more than 220,000 volunteers to 140 nations to promote the Peace Corps’ mission of world peace and friendship through service in the developing world; Whereas, on November 3, 1961, President John F. Kennedy established the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) with the aim of providing direct support to developing countries in a manner free of political and military influence; Whereas over the last 10 years, Congress and successive administrations have worked to more than double foreign assistance and implement a number of new foreign aid initiatives to support global health, development, human rights, and good governance, including the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA), the President’s International Education Initiative, the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI), the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the Global Food Security and Feed the Future Initiatives, and the Global Health Initiative; Whereas President Obama has expressed his commitment to achieve the Millennium Development Goal of cutting extreme poverty and hunger around the world in half by 2015, as well as his intent to double the level of foreign assistance to meet that goal; Whereas the United States has pledged its support, along with every United Nations member state and numerous international organizations, to achieve the United Nations Millennium Development Goals in order to reduce extreme poverty, support sustainable development, and address the needs of the world’s most vulnerable populations