The two weeks leading up to that day at Regan Airport were a roller coaster ride.  The Congress is a fascinating place.  Members sit and eat in a basement cafeteria that is open to the general public.  I met Congresswoman Mary Joe Kilroy there and we ate meals on plastic cafeteria trays and talked about Peace Corps.  She listened with close attention and she thanked me for the update and said she would call Rep. Nita Lowey to hang tough for the full $450 million.  Just being there you run into some of the most powerful people in the world and many of them are really grounded.  I remember once, back in March 2009 standing on the steps of one of the House building talking on the phone with my mom when a black SUV pulled up and out walked Peter Orszag and Larry Summers, President Obama’s OMB director and White House Senior Economic Advisor. It was the very day they were delivering President Obama’s 2010 budget to the Congress.  I walked up to Mr. Orszag and said, “Mr. Orszag, Peace Corps is half the size it was in 1966.  I hope it’s $450 million in your budget today.”  He smiled, shook my hand with a strong handshake and said, “We’re right there with the Peace Corps.”  Later that day we learned “right there” was $76 million less than $450 and I remember thinking I wish I had met him the day before when maybe he could have changed the number in his word processor.