Mr. Speaker. purely by accident I ended up in Lisbon. Portugal. last week and thought about you and thought about Dr. Mendes. I would like to commend the Speaker for his thoughtfulness and sensitivity in bringing this matter before the House and his effort to write a longstanding law. Dr. Mendes. as a diplomat during World War II. signed hundreds of visas for Jews and others to escape through Spain and Portugal. These courageous acts were taken despite strict orders from his government not to give visas to those attempting to flee the Nazis. Despite having saved 30.000 lives. Dr.