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Old April 8th, 2011 #19
SmokyMtn
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Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: East Tennessee
Posts: 8,506
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The U.S. Agency for International Development needs to go.

Quote:
So far in the budget debate, the Obama administration has drawn few bright lines, preferring to blur distinctions with concessions. But last week, a neon line was drawn by an unlikely administration official. Rajiv Shah, the administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, possesses the mildest of manners. Testifying before the House state and foreign operations subcommittee, however, Shah had this to say:
“We estimate, and I believe these are very conservative estimates, that H.R. 1 would lead to 70,000 kids dying. Of that 70,000, 30,000 would come from malaria control programs that would have to be scaled back, specifically. The other 40,000 is broken out as 24,000 who would die because of a lack of support for immunizations and other investments, and 16,000 would be because of the lack of skilled attendants at birth.”
This is the hardest of hardball politics — accusing budget cutters of unwitting complicity in the deaths of children. House GOP lawmakers responded angrily. “Nearly every administration witness appearing before the Appropriations Committee,” said Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.), “has put forward nightmare scenarios and dire numbers to argue why we should not be reducing spending in any program. Republicans won’t be drawn into a debate over what might happen based on speculations and hype.”