USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah told the House Appropriations State and Foreign Ops subcommittee on Wednesday that the budget plan, which would cut $61 billion in federal spending, would lead to the deaths of 30,000 kids in a malaria control program that would have to be scaled back, 24,000 from a lack of immunizations and 16,000 from a lack of skilled attendants at birth...
But subcommittee member Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., sent a statement to FoxNews.com Thursday saying, "Nearly every administration witness appearing before the Appropriations Committee 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 speculation and hype," he said. "We understand that if we don't rein in these trillion-dollar-plus deficits, programs like this one may have to be eliminated entirely in the near future."
Lewis noted that the GOP plan reduced the overall USAID account but left it entirely up to the administration on how to find the savings...
Shah's comments contained echoes of former Democratic Rep. Alan Grayson's explosive charge two years ago that the Republicans' idea of health care was wanting sick people to "die quickly." Grayson lost his Florida seat in November's midterm elections.
Earlier this month, Vice President Biden likened the GOP budget plan to rape victims being blamed for rape.
