Norman D. Dicks: “We've already cut this program by 38 percent below the President's budget request and 31 percent below last year. That…”

“We've already cut this program by 38 percent below the President's budget request and 31 percent below last year. That is a major cut in this program. To go any further, I think, would be a big mistake. I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. McGOVERN. I thank the gentleman. I would just say that, yes, we need to get serious about the deficit and we need to find ways to bring this deficit down. But taking food out of the mouths of children is not the way to do this. I can go through a litany of things that deserve to be cut, from some of the subsidies that we provide some of the big agricultural businesses to the subsidization of the oil companies to some of the tax breaks for the Donald Trumps of the world. I would rather start there. But to take, to denigrate this program, I think, is wrong. This is something we should be proud of, and, in a bipartisan way, we should be proud of this. Presidents, both Republican and Democratic, have supported this program, and this is vital to the survival of so many people around the world. Again, I would reiterate what Secretary Gates said. These programs, these developmental programs, are important to our national security. I'm going to tell you, they do more to help improve our image and protect our security around the world than a lot of these other programs that we have that export military hardware all around the world. This is important. This is real. This saves lives.…”