Howard Berman: “The Republican budget cuts the President's 2012 request for international affairs by $20 billion. That's 39 percent of…”

“The Republican budget cuts the President's 2012 request for international affairs by $20 billion. That's 39 percent of the amount in diplomacy and development outside of Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. While diplomacy and development account for only about 1 percent of the overall budget, under the Republican plan this tiny portion of the budget would absorb a wildly disproportionate share of the cuts. Here's what it means on the ground: Taking AIDS patients off lifesaving medication, withholding bed nets from children in malaria zones, and standing idly by during humanitarian emergencies. I know the chairman of the committee, I know he doesn't want to see those things happen, but the effect of his plan would make them happen. The Democratic alternative takes a wise and responsible approach to reducing the deficit. I urge my colleagues to support it.”