Senator Rand Paul takes pride in his 17 year membership of Lions Club International–an organization dedicated to “preserving sight by providing eyeglasses and surgery to the less fortunate around the world”, but yesterday his eyesight was way off.  His amendment to strike $6.9 billion from the State Department and USAID in order to fund FEMA […]

Senator Rand Paul takes pride in his 17 year membership of Lions Club International–an organization dedicated to “preserving sight by providing eyeglasses and surgery to the less fortunate around the world”, but yesterday his eyesight was way off.  His amendment to strike $6.9 billion from the State Department and USAID in order to fund FEMA disaster relief programs was not only short sighted–it was an idea that had no sight or vision of any kind.

Senator Kerry was as clear as a bell when he said: “This amendment would be absolutely devastating to our foreign aid and development programs. It would decimate agencies that have already taken huge funding cuts in fiscal year 2011, and it would completely undermine core national security priorities and humanitarian commitments.”

Senator Graham spoke up, too: “The foreign operations account is national security in another form. If you just do not always want to bomb people, you need to help people help themselves, and the money in this account will allow people to stand up against terrorism and do things America has been doing for a long time; that is, helping people who really would be better off for the experience and have a kindness toward us.”

The good news is that there are Members of Congress–liberals, moderates, and fiscal conservatives alike, who have deep knowledge and understanding of why it is important to protect life-saving anti-poverty programs from cuts in FY12 and beyond.

Many lives depend on these programs that give the world’s poorest people the tools they need to help lift themselves out of hunger and poverty.  With high food prices and extreme weather events threatening millions around the world, now is not the time to cut life-saving assistance–which makes up less than 1% of the US budget.  These strategic investments help make a safer world today and avert costlier interventions and humanitarian emergencies tomorrow.

With all due respect, perhaps it is time for Senator Paul to let Lion’s Club International do some work on his eyesight and vision.