chairman. >> we are joined by rajiv shah, the administrator of usaid. dr. shah is the 16th administrator of usaid, and previously served as undersecretary of research, education and economics at usaid. s. chief scientist at the is department of agriculture. we welcome him back to the committee. without objection, the witnesses for prepared statement will be made part of the record. members will have five calendar days to submit any statements or questions or extreme ease pitcher for the record. and we will ask administrator shah, if you would, please summarize your remarks. administrator shah. >> thank you, chairman royce, and thank you ranking member engel, and to all of the members of the committee. i am pleased and honored to be here to present a justification for president obama's fy '15 request for usaid and for development assistance around the world. as the president has said on numerous occasions, our investments and development of health and humanitarian affairs and in supporting civil society and democratic governance are a critical part of our own

rajiv shah welcome.i really enjoyed your keynote at the national prayer breakfast where you made a think a very strong case for foreign aid. unfortunately not every american got to hear that case and i think it's also unfortunate when you take a look at our current budget situation and the enormous pressure we are under most americans go to foreign aid and that's the first place they want to cut. can you speak little bit in terms of making that case for foreign aid? >> thank you senator and thank you for your leadership. what i learned from the opportunity to be at the prayer breakfast this year was that when we come together across different communities and partners republicans and democrats house and senate businesses and entrepreneurs and very importantly faith community members who carry out this mission with exactly the right attention and serving those that are the least fortunate amongst us. we present a picture to the world of an america that cares about paul orgel people. it cares about countrie

going to be discovered doesn't that taint all usa idea employees around the world as spies now dr rajiv shah also testified in front of a house appropriations subcommittee this afternoon where you receive some similar tough questions about cuban twitter and he'll be testifying at more hearings in the coming days to discuss u.s. aid funding levels for fiscal year two thousand and fifteen and whether he wants to or not he's going to have to continue to defend his agency's tactics which he claims are in line with usa its primary mission to end extreme poverty and promote democratic societies but with one of the agency's own workers any cuban jail and reports of this cuban twitter fiasco in the media lawmakers say usaid is behaving more like a clandestine cia outfit rather than an international development organization. from capitol hill in washington d.c. same sex. and now to guantanamo where today one yemeni detainees having his case evaluated by a periodic review board which could grant his release khalid nasir al behind me is a thirty four year old yemeni who is suspected of having fought in

to know who came up with the idea of the cuban twitter a question the administrator of usaid dr rajiv shah couldn't answer and he feared for some meat if it was supposed to be a boring hearing about u.s. aids fiscal year two thousand and fifteen budget but instead it turned into a debate over whether or not the agency is working outside its primary mission and now engaging in activities that not only endangered staff but could ruin the agency's reputation around the world off the bat dr shah defended u.s. aids activities in cuba saying they fit well within the law governing its democracy assistance programs in that nation now congress has given us aid roughly two hundred million dollars since one thousand nine hundred sixty four. cuba lawmakers say they were adequately informed about how that money was being spent by usaid and why some are accusing the agency of running a covert program senator leahy also mentioned u.s. government contractor alan gross who was arrested by cuban authorities in two thousand and nine while on a u.s. aid mission in the country to distribute electronic communic

administrator rajiv shah testified on efforts to fight global poverty and hunger. this is an hour and half.

administrator rajiv shah testified on efforts to fight global poverty and hunger. this is an hour and half. >> you come at a time when usaid is making headlines for doing nothing more than the job you were appointed to do. that we say to the record, when it comes to the issue of cuba or your work in any closed society, i do not believe usaid's actions, as clearly articulated in your mission statement to promote "resilient democratic societies that are able to realize their potential," are in any way a cockamamie idea. i believe it is exactly what the people of cuba, iran, burma, belarus, north korea, and other authoritarian nations need to help them communicate with each other. to help them achieve the usaid's stated mission of a "free, peaceful, and self-reliant society with an effective, legitimate governmen." so i commend you for helping people have a less control platform to talk to each other, helping them find a way to connect and share their views. global internet freedom programs , u.s. international broadcasting, and support for human rights activists are

it's been a tough week for dr rajiv shah minister for the united states agency for international development over the course of three days he testified in front of four congressional committees receiving an earful from lawmakers about his agency's role in creating a social media platform in cuba known as zunes a neo which collected data on private citizens to reportedly undermine the cuban government legislation doesn't say anything about setting up a khamenei idea in cuba twitter accounts at all the goal is regime change why would we put that mission in u.s. aid now despite repeated claims from administrator show that the program was not covert and a well known to the white house and lawmakers a former official in the senate foreign relations committee told newsweek otherwise saying the white house had not been briefed on the us age regime change programs and that the secret operations continue just as they had under bush cheney aggressive overfunded and in obvious need of oversight and review on thursday calls came from the senate foreign relations committee for usaid to turn over all docu