House lawmaker blocks $450M in US assistance to Egypt

Fox News ^ | September 28,2012 | Fox news

[penelopesire]

WASHINGTON –  The chairwoman of the House committee that oversees foreign aid is blocking $450 million in U.S. assistance to Egypt. Rep. Kay Granger, a Republican, said Friday that the State Department had notified Congress of plans to transfer the money to the new government of President Mohammed Morsi, a move that Granger said she would stop. "This proposal comes to Congress at a point when the U.S.-Egypt relationship has never been under more scrutiny, and rightly so," the chairwoman of the Appropriations subcommittee on foreign operations said in a statement. "I am not convinced of the urgent need for this assistance and I cannot support it at this time. ... I have placed a hold on these funds." The relationship between the United States and Egypt has been rocky since the overthrow of U.S. ally President Hosni Mubarak last year. The Egyptian government angered Washington when it cracked down on numerous democracy advocates and groups, including three U.S.-funded nongovernmental organizations, earlier this year. More recently, demonstrators breached the U.S. Embassy in Cairo to protest an anti-Islam video, and some in Congress have called for cutting off aid. The United States provides Egypt with $1.55 billion annually -- $250 million in economic aid and $1.3 billion in military aid. The cash transfer came from money that had already been appropriated.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/09/28/house-lawmaker-blocks-450m-in-us-assistance-to-egypt/?test=latestnews#ixzz27ny1cFzb

[penelopesire]

Good for Rep. Granger!

[Fiji Hill]

Way to go!

[cripplecreek]

Good.

[upchuck]

Last paragraph of the article:

Last December, Congress made foreign assistance to Egypt, including the military financing, contingent on a determination that the government "is supporting the transition to civilian government including holding free and fair elections; implementing policies to protect freedom of expression, association, and religion and due process of law."

That being the case, and while I cheer Rep. Granger, it appears to me we owe Egypt el zippo, nada, nuthin.

[Jacquerie]

Uh, your source link is about security lapses, not aid to Egypt.

[molson209]

but , they will move the money anyway ,from anywhere

[penelopesire]

Agree. We should have stopped aid the minute they put Morsi and the islamists in charge.

[penelopesire]

Thanks for the heads up!
Please correct link. Thanks.
Correct link:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/09/28/house-lawmaker-blocks-450m-in-us-assistance-to-egypt/?test=latestnews

[Sequoyah101]

And never did owe Egypt anything.

Good on Grangier. At least someone stood up and did something right.

[Venturer]

Hot Damn, We have at least one Republican who is paying attention.

I tried to email her,but she doesn’t accept emails from people out of her district.

Thank You Kay Granger. Cut off all aid to our enemies.