The 47 million US dollars cut was passed on Wednesday with President Bush’s administration opposing the cut. Jim Kolbe, the Chairman of the Foreign Operation sub committee said Egypt is a strategic ally to U.S and will they will lobby to restore the assistance.
A number of legislators want to cut assistance to Egypt because of its failure to introduce promised democratic reforms. The Bush administration opposes the cuts, noting Egypt’s role in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, and a Bush ally in the U.S. House of Representatives said he would restore the assistance when the foreign operations bill goes to conference.
“Egypt is a strategic ally. We shouldn’t be doing something like this right now,” Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz), chairman of the foreign operations subcommittee, told National Journal. Egypt gets $1.3 billion in military aid and just under $500 million in domestic assistance stemming from its 1978 peace accord with Israel.
08 May 2006
U.S senate cuts aid to Egypt over democracy
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