Congress split on cutting off aid to Egypt

[midnight]

Source: Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Members of Congress are split over whether the U.S. should cut off military aid to Egypt, highlighting the difficult choices facing the Obama administration amid spiraling violence on the streets of an important Middle East ally.

Democratic leaders have generally supported the president's approach. But on Sunday, Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., said he would end aid to Egypt. Ellison is the first Muslim elected to Congress and is co-chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

"I would cut off aid but engage in intense diplomacy in Egypt and in the region to try to say, look, we will restore aid when you stop the bloodshed in the street and set up a path towards democracy that you were on before," Ellison said. "In my mind, there's no way to say that this was not a coup. It is. We should say so. And then follow our own law, which says we cannot fund the coup leaders."

Among Republicans, there were growing calls to eliminate military aid to Egypt. But others were more hesitant.


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The U.S. gives over a billion dollars in aid to Egypt, and then they turn around and spend it on these ten companies... I think our aid should be used for other things...

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/united-states/130816/top-10-american-corporations-egypt-military-us-aid

[Iliyah]

1. Congress is making thought

and decisions, who knew - LOL

[dipsydoodle]

2. Presumably the split is due to

those with a brain acknowledging its a coup and the rest not so.

[Mike Nelson]

3. Aid shpuld be...

...suspended

[jessie04]

4. Cut off all aid.

nt

[valerief]

5. Foreign aid is designed to make rich people richer.

Military funding is designed to make rich people richer.

The world is organized to make rich people richer.

[azurnoir]

6. This must be really difficult for the GOP

which Democrat do we agree with the POTUS (rumored Muslim) or the actual Muslim let's see both are Black........

the thought of the Tea heads exploding over this dilemma is a bright spot in an otherwise depressing situation

[IDemo]

7. Which decision would continue funneling money to our brave warfighting corporate interests?

That's got to be a factor as well.

[azurnoir]

10. well yes it is but then again no matter which way they go

they have to be seen agreeing with a-with a-gasp Democrat

[David__77]

8. Cutting off aid would be strategic blunder with a very high cost.

That said, I wouldn't mind, because it would potentially help lead to a more independent Egypt. But the fact is that the US gets much more out of that aid than Egypt does.

[hinterlandg]

9. Aid to Egypt

On one hand I would like to see the aid suspended, but realistically, we can't afford to alienate the Egyptian government, or whatever is left of it. All hell has broken loose since Mubarak got kicked out.

[branford]

11. Simple realpolitik. I like neither the MB or the military, but the aid supports American interests.

[fujiyama]

12. What American interests?

This is beyond stupid. Most of this "aid" is a form of laundering that just goes back to our own defense contractors...

Is this aid just intended to get Israel and Egypt to simply shut up and play nice with each other?

Realpolitik? Really, is that your best defense of this Mr. Kissinger? Are you cool with the billions going to Israel and Pakistan as well every year?

[branford]

15. I simply stated my analysis.

Last edited Mon Aug 19, 2013, 01:44 AM - Edit history (2)

However, despite your juvenile sarcasm, you appear to fully grasp why the aid is in American interests. Additionally, stability in the region is likely best achieved by the military, and hence certainly in our best interest.

You may also note that despite our dramatic political differences with the Muslim Brotherhood, we similarly did not cut-off aid to the Morsi administration, for it too served the same interests as it does now.

As to aid to Israel and Pakistan, yes, I am "cool with it," as I believe it too serves American interests and wider stability in dangerous parts of the globe.

You appear to dislike foreign aid. Is it just the aid to Pakistan and Israel, or would you also like us to stop it to other bastions of democracy and human rights such as Jordan and Palestinian territories?

[cosmicone]

13. Precisely!! n/t

[cosmicone]

14. Notwithstanding the support and sympathies for the fundamentalist kooks

on DU and elsewhere,

most pragmatic people know that the military is simply establishing stability after a very volatile situation created by none other than the elected government.

This is exactly why most Islamic countries are supporting the interim government, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Malaysia, Indonesia and others.

No one wants fundamentalist nuts i.e. an Egyptian version of the Taliban to rule this large country. They are simply not qualified as is evident from the attacks on coptic christians and other minorities.

[Comrade Grumpy]

16. Failure to cut off aid to the mass-murdering junta will demonstrate US hypocrisy on human rights.

And require contortions to avoid following the mandate of the 1961 Foreign Aid Act, which requires that aid be cut to countries that have undergone a coup.

But what's new?

[JoeyT]

20. I'm not sure you can call it hypocrisy anymore.

I think we're pretty much openly opposed to human rights now, and have been for a while. Once you assert you have the right to kidnap and torture people for the sheer hell of it, you've more or less cemented your side in the debate, and it ain't on the side of human rights.

[rpannier]

17. The problem comes when the aid is cut off, especially military aid and it affects jobs in the US

That is always the argument against cutting off any military aid. That aid results in jobs at Boeing and other companies that manufactures armor, weapons, etc

[midnight]

18. The jobs that this type of aid creates doesn't seem justified... However a jobless recovery for

America has been used for to long..

[seabeckind]

19. American interests...

Interesting idea. Whose interests? Perhaps a little we need to be a bit more specific. Maybe do a comparison...

Is foreign aid to the Egyptian military more important than aid to a mother with dependent children in the US?

How about aid to a student who might hold the key to our future?

How about aid to a child who has no access to dental care?

I am an American. But I have absolutely no interest in that area. None.

I do have a very strong interest in our children.

And please don't throw that jobs canard at me... that's total bs. As we learned after some wars, the same factory that made a gun can make a toaster. It's a matter of priorities.

So rather than throw some marketing slogan at me...American interest...and let me fill in the connotation...spell it out. In detail and specifically and include reasons. For example, saying we need to give the Egyptian military money so we'll go to the front of the line going thru their canal (which I have no doubt they didn't pay for in the first place) doesn't quite hack it. Cause you have to then say why we need to go to the front of the line.

Too often in this 20 second sound bite news cycle our "marketers" try to explain a complex topic in the equivalent of a bumper sticker and count on us to be too stupid and lazy to realize it can't be.