U.S. Lawmakers Call for Halting Egypt Aid to Push Mubarak Aside - Bloomberg

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U.S. Lawmakers Call for Halting Egypt Aid to Push Mubarak Aside
By Julie Hirschfeld Davis
February 03, 2011, 12:45 PM EST]

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Feb. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Some senior members of the U.S. Congress are calling for a halt in foreign aid to Egypt as a way to hasten President Hosni Mubarak’s exit from power amid continuing protests against his three-decade rule.

Senator Patrick Leahy, the chairman of the panel that controls foreign aid, said he’s prepared to stop all U.S. financial assistance to Egypt -- which topped $1.5 billion last year -- unless Mubarak steps aside immediately and allows a transitional government to take over.

“If he doesn’t leave, there will not be foreign aid; I mean, it’s as simple as that,” Leahy, a Vermont Democrat, told Bloomberg Television in an interview yesterday. U.S. money “will not go to the Mubarak administration,” Leahy said, adding, “that’s a pipeline that can easily be turned off.”

Mubarak’s announcement earlier this week that he wouldn’t run in elections scheduled for September failed to quell protests against his government, and stoked the anger of demonstrators who have since stepped up their demands for his quick departure.

Leahy has been joined by Representative Lloyd Doggett, a Texas Democrat, in pushing to use the only degree of control lawmakers have on foreign policy matters -- the power of the purse -- to prod Mubarak off stage.

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More: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-02-03/u-s-lawmakers-call-for-halting-egypt-aid-to-push-mubarak-aside.html

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