White House Resists Cuts to $1.5 Billion in Annual Aid to Egypt - East Idaho News
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White House Resists Cuts to $1.5 Billion in Annual Aid to Egypt

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Getty 080712 JayCarney?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1373340070119JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/GettyImages(WASHINGTON) — White House Press Secretary Jay Carney says the Obama administration is going to take some time — how much time he did not say — to review whether the military-led ouster of Egypt’s president is a coup.  Meanwhile, the White House does not intend to immediately cut off aid to the new military-backed Egyptian government.

“It would not be in the best interests of the United States to immediately change our assistance programs to Egypt,” Carney said in a White House press briefing after repeated questions on U.S. aid to Egypt.

Asked directly if that would mean no immediate cut off of the $1.5 billion in aid the U.S. gives to Egypt each year, Carney replied:  “We think that would not be in our best interests.”

U.S. law — specifically the Section 7008 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2012 — says that U.S. foreign aid cannot be extended to, “the government of any country whose duly elected head of government is deposed in a military coup d’état or … a decree in which the military plays a decisive role.”

But Carney said the administration is not ready to label the overthrow of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi a coup.

“This is an incredibly complex and difficult situation,” Carney said. “President Obama made clear our deep concern about the decision made by the Egyptian armed forces to remove President Morsi from power and to suspend the constitution. It is also important to acknowledge that tens of millions of Egyptians have legitimate grievances with President Morsi’s undemocratic form of government — governance, and they do not believe that this was a coup. Indeed, they were demanding a new government.”

 

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