WH, Congress Keep $1.6B Aid To Egypt Flowing

WASHINGTON (AP) — As anti-American sentiment boils in Islamic countries like Egypt, lawmakers are moving to permit billions of dollars in U.S. foreign aid under a government-wide funding bill set to clear Congress this week. In the case of Egypt, turmoil since the overthrow of U.S. ally President Hosni Mubarak early last year has delayed the release of hundreds of millions of dollars in economic aid that has been approved over several years… So Congress is managing to continue to give Egypt our annual tribute of $1.6 billion dollars. (And bear in mind that this is not Obama’s attempt to give Egypt an additional $1 billion dollars in ‘debt forgiveness,’ which is also still going to happen.) Isn’t it amazing what our legislators can do when they put their minds to it? A violent mob assault at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo certainly hasn’t helped efforts to release already approved funds, but White House Press Secretary Jay Carney on Tuesday denied a media report that U.S. talks with Egypt to release the aid are on hold until after the election. "We’re continuing to work with (Congress) on ways to support a stable, democratic transition in Egypt that is important for defeating extremism of the very kind that we just recently saw," Carney said. "We provide assistance to Egypt because it’s in our interests to help them advance regional security and uphold their treaty with Israel and transition to democracy." That’s a relief. We would hate to think that the Muslim Brotherhood is being punished for their recent actions. More