By POMED –
The U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs released its Fiscal Year 2018 draft appropriations bill on Wednesday, including a total of at least $1.45 billion for Egypt. Of this aid, $1.3 billion would be for Foreign Military Financing (FMF) and “not less than” $150 million for economic assistance, doubling the Trump administration’s FY18 budget request for $75 million for economic assistance.
Like the FY17 Omnibus Appropriations Actl, the House draft bill would require the Secretary of State to certify that the Egyptian government is sustaining the strategic relationship with the United States and meeting its obligations under the Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty to receive U.S. foreign assistance.
The draft bill would not tie Egypt’s military assistance to democracy or human rights benchmarks; the FY17 bill required 15 percent of FMF to Egypt to be withheld until the Secretary of State certified that the Egyptian government was taking steps to advance democracy and human rights, implementing reforms to protect freedom of expression, releasing political prisoners, holding security forces accountable for abuses, and allowing access to areas where U.S. military aid was being employed.
Instead, the House bill would require the State Department to submit a report on the status of governance and human rights indicators, including the status of reforms and transparency, to Congress every 90 days. The draft bill also requires the Secretary of State to “consult with the Committees on Appropriations on any plan to restructure military assistance for Egypt” within 90 days of the passing of the bill.
The draft bill will now head to a subcommittee markup session this afternoon.
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Photo credit: CSPAN3
http://mailchi.mp/pomed/egypt-daily-update-june-6-842437?e=8e9e92eefa