Congress bucks Biden, blocks $75 million in military aid to Egypt

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) blocked $75 million of security funding for Egypt after determining that the country’s leaders have not rolled back their attack on political dissidents, failing to meet a condition that Congress put on aid to Cairo in a law passed last year, according to Reuters.

“We can't give short shrift to the law because of other policy considerations,” Leahy, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, told Reuters in a statement. “We all have a responsibility to uphold the law and to defend the due process rights of the accused, whether here or in Egypt.”

The move highlights the extent to which Congress has soured on Egypt in recent years. Once considered a steadfast security partner, many on Capitol Hill now view Cairo as a serious liability for U.S. policy, especially under the authoritarian rule of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.

In total, last year’s law put conditions on $300 million worth of military aid to Egypt. The Biden administration recently pledged to block $130 million of that support, but the State Department said it would release $75 million following progress on Egypt’s treatment of political prisoners. Leahy rejected that finding, arguing that “the situation facing political prisoners in Egypt is deplorable.” The status of the remaining $95 million remains unclear.

Seth Binder, the director of advocacy at the Project on Middle East Democracy, applauded Leahy’s decision on Twitter.

“Ultimately, this sends a strong message to Sisi’s regime that it must address Congress’s concerns over human rights,” Binder wrote, adding that the administration’s determination that Sisi had made “clear and consistent progress” was “not credible.”

Notably, the move will only hold up a fraction of the $1.3 billion in security aid that Washington sends Cairo each year, opening up questions about how much of an impact it will really have on human rights in Egypt. 

Still, it does appear to be part of a broader increase in skepticism toward Middle East autocrats in Washington.

Just a couple of weeks ago, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates also stumbled into Congress’ crosshairs when the Saudi-dominated oil cartel OPEC+ voted to cut production despite concerns from the U.S. Following that decision, members of Congress called for a fundamental re-evaluation of Washington’s relationship with the Gulf countries, with some demanding a full-scale withdrawal of U.S. troops from their territory. Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he would hold up any arms sales to Saudi Arabia “beyond what is absolutely necessary to defend U.S. personnel and interests.”

And President Joe Biden himself has signaled that he is on-board with a shift in U.S. policy toward Riyadh and Abu Dhabi. As a White House spokesperson recently noted, Biden is “willing to work with Congress to think through what that relationship ought to look like going forward.”