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Senate panel slashes military aid to Egypt

Frustrated appropriators vote to cut military assistance to Cairo by $300 million.
Army soldiers are seen as their convoy passes by Tahrir square to secure central Cairo as Egyptians celebrate an extension of the Suez Canal, in Cairo, Egypt, August 6, 2015. Egypt will open an expansion to the Suez Canal to great fanfare on Thursday, the centrepiece of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's plans to revitalise the country's economy after years of damaging political turmoil. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany - GF20000015455

The Senate’s foreign aid spending panel voted today to slash military assistance to Egypt by $300 million amid growing congressional frustration with the country’s dismal human rights record under President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

A summary of the fiscal year 2018 bill from Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the top Democrat on the Appropriations subcommittee overseeing the State Department and foreign assistance, indicates that lawmakers also want to cut economic aid by $37 million compared with current year levels. The subcommittee passed the bill unanimously and the full Senate Appropriations Committee will take it up Thursday.

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