Key US lawmakers are questioning the wisdom of giving yet more money to Egypt when Cairo is sitting on more than half a billion previously appropriated dollars.
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., the chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs panel on the Middle East, brought the issue up during an April 13 hearing on the State Department's budget request. She suggested the Obama administration's annual request for $150 million in economic assistance could prove a tough sell amid reports that the Egyptian government is blocking myriad US grants from moving forward.
