February 3, 2013

WASHINGTON (JTA) — A number of bills introduced by Republicans in Congress target U.S. assistance to Egypt.

A bill introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives last week by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) would condition assistance on advancing democratic freedoms and preserving the peace treaty with Israel, among other stipulations.

Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), and James Inhofe (R-Okla.) have introduced several bids to cut off arms assistance to Egypt; such assistance was first enshrined in the 1979 peace treaty with Israel, which Egypt continues to maintain.

One of the attempts to cut assistance, an amendment Lee and Paul attached to a debt-limit bill, failed 79-19 on Jan. 31.

A report on the bills first appeared in Americans for Peace Now’s legislative roundup, published each Friday.

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