Aid to Egypt. During consideration of the fiscal 2014 Transportation-HUD appropriations bill (S. 1243), Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) offered a motion to table (kill) an amendment by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.). Paul\’s amendment would have established that the July 3, 2013 overthrow of the Mohammed Morsi government in Egypt was a military coup d\’état, thus prohibiting the United States from providing military aid to Egypt until another \”democratic\” election occurs. As Paul noted in the text of the amendment, \”The United States is legally prohibited from providing foreign assistance to any country whose duly elected head of government is deposed by a military coup d\’état, or removed in such a way that the military plays a decisive role…. [Military aid] shall be halted until the President certifies to Congress that democratic national elections have taken place in Egypt followed by a peaceful transfer of power.\”
The money that would be used for military aid to Egypt would instead, under Paul’s amendment, be redirected for the repair of U.S. bridges and other critical national highways.
The Senate agreed to the motion and killed the Paul amendment on July 31, 2013 by a vote of 86 to 13 (Roll Call 195). We have assigned pluses to the nays because a reduction in foreign aid, particularly in the form of military assistance, is a good thing. The Constitution does not authorize the government to give foreign aid and meddle in other nations’ internal affairs, so while Paul\’s amendment would allow for the resumption of aid to Egypt, it would still be an improvement on the status quo.
