The US administration has not yet reached a decision on how to go forward with Egypt’s aid program, according to US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki during a press briefing on Tuesday.
This week, the US Congress passed the 2015 appropriations bill, giving the US State Department the flexibility to continue sending Egypt's annual $1.4 billion in aid, even if the country does not uphold its promise to bide by international standards for human rights.
Psaki said the US State Department looks forward to using the flexibility to work with its close Arab ally, despite the sweeping crackdown on dissidents. “And our concerns about Egypt's human rights record, which we speak about frequently, that has not changed,” Psaki stressed.
The Obama administration ordered withholding military aid to Egypt shortly after Abdel Fattah al-Sisi overthrew Egypt's first democratically-elected president and oversaw a violent crackdown on his supporters, killing over 800 mostly non-violent protesters in one day during the dispersal of demonstrations at Rabaa al-Adaweya and Nahda squares.
