Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-MI) said Monday that American aid to Egypt should be suspended in the wake of unrest that led to the ouster of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi.
Levin told reporters that aid should be halted until Egypt’s interim government schedules new elections and amends the country’s constitution.
“We ought to suspend aid until the new government shows that it is willing to — and in fact does — schedule elections and put in place a process to come up with a new constitution,” Levin said, according to Politico.
The White House has gone to great lengths to avoid labeling the overthrow of Morsi a “coup,” which Levin found telling.
“The law says if there is a military coup, the aid gets suspended,” Levin said. “By saying that the aid would continue, the administration is therefore — I guess necessarily — saying that they don’t consider this a coup.”
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has also called for a suspension of aid to Egypt.
