Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders says at this time he does not favor halting aid, including military aid, to Egypt in light of a police crackdown that has resulted in more than one thousand deaths.
Some members of Congress, including Arizona Senator John McCain who recently returned from Egypt, want to cut aid to the country’s military leaders as a way to pressure them to stop the killing. Sanders disagrees.
“It’s easy to say ‘let’s cut off aid tomorrow.’ Fine. What happens the next day? Does the country descend into civil war? With aid the United States continues to have some leverage. The question is how we use that leverage.”
Sanders says the aid should be used to pressure Egypt’s leadership to move the country toward democracy and to protect civil liberties and the right of peaceful dissent.
