I 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1670

To prohibit United States military assistance for Egypt and to express the 

sense of Congress that the amount of military assistance that would 

have been provided for Egypt for a fiscal year should be provided in 

the form of economic support fund assistance. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 14, 2005

Mr. WEINER (for himself, Mr. CROWLEY, and Mr. BLUMENAUER) introduced 

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on International 

Relations 

A BILL

To prohibit United States military assistance for Egypt and 

to express the sense of Congress that the amount of 

military assistance that would have been provided for 

Egypt for a fiscal year should be provided in the form 

of economic support fund assistance.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Egyptian 

5 Counterterrorism and Political Reform Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 
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1 (1) According to the Middle East Media Re2 search Institute, two weeks before the September 11, 

3 2001, attacks, the Egyptian Government daily news4 paper Al-Akhbar published a column that stated: 

5 ‘‘The Statue of Liberty, in New York Harbor, must 

6 be destroyed because of following the idiotic Amer7 ican policy that goes from disgrace to disgrace in the 

8 swamp of bias and blind fanaticism.’’. 

9 (2) Since forging a ‘‘cold peace’’ with Israel in 

10 1978, the Government of Egypt has placed severe 

11 trade restrictions on Israeli goods and Egyptian 

12 Government officials have allowed anti-Semitic arti13 cles and cartoons to flood the semi-official Egyptian 

14 press. 

15 (3) In violation of the 1979 peace agreement 

16 between Egypt and Israel, Egypt continues to pro17 mote a boycott of Israeli products. 

18 (4) The Israeli Defense Forces have repeatedly 

19 found arms smuggling tunnels between Egypt and 

20 the Gaza Strip. More than 40 tunnels were discov21 ered in 2003. Some of these tunnels originate in 

22 Egyptian army and police outposts. 

23 (5) Despite facing no major regional external 

24 threat, Egypt has used military assistance from the 

25 United States to purchase combat aircraft, advanced 
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1 missile systems, tanks, and naval vessels that under2 mine Israel’s security. 

3 (6) The Coptic Christian minority of between 6 

4 and 10 million in Egypt is victimized regularly, and 

5 remains without protection. The Government of 

6 Egypt has never taken responsibility for the arrest 

7 and torture of more than 1,200 Copts in late 1998 

8 in the wake of sectarian violence. 

9 (7) Egypt regularly tortures its citizens. Ac10 cording to the Egyptian Organization for Human 

11 Rights approximately 13,000 to 16,000 people are 

12 detained without charge on suspicion of security or 

13 political offenses in Egypt each year. Amnesty Inter14 national published a report in 2003 stating that ‘‘ev15 eryone taken into detention in Egypt is at risk of 

16 torture’’. 

17 SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON UNITED STATES MILITARY AS18 SISTANCE FOR EGYPT. 

19 (a) PROHIBITION.—Notwithstanding any other provi20 sion of law, for fiscal year 2006 and subsequent fiscal 

21 years, United States military assistance may not be pro22 vided for Egypt. 

23 (b) WAIVER.—The President may waive the applica24 tion of subsection (a) for a fiscal year if the President 
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1 determines and certifies to Congress that it is in the na2 tional security interests of the United States to do so. 

3 SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

4 It is the sense of Congress that—

5 (1) the amount of United States military assist6 ance that would have been provided for Egypt for a 

7 fiscal year but for the application of section 3(a) 

8 should be provided for Egypt for such fiscal year in 

9 the form of economic support fund assistance under 

10 chapter 4 of part II of the Foreign Assistance Act 

11 of 1961 and further that such assistance should be 

12 in addition to economic support fund assistance al13 ready proposed to be provided for Egypt for such 

14 fiscal year; 

15 (2) funds for economic support fund assistance 

16 for Egypt should not be used by the armed forces 

17 of Egypt; 

18 (3) 30 days prior to the initial obligation of 

19 funds for economic support fund assistance for 

20 Egypt for a fiscal year, the President should certify 

21 to Congress that procedures have been established to 

22 ensure that the Comptroller General will have access 

23 to appropriate United States financial information in 

24 order to review the uses of such funds; and 
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1 (4) the agreement among the United States, 

2 Egypt, and Israel to decrease the overall amount of 

3 United States foreign assistance for both countries 

4 should continue. 

5 SEC. 5. DEFINITION. 

6 In this Act, the term ‘‘United States military assist7 ance’’ means—

8 (1) assistance for nonproliferation, anti-ter9 rorism, demining and related programs and activi10 ties, including assistance under chapter 8 of part II 

11 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (relating to 

12 anti-terrorism assistance) and assistance under 

13 chapter 9 of part II of such Act, section 504 of the 

14 FREEDOM Support Act, section 23 of the Arms 

15 Export Control Act, or the Foreign Assistance Act 

16 of 1961 for demining activities, the clearance of 

17 unexploded ordnance, the destruction of small arms, 

18 and related activities; 

19 (2) assistance under section 541 of the Foreign 

20 Assistance Act of 1961 (relating to international 

21 military education and training); and 

22 (3) assistance under section 23 of the Arms Ex23 port Control Act (relating to the ‘‘Foreign Military 

24 Finance’’ program).

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