Pelosi urges continuing aid to Egypt, stops short of calling it an ‘ally’

Chris Moody
·Political Reporter

WASHINGTON—House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi pushed back against calls within Congress to cut off foreign aid to Egypt after demonstrators stormed the U.S. Embassy in Cairo earlier this week, but stopped short of calling Egypt an "ally" of the United States.

"I think there has been a consensus that we cannot leave Egypt by the by. They're suggesting we should cut off assistance to Egypt," Pelosi, a California Democrat, said during a press conference on Capitol Hill Thursday. "I don't agree with that."

The federal government provided $1.3 billion in military aid to the country this year.

Pelosi, who began the press conference by honoring the American foreign service workers killed this week in Libya, condemned the attacks and "the cowards who perpetrated" them.

"The fact is that we really do have to help Egypt to go forward," she said. "I don't know about the word 'ally,' we'll see, but the fact is we have an interest in Egypt's success. Let's hope that we can do that as allies."