WASHINGTON: The United States gave Egypt $150 million in crucial economic assistance on Thursday to help the key US ally transition towards democracy following the overthrow of longtime president Hosni Mubarak.
"I am pleased to announce today that we will be reprogramming $150 million for Egypt to put ourselves in a position to support the transition there and assist with their economic recovery," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said.
"These funds will give us flexibility to respond to Egyptian needs moving forward," the chief US diplomat told reporters after a closed-door briefing with senators about Middle East unrest.
Clinton added that William Burns, the undersecretary of state for political affairs, and David Lipton, a senior White House adviser on international economics, would travel to Egypt next week.
The pair will "consult with Egyptian counterparts on how we can most effectively deploy our assistance in line with their priorities," Clinton said.
During the State Department daily media briefing, Mark Toner, a Clinton spokesman, said he did not have immediate details on where the $150 million was coming from or where exactly it was going.
The United States has annually provided Egypt with about $2 billion in aid, most of it military.
"We also discussed the lessons of the recent events in Egypt and the broader Middle East," Clinton said.
"These events demonstrate why the United States must remain fully engaged around the world," she said before renewing her warnings about planned Republican cuts in foreign aid.
She said she had told her congressional colleagues that the fiscal 2011 spending bill currently on the floor of the House of Representatives would have "serious negative consequences" for US national security.
"The 16 percent cut for State and USAID (Agency for International Development) in that bill would, for example, force us to scale back dramatically on our missions in the frontline states of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan."
