Ed Markey: “This amendment does not cut aid for Egypt. What it does is, it cuts aid for Egypt's military; and it takes the same…”

“This amendment does not cut aid for Egypt. What it does is, it cuts aid for Egypt's military; and it takes the same amount of money and gives that money to the civilian economy in Egypt, to help the citizens of Egypt. And it is to send a signal to the Egyptian leaders and to the Egyptian military that it is unacceptable for the United States people to give money to the Egyptian military, even as a sieve has been created which allows for the transfer, the smuggling of guns and other weapons, explosives from Egypt into the Gaza, which is being used by Palestinian radicals to kill Israeli civilians. That is the signal that we are sending, not to the Egyptian people, they can keep the money; but to the Egyptian military that they must do their job to secure their borders so that there is peace in Gaza, so that Israelis are not made victims of a trusting relationship between the United States and the Egyptian government and military.”