The US House of Representatives has cut by more than $200 million the economic aid to Egypt for the 2009 fiscal year. According to the 2009 Omnibus Spending Bill, approved by the House of Representatives, Egypt will get $1.5 billion this year, while it got $1.712 billion in 2008. The aid provided to Egypt by the Economic Support Fund in the 2009 fiscal year has been cut to $200 million after Cairo got $412 million in 2008 from the same fund. The law sets forth that the aid to Egypt shall be cut by $200 million while taking into consideration that Egypt will implement major economic and democratic reforms which will add to the reforms carried out during the past fiscal years. The law has left unchanged military aid to Egypt ($1.3 billion). According to the law, Egypt shall have to spend $20 million - out of the $200 million it will get from the Economic Support Fund - on democracy, human rights and governmental programs. The law also includes a reduction of economic aid to Jordan from $361 million in the 2008 fiscal year to $264 million in 2009, while military aid to Amman will also go down to $235 million compared to $289 million in 2009.
