TY - BOOK AU - Sharp, Jeremy M. ED - Congressional Research Service TI - Egypt: : Background and U.S. Relations T2 - CRS Report PY - 2018/// PB - Congressional Research Service KW - Relaciones Internacionales KW - Egipto KW - Estados Unidos de América N2 - This report provides an overview of the key issues for Congress related to Egypt and U.S. foreign aid to Egypt. Historically, Egypt has been an important country for U.S. national security interests based on its geography, demography, and diplomatic posture. The United States has provided significant military and economic assistance to Egypt since the late 1970s. Successive U.S. Administrations have justified aid to Egypt as an investment in regional stability, built primarily on long-running cooperation with the Egyptian military and on sustaining the 1979 Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty. Additionally, U.S. leaders have consistently expressed concerns about governance and human rights in Egypt, and differences over these issues have tested bilateral relations repeatedly in recent years. In 2011, the United States encouraged Egypt’s long-serving President Hosni Mubarak to step down in the face of a popular uprising, and revised U.S. assistance programs two years later, when the Egyptian military intervened to oust Mubarak’s elected successor, Muhammad Morsi, amid popular demands. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el Sisi, who led the 2013 military intervention and was elected in mid-2014, reportedly has high hopes for improving bilateral relations through engagement with the Trump Administration. President Trump has sought to improve U.S. relations with Egypt, which were perceived as strained under President Obama. Nevertheless, Administration officials have raised concerns about Egypt’s new NGO law and the continued detention of American citizens in Egypt. Between 1946 and 2016, the United States provided Egypt with $78.3 billion in bilateral foreign aid (calculated in historical dollars—not adjusted for inflation). This report discusses the conditions governing the release of these funds. All U.S. foreign aid to Egypt (or any recipient) is appropriated and authorized by Congress, while all U.S. military aid to Egypt finances the procurement of weapons systems and services from U.S. defense contractors. For FY2019, the President is requesting a total of $1.381 billion in foreign assistance for Egypt, the same amount requested as the previous year. Nearly all of the requested funds for Egypt would come from the FMF account. For FY2018, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018 (P.L. 115-141) provided a total of $1.419 billion U.S. military and economic aid to Egypt, which is the same amount Egypt received in FY2017 UR - https://fas.org/sgp/crs/mideast/RL33003.pdf ER -