A Republican congresswoman Friday froze a request by the Obama administration for $450 million in cash for the Egyptian government, saying it needed new scrutiny amid rocky US ties with Cairo. The lawmaker, Kay Granger, from Texas, who chairs the Appropriations Subcommitee on State and Foreign Relations, put a “hold” on the application, meaning it could be held up indefinitely. “This proposal comes to Congress at a point when the US-Egypt relationship has never been under more scrutiny, and rightly so,” Granger said in a statement. “I am not convinced of the urgent need for this assistance and I cannot support it at this time. As Chair of the Subcommittee, I have placed a hold on these funds.” The purpose of the funds could not be immediately confirmed. But an official said the money, requested Friday, was part of a package worth $1 billion that Obama pledged to Cairo last year to aid its transition to democracy following its Arab Spring revolution. The New York Times reported that the emergency cash infusion was requested by the US Agency for International Development because the economic situation in Egypt was causing increasing alarm.
