Egypt: More Pushback on the Endowment

On the heels of Josh Rogin‘s report yesterday, Scott Carpenter from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy has a piece up underscoring the varied reasons why an endowment for President Mubarak‘s regime would be “bad for both American taxpayers and the Egyptian people.” Although he’s moderately encouraged that the Obama administration appears to be resisting both the scale and comprehensive nature of Egypt’s request — which calls for a “phasing out” of traditional U.S. aid in favor of a consolidated program of economic support under the endowment — Carpenter still views the $50 million already allocated under the December 2009 appropriations bill as “stunningly deferential to the Egyptian government,” and he’s shocked that Congress has yet to hit the brakes on a proposal that would “emasculate its oversight role regarding U.S. aid to Egypt.”

All told, Carpenter doubts the endowment will incentivize real change and he advises the administration to pause in order to review the objectives of the U.S.-Egypt aid relationship. Establishing negotiated benchmarks for increased assistance in targeted sectors, for example, will “create the promise of a win-win proposition” and, if done in direct partnership with the Egyptian cabinet’s economic team, may “maximize the impact of U.S. assistance.”