2014 RI Senate debate: on Foreign Policy

Mark Zaccaria: American colors don't run, but they have been fading

Jack Reed: Suspend aid to Egypt while military crushes protestors

REED: Well, the acts of the last few days by the Egyptian military are completely unconscionable and I do believe we have to change our aid. I think also we have to have included in the legislation a national security waiver because we have to give the president not only the responsibility to deal with the government of Egypt, but also the flexibility. And we have to recognize, this is a long-term process. One of the obvious facts of a transition from authoritarian government to democracy, it takes a long time and it's not a straight line. And so, we have to have a policy that expresses our outrage really at the military, but also gives the president the tools to, we hope, engage them. I do believe that we can send a strong signal by suspending aid. The president has already suspended the F-16 transfers.