Cruz: Foreign aid system is ‘irretrievably broken’

Cruz’s issued his statement a day after President Obama canceled joint U.S.-Egypt military exercises in response to a violent military crackdown on protesters where more than 500 people were killed.

{mosads}Cruz called Obama’s remarks “detached and abstract.” Cruz and other lawmakers have called on the president to end foreign aid to Egypt because the country has been taken over by the Egyptian military.

“As there can no longer be any reasonable doubt that what occurred in July was a military coup, the first step is to send an unequivocal message that the United States is a nation of laws and suspend aid to Egypt,” Cruz said. “When a military coup occurred, it failed to follow current U.S. law and suspend aid to Egypt, something that could have been done to encourage the new government to move swiftly toward democratic reforms.”

U.S. law states that foreign aid must end to countries run by a military coup, but the administration has so far refused to designate the Egyptian military’s take over as a coup.

Cruz said Obama’s “failed” foreign policies have contributed to Egypt’s “descent into chaos.”