Thank You, Ed Royce! (More Aid for US, not Egypt)

Ed Royce (R-Fullerton, 39th District) has blocked recently-confirmed Secretary of State John Kerry's blatant attempt to throw more money at a corrupt and hostile regime. Not the myriad of Czars appointed by President Obama, without Congressional approval, or the growing number of bureaucrats in Washington, in spite of the sequester, but the radicalized regime in Egypt. The United States federal government has no business throwing more of our diminished millions after one bad handout after another to one of the most corrupt and corrupting regimes in the Middle East. Royce took the first of many needed steps to stop wasting American tax dollars on anti-American agitators:

“Our approach is not the full-throttle administration approach of delivering all the aid that they wanted to deliver, but rather a measured approach of tying tranches to results as it pertains to the peace treaty with Israel, to cooperation with respect to smuggling [into Gaza] and with respect to economic reforms to guarantee civil rights and the rule of law within Egypt,” he [Royce] said. “That's the pressure that we're applying.”

Royce is taking a page out of the "regime-change" playbook The Case for Democracy, in which appartchik Soviet Jew turned Israeli activist Natan Sharansky emphasized that any further monetary aid must be tied to civil reforms in a target country, like liberalizing the press or permitting protests without shooting at the protesters. Too bad President Obama sides more with the autocratic leaders instead of the democratic protesters.

Kerry promised $200 million more on top of the original $250 million which the Obama administration has entrusted to the morose Morsi regime. Islamists are taking advantage of the political upheaval in that country, and President Obama wants to send more money? Boys and girls cannot go out White House and Congressional tours, but Egyptian militants can have more guns to shoot at their own people. This insanity has to stop, and Congressman Royce is leading the charge.

I  must admit, though, that I was starting to worry about this this long-standing Republican Congressman. About one month ago, I spoke with a constituent from the Fullerton area, which resides in the Western half of Royce's new 39th Congressional District. He was so displeased that Congressman Royce had voted for the fiscal cliff deal, that he called his Congressman's office and derided him for that vote. Royce needs to know that that specific voter even shared that he would be inclined not to vote for Royce in 2012.

A little more history may help shed some light on my "connection" with this Congressman, too. At the 200 Vietnamese New Yearfestival, I met a leader of the Vietnamese GOP. I was impressed that this minority group was so strongly Republican, and a Royce supporter. When I asked the representative why, who had endorsed Royce for reelection in 2002, he shared with me that the Democratic Party wanted to help poor people, at the expense of everyone else. I still remember how this leader made it very clear that he had no problem with helping the poor, but like most Republicans, he understood that the best way to help the poor starts with economic growth, less government, and more opportunity through the expansion of private enterprise. Royce earned high marks from voters in the previous decade, but his stock was starting to diminish in the face of his "moderation" on tax and spending cuts.

I had heard that Royce was a moderate of sorts, one who was not afraid to buck his party's leadership. His decision to support tax increases without requisite cuts was disappointing, but his direct insistence that Sec. of State Kerry cannot go throwing our tax dollars at an oppressive Middle Eastern failed state deserves high marks.

Call Congressman Royce's office. Tell him to keep up the good work, but now he must cut the spending, give back the states more of their lost power, and restored the prescriptive elements of the United States Constitution.

Tell Royce, Kerry, and the Obama administration: keep the financial aid in the USA!