Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), the new chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday announced that he would hold back $235 million in U.S. military financing to Egypt.The move comes after the committee’s former chair, Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), was forced to step down from the leadership position following his indictment in a New York federal court, where is alleged to have taken bribes in exchange for using his position to help Egypt’s government.Cardin said he exercised his authority to hold the military financing for Egypt until Cairo takes meaningful steps to improve human rights conditions in the country. “Congress has been clear, through the law, that the government of Egypt’s record on a range of critical human rights issues, good governance, and the rule of law must improve if our bilateral relationship is to be sustained,” Cardin said in a statement.The chairman said that the U.S. and Egypt share strategic, long-standing interests and that the country’s stability is important to American national security interests, but