Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates continue their Mideast tour. On Tuesday, Rice and Gates were in Egypt followed by Saudi Arabia. The trip comes on the heels of the Bush administration’s plan to give military aid worth more than $43 billion to Israel and Egypt and another $20 billion to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states. Rice defended the aid package during her stop at the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice: “The United States is determined to assure our allies that we are going to be reliable in helping them to meet their security needs. We have a lot of interests in common in the fight against terrorism and extremism in protecting the gains of peace processes of the past and in extending those gains to peace processes of the future.”

Rice goes on to Israel today, followed by the Occupied Territories, where she will meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah. It’s Rice’s first visit there since Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip in June. Congressional Democrats have raised opposition to the aid package — but only as it applies to Saudi Arabia.

Democratic Congressmember Jerrold Nadler: “The Bush administration’s plan to sell to Saudi Arabia $20 billion worth of arms raises serious red flags. The administration must realize that despite its rhetoric to the contrary, Saudi Arabia is not our friend.”