U.S. Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham are due to arrive in Cairo in a bid to defuse Egypt's political crisis ignited by the ouster of President Mohamed Morsi.
The Obama administration has asked the two senators to travel to Egypt to meet leaders of both sides: Pro-Morsi protesters and the new government backed by the country's military.
"The military can't keep running the country. We need democratic elections," said Lindsey Graham in an interview with CNN.
Washington earlier had urged the military government to hand over the leadership to a democratically elected government.
Washington till now has tried to maintain a neutral stance and not taken any sides in the ongoing crisis in Egypt. The Obama administration has yet to tag the ouster of Morsi as a military coup. Calling it a coup will hinder all U.S. aid to Egypt as a U.S. law does not allow aid to a country where an elected government has been overthrown in a coup.
"I want to keep the aid flowing to Egypt, but it has to be with the understanding that Egypt is going to march toward democracy, not toward a military dictatorship. And that's the message we're going to send," said Graham.
Egypt's military ousted President Mohamed Morsi following massive protests demanding his resignation.
Morsi's ouster had angered his Muslim Brotherhood members and thousands of his supporters are demanding his release from detention and that he be reinstated as the president of the country.
The U.S. as well as the European Union and Germany have called upon the military-backed government to release the former president and transfer the leadership to a democratic elected civilian government.
A number of people have lost their lives in several clashes between the two groups in the country in recent weeks.
