Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
USA Today
April 8, 2008
Pg. 8
Congressional leaders question U.S. costs
By Matt Kelley, USA Today
WASHINGTON — As Congress hears testimony today and Wednesday from the top U.S. military and diplomatic officials in Iraq, Democrats are questioning whether the United States should continue spending billions of dollars to rebuild Iraq.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic leaders are saying that Iraq's government needs to spend more of its own money on reconstruction now that the United States has spent more than $45 billion. Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., says future U.S. reconstruction payments should be in the form of loans, not grants — resurrecting a proposal that died in the Republican-controlled Congress at the start of the war five years ago.
Nelson, a member of the Senate committee that oversees spending legislation, says it's not fair for the United States to pay for reconstruction when Iraq's oil revenue could be $60 billion or more this year because of record prices. Nelson said he planned to offer an amendment to the Iraq spending bill that would require Iraq to pay back future reconstruction aid as well as money approved by Congress but not yet spent.
"It doesn't make any sense when they're making surpluses that we would continue to invest our money in Iraq for their infrastructure," Nelson said Monday in a telephone interview from Omaha. "That should be their investment. They should pay for that."
This week's testimony from Gen. David Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker sets the stage for congressional debate later this month on President Bush's requests for nearly $200 billion in supplemental funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan this year. About $1.7 billion in those requests would fund reconstruction in Iraq, primarily for small-scale projects directed by military commanders or joint civilian-military "provincial reconstruction teams."
Bush says Iraq's government is taking a greater role in reconstruction spending. In a speech on the war last month in Dayton, Ohio, Bush said Iraq budget plans call for outspending the United States on reconstruction 11 to 1, "and soon we expect the Iraqis will cover 100% of those expenses."
U.S. support for reconstruction has shifted from the multibillion-dollar public works projects funded during the early years of the war to less expensive programs meant to make small improvements at the local level. "We've changed our focus. Now we're focused on encouraging entrepreneurship," Bush said in Dayton.
Bush's requests to Congress include $797 million for the Economic Support Fund, which funds the provincial reconstruction teams. Those groups of experts work from neighborhood offices in Baghdad and across Iraq to help local governments provide services such as courts and water treatment.
Bush also wants $500 million for the Commanders' Emergency Response Program, which allows U.S. military commanders to pay for small-scale projects, such as building roads.
Congressional Democrats this week want to focus on the costs of the Iraq war, including lives lost, strain on the military and government spending, Pelosi spokesman Brendan Daly said. What the Iraq funding legislation will say and when it will be considered are still being discussed, Daly said.
April 8, 2008
Pg. 8
Congressional leaders question U.S. costs
By Matt Kelley, USA Today
WASHINGTON — As Congress hears testimony today and Wednesday from the top U.S. military and diplomatic officials in Iraq, Democrats are questioning whether the United States should continue spending billions of dollars to rebuild Iraq.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic leaders are saying that Iraq's government needs to spend more of its own money on reconstruction now that the United States has spent more than $45 billion. Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., says future U.S. reconstruction payments should be in the form of loans, not grants — resurrecting a proposal that died in the Republican-controlled Congress at the start of the war five years ago.
Nelson, a member of the Senate committee that oversees spending legislation, says it's not fair for the United States to pay for reconstruction when Iraq's oil revenue could be $60 billion or more this year because of record prices. Nelson said he planned to offer an amendment to the Iraq spending bill that would require Iraq to pay back future reconstruction aid as well as money approved by Congress but not yet spent.
"It doesn't make any sense when they're making surpluses that we would continue to invest our money in Iraq for their infrastructure," Nelson said Monday in a telephone interview from Omaha. "That should be their investment. They should pay for that."
This week's testimony from Gen. David Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker sets the stage for congressional debate later this month on President Bush's requests for nearly $200 billion in supplemental funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan this year. About $1.7 billion in those requests would fund reconstruction in Iraq, primarily for small-scale projects directed by military commanders or joint civilian-military "provincial reconstruction teams."
Bush says Iraq's government is taking a greater role in reconstruction spending. In a speech on the war last month in Dayton, Ohio, Bush said Iraq budget plans call for outspending the United States on reconstruction 11 to 1, "and soon we expect the Iraqis will cover 100% of those expenses."
U.S. support for reconstruction has shifted from the multibillion-dollar public works projects funded during the early years of the war to less expensive programs meant to make small improvements at the local level. "We've changed our focus. Now we're focused on encouraging entrepreneurship," Bush said in Dayton.
Bush's requests to Congress include $797 million for the Economic Support Fund, which funds the provincial reconstruction teams. Those groups of experts work from neighborhood offices in Baghdad and across Iraq to help local governments provide services such as courts and water treatment.
Bush also wants $500 million for the Commanders' Emergency Response Program, which allows U.S. military commanders to pay for small-scale projects, such as building roads.
Congressional Democrats this week want to focus on the costs of the Iraq war, including lives lost, strain on the military and government spending, Pelosi spokesman Brendan Daly said. What the Iraq funding legislation will say and when it will be considered are still being discussed, Daly said.