[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 404 Introduced in House (IH)]







108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 404

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the position 
 of Iraqi Reconstruction Coordinator should be established within the 
Department of State to be accountable for all reconstruction funding in 
                     Iraq, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 16, 2003

Ms. DeLauro (for herself, Mr. Emanuel, Mr. Price of North Carolina, Mr. 
Larson of Connecticut, Mr. Meehan, Mr. George Miller of California, Mr. 
 Farr, Mr. Berman, Mr. Pascrell, Mrs. Maloney, Mr. Brown of Ohio, Mr. 
McGovern, Ms. Watson, Mr. Gordon, Mr. Berry, Mr. Moran of Virginia, Mr. 
 Markey, Ms. Schakowsky, Mr. Holt, Mr. Blumenauer, Mr. Strickland, Mr. 
 Ryan of Ohio, Mr. Delahunt, Mr. Bell, Ms. Lee, Mr. Watt, Mr. Israel, 
    Mrs. Jones of Ohio, Ms. McCollum, Mr. Honda, Mr. McDermott, Mr. 
Grijalva, Mr. Allen, Mr. Jackson of Illinois, Mr. Capuano, Ms. Jackson-
   Lee of Texas, Mr. Oberstar, Mr. Udall of Colorado, Ms. Eshoo, Mr. 
  Hinchey, Ms. Woolsey, Ms. Berkley, Mr. Spratt, Mr. Van Hollen, Mr. 
Inslee, Ms. Norton, Ms. Slaughter, Ms. Solis, Mr. Lampson, Mr. Kleczka, 
   Mr. Hastings of Florida, Mr. Michaud, Mr. Owens, Mr. Schiff, Mr. 
    Tierney, Mr. Brady of Pennsylvania, Mr. Etheridge, Mr. Davis of 
Illinois, Mr. Thompson of Mississippi, Mr. Towns, Mr. Pallone, and Ms. 
 Kilpatrick) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 
                the Committee on International Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the position 
 of Iraqi Reconstruction Coordinator should be established within the 
Department of State to be accountable for all reconstruction funding in 
                     Iraq, and for other purposes.

Whereas the United States has accepted the enormous responsibility of restoring 
        freedom, self rule, and democracy in Iraq, and has pledged to help 
        restore and rebuild a functioning market economy in that country and to 
        assist in repairing Iraq's physical infrastructure;
Whereas the United States has embarked on similar international nation-building 
        efforts in the last half century, the most comprehensive of which was 
        the Marshall Plan, which enabled war torn European countries to rebuild 
        their economies and to build successful democratic societies, and was 
        largely responsible for defeating post-war Soviet designs on western 
        Europe;
Whereas the success of the Marshall Plan was due in part to President Truman's 
        desire to eliminate political considerations and special interests from 
        the decision-making process by creating a new governmental authority to 
        manage planning and funding decisions independent of the White House 
        executive administration in conjunction with European governments, and 
        these governments exercised a major role in determining reconstruction 
        priorities, planning and implementation, and contributed resources to 
        their efforts;
Whereas in his speech before the United Nations on September 23, 2003, President 
        Bush characterized the reconstruction plan for Iraq as ``the greatest 
        financial commitment of its kind since the Marshall Plan'' and high-
        ranking officials of the Administration have publicly declared that the 
        United States is engaged in a modern version of the Marshall Plan;
Whereas the fiscal year 2004 supplemental appropriations request of 
        $18,649,000,000 for Iraq reconstruction transmitted to Congress by the 
        President is very unlike the Marshall Plan in that it is open-ended 
        without a specific time limitation or total funding level, while the 
        Marshall plan as authorized under the Economic Cooperation Act of 1948 
        provided a total of $13,000,000,000 over a four-year period;
Whereas, in addition, the President's plan is unlike the Marshall Plan in that 
        the effort would be overseen, managed, and implemented with little or no 
        decisional input from current or future Iraqi authorities and in a top-
        down fashion structured by funds appropriated directly to the President, 
        who apportions the funds to the Secretary of Defense, who in turn 
        apportions the funds to the Administrator of the Coalition Provisional 
        Authority;
Whereas the President's proposal is significantly different from the Marshall 
        Plan because it fails to mandate a multilateral approach to the common 
        economic problems of the region while the plan that former Secretary of 
        State Marshall enunciated at Harvard University on June 5, 1947, 
        required the 16 European countries to organize to produce a rational, 
        multilateral approach to their common economic problems;
Whereas the goal of the United States is to restore self-government to the Iraqi 
        people, which means incorporating the Iraqi people to the maximum extent 
        possible in high-level economic and planning decisions relating to 
        reconstruction of Iraq;
Whereas under the Emergency Wartime Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2003 
        (Public Law 108-11), the President was given sole authority to spend the 
        $2,475,000,000 appropriated to the Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund, 
        and in entering into contracts for such relief and reconstruction of 
        Iraq, normal competitive bidding requirements of the Federal government 
        were waived and bids from businesses which were perceived to have 
        preexisting qualifications were requested; and
Whereas a functioning electrical system, water distribution system, oil 
        production system and other key elements of the Iraqi national 
        infrastructure continue to be non-functioning six months after the 
        conclusion of Operation Iraqi Freedom: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives 
that--
            (1) the position of Iraqi Reconstruction Coordinator at the 
        level of Undersecretary should be established within the 
        Department of State, with such Coordinator reporting directly 
        to the Secretary of State, and that the individual first 
        appointed to the position should be appointed on an acting 
        basis but with subsequent confirmation by and with the advice 
        and consent of the Senate;
            (2) the Coordinator, under the authority of the Secretary 
        of State, should be accountable for all reconstruction funding 
        in Iraq;
            (3) 20 percent of the amount appropriated for Iraq 
        reconstruction under an Act making emergency supplemental 
        appropriations for fiscal year 2004 should be made immediately 
        available to the Coalition Provisional Authority through the 
        Department of State to meet the Coalition Provisional 
        Authority's immediate needs;
            (4) the amount appropriated for Iraq reconstruction under 
        an Act making emergency supplemental appropriations for fiscal 
        year 2004 should be contingent upon a detailed and 
        comprehensive presentation to Congress by the Administration 
        and the Coalition Provisional Authority consistent with a plan 
        proposed by the President to restore freedom, self-rule, and 
        democracy in Iraq;
            (5) further funding for Iraq reconstruction should be made 
        available as such plans are developed and agreed to between the 
        appropriate Iraqi authorities and the Coalition Provisional 
        Authority;
            (6) the expenditure of funds for Iraq reconstruction should 
        be obligated to the maximum extent possible in Iraq with the 
        objective of promoting the redevelopment of Iraq, and steps 
        should be taken to ensure transparency in contracting to 
        prevent profiteering;
            (7) local procurement and local management in Iraq should 
        be encouraged wherever feasible, including through local prime 
        contracting as such capacity can be developed; and
            (8) the Secretary of State should work with the governments 
        of other countries to establish an Iraqi Reconstruction Council 
        to consist of all major donor countries, all neighboring 
        countries, and the Iraqi Governing Council with the mandate to 
        set donor priorities and foster regional economic cooperation.
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