[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 73 (Thursday, May 15, 2003)]
[House]
[Pages H4174-H4175]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           WARS AND CONTRACTS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to support an effort by the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Waxman), one of the most distinguished 
Members of this House. He has called for full disclosure of the massive 
unbid $7 billion contract, that is 7,000 millions of dollars, that 
Halliburton Corporation has just received from the Department of 
Defense for the reconstruction of the demolished nation of Iraq. The 
emergency no-bid contract for Halliburton, again not competitively bid, 
is supposed to fight oil fires.
  Vice President Dick Cheney just happened to head up Halliburton 
Corporation after he left the first Bush administration and before 
rejoining this Bush administration. Reports indicate he currently 
receives $180,000 per year in payments from Halliburton Corporation in 
the form of deferred compensation.
  The company apparently will be able to expand this no-bid $7 billion 
contract, first, to operate the oil fields themselves and, second, to 
distribute the oil to which our Nation is so hopelessly addicted.
  In a letter to Lieutenant General Robert Flowers, commander of the 
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the gentleman from California (Mr. 
Waxman) said he did not mean to suggest that the Corps has 
intentionally misled anyone about Halliburton's contract. However, the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Waxman) is concerned, as all of us 
should be, about the reluctance of the Bush administration to provide 
complete information about the Halliburton contract and other contracts 
for the reconstruction of Iraq.
  The gentleman from California (Mr. Waxman) questioned how the long-
term contracts for Halliburton could be reconciled with the 
administration's stated intent to give the Iraqi people control of the 
oil in Iraq.
  The gentleman from California (Mr. Waxman) said, ``Only now, over 5 
weeks after the contract was first disclosed, are Members of Congress 
and the public learning that Halliburton Corporation may be asked to 
pump and distribute Iraqi oil under contract.''
  The gentleman from California (Mr. Waxman) repeated the Corps' 
statement that the contract could be worth up to $7 billion for up to 2 
years. Mr. Speaker, as the United States begins the long and expensive 
process of rebuilding in the wreckage of Iraq, perhaps we should 
reflect on the process of massive unbid contracts, using taxpayer 
dollars, to the company that was formerly headed by the Vice President. 
If the press were awake in America, they would pursue this story to the 
very ends of the Earth.
  If the Congress were more responsible in fulfilling its 
responsibility as a co-equal branch of government to our taxpayers, we 
would have hearings into this connection. If the death of Vince Foster 
is worthy of congressional investigations, then certainly unbid 
billions of dollars of contracts to Halliburton and others close to 
this administration deserve at least the same level of scrutiny.
  This Member of Congress intends to offer a bill to assure competitive 
bidding in any contracts related to rebuilding in Iraq or Afghanistan. 
It is amazing that I even have to do this, and it will be interesting 
to see who opposes me.
  The Atlanta Journal Constitution said in a recent editorial that the 
secret Halliburton deal endangers U.S. credibility. The Constitution 
questioned why a Halliburton subsidiary was the only company invited to 
bid on the Iraqi contract, why the contract was kept secret from the 
public until 2 weeks after it was signed this March, and why the true 
scope of the contract was not disclosed until last week. All are 
legitimate questions, particularly in a Nation that is trying to 
inculcate the rule of law and transparency as part of the nation-
building process in Iraq.
  The Journal Constitution also raised questions about a previous 
contract between the Halliburton subsidiary and the U.S. Army during 
Mr. Cheney's reign at Halliburton. The GAO determined in 1997 that 
Halliburton charged the Army more than $85 per sheet of plywood for 
building projects in Bosnia. A follow-up report in 2000 said the 
subsidiary's crews were being paid to clean offices as often as four 
times a day, and the company receives more than $2 billion for work 
being done in the Balkans.
  Even if the Halliburton subsidiary were the only company capable of 
doing work in Iraq, which most oil industry people contradict, then why 
all the secrecy about the no-bid contract?
  Mr. Speaker, Reuters News Service reported Halliburton has disclosed 
that it made approximately $2.4 million in improper payments to 
Nigeria, another oil regime getting favorable tax treatment.

[[Page H4175]]

  The gentleman from California (Mr. Waxman) should be commended for 
his dogged pursuit of the truth. The American public should wish him 
well.

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