[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 44 (Thursday, April 1, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3560-S3561]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    QUESTIONS ABOUT IRAQ AID REQUEST

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I want to discuss an issue concerning U.S. 
efforts to rebuild Iraq. Before I begin, however, I want to again 
recognize the bravery and sacrifices that are being made every day by 
Americans and Iraqis, and especially those who have been killed or 
wounded. There have been, almost daily, horrific, cowardly acts of 
terrorism, increasingly aimed at citizens. The appalling attacks this 
week, where the bodies of Americans were dragged through the streets, 
disgust and deeply sadden us all. My deepest condolences go out to the 
families and friends of those who have died.
  Yesterday, the Inspector General of the Coalition Provisional 
Authority, CPA-IG, issued his first report on the reconstruction 
efforts in Iraq. I want to remind people that it was Senator Feingold, 
and later in the process, Senator Stevens, not the Bush administration, 
who worked hard to establish the CPA-IG office during the debate on the 
Iraq supplemental. I had the privilege of working with Senator Feingold 
to help draft some of the provisions of his amendment, and he, along 
with Senators Stevens, are to be commended for their leadership on this 
issue.
  Page 33 of the CPA-IG's report contains a table, and I ask unanimous 
consent that it be printed in the Record following my remarks.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, so ordered.
  (See exhibit 1).
  Mr. LEAHY. The information it contains concerns me, as it should 
every Senator. It shows that, as of February 29, 2004, nearly 4 months 
after President Bush signed the Iraq supplemental into law, only $900 
million of the $18.4 billion appropriated for reconstruction programs 
has been obligated, less than 5 percent.
  At a time when security is the most critical issue in Iraq, sadly 
demonstrated by this week's tragic attacks in which nine Americans were 
killed, the administration has obligated only $292 million of the $3.24 
billion for ``security and law enforcement,'' less than 10 percent of 
the total appropriated. This is money that is supposed to go for 
training a new Iraqi army and police force to reduce the risks to 
American soldiers and civilians working in

[[Page S3561]]

Iraq. On top of this, only $25 million for ``justice, public safety, 
and civil society'' has been obligated. This is less than 3 percent of 
the $1 billion appropriated.
  Not one dime of the $1.85 billion appropriated in the supplemental 
has been obligated for ``health care,'' ``private sector development,'' 
``roads, bridges and construction,'' and ``transportation and 
telecommunications.''
  It would be one thing if the administration had warned us they were 
going to have trouble spending the $18 billion, but they said the 
opposite. They told us these funds were urgent. It was ``an 
emergency.'' The money had to be appropriated immediately, and not one 
dime less than the amount requested. There was no time for Congress to 
carefully consider this legislation. It had to be rammed through as 
fast as possible.

  The administration resisted accountability for how it would spend 
these billions and billions of dollars, and that fact was, and is, a 
major concern that many in the Senate have had about that supplemental 
appropriations bill.
  In a letter to Congress on September 17, 2003, the President stated: 
``This request reflects urgent and essential requirements. I ask the 
Congress to appropriate the funds as requested, and promptly return the 
bill to me for signature.''
  Ambassador Bremer testified before the Senate Foreign Relations 
Committee on September 24, 2003: ``No one part of this $87 billion 
supplemental is dispensable, and no part is more important than the 
others . . . This is a carefully considered, integrated request. This 
request is urgent. The urgency of military operations is self-evident. 
The funds for nonmilitary action in Iraq are equally urgent. Unless 
this supplemental passes quickly, Iraqis face an indefinite period with 
blackouts eight hours a day. The link to the safety of our troops is 
indirect but no less real.''
  I would point out to Ambassador Bremer, who I respect a great deal, 
that less than 8 percent of the funds for ``electricity'' have been 
obligated. That is $428 million out of $5.6 billion.
  I could go on, but by now the point is clear: If every dime of the 
$18 billion was so necessary, as a lump sum, to pay for the 
reconstruction of Iraq this year, why then has so little been obligated 
nearly 4 months after the President signed the bill?
  I did not vote for the $18 billion and at the time I discussed my 
reasons in detail. But one of the reasons was that it was obvious that 
the White House was asking for far more than they could effectively use 
this year because they did not want to revisit this issue in an 
election year. They did not want to have to defend this controversial 
program again in the court of public opinion. They did not want the 
accountability that should accompany the spending of such large sums.
  This is one Senator who does not believe we should spend billions of 
dollars of the taxpayers' money without proper accountability. We all 
knew we would have to spend billions to help rebuild Iraq. But the 
issue was how many billions, over what period of time, and how to pay 
for it in a time of rising deficits. Back when we were asked to vote on 
the supplemental, I urged, as did others, that because the situation in 
Iraq was, and is, so unpredictable, that we appropriate only as much as 
could be effectively used. I said that we should then revisit the issue 
this year, see how the funds were being used, make any necessary 
adjustments to the reconstruction program, count what other nations 
were contributing, and then decide how much additional U.S. funding 
this year would be needed to fill gaps in resources.

  But the White House would have none of that. The President insisted 
on getting every dime up front, paid for by increasing the deficit 
rather than reducing the President's tax cut for the wealthiest 
Americans, even though, as the CPA-IG and OMB reports clearly show, 
they cannot possibly spend it all this year. They probably will not be 
able to spend half of it. All that talk about how this had to be done 
in the blink of an eye and without adequate checks and balances was 
baloney.
  Congress received some of the first indications that the 
administration was going to have trouble handling all of this money 
when the Office of Management and Budget published a plan, on January 
5, 2004, that projected CPA spending at a modest $1.4 billion by the 
end of the first quarter. The CPA-IG report confirms that the 
administration is having difficulty handling all of this money, as many 
of us predicted.
  We all want this money spent wisely, and no one wants any 
administration to spend money for the sake of spending money. Also, 
this is not to take anything away from the brave men and women who are 
working so hard, under extremely difficult conditions, to rebuild Iraq.
  But the issue exposed by this report is not the administration's 
spending rate in Iraq. The issue it exposes is the administration's 
credibility. It seems self-evident that a large portion of the money 
was not as urgently needed as administration officials insisted at the 
time, or the CPA, as press reports have suggested, is tied up in 
bureaucratic knots and is not able to move fast enough to rebuild Iraq. 
I submit that the answer is both of the above, but I will let the 
numbers speak for themselves.
  Perhaps we will see a large ramping up of spending in the second 
quarter, as the administration suggests it will do according to OMB's 
spending plan. Perhaps the administration can provide a good 
explanation for why these projects have proceeded so slowly. But 
regardless, it is clear that Congress could, and I believe should, have 
appropriated only a portion of the money last year. There is plenty of 
opportunity to act on another supplemental this year, instead of 
frittering away the Senate's time on hot-button political issues 
designed to score points in an election year.
  I believe the Congress can encourage the administration to do better 
in Iraq, shaping a more effective strategy in the process. This 
Vermonter believes that more debate, more transparency, and even a dose 
of frugality, especially when it comes to spending $18 billion of the 
taxpayers' money would be a good thing.
  I yield the floor.

                               Exhibit 1

  The CPA has allocated $7.9 billion of the $18.4 billion. 
Additionally, the CPA has established a $4 billion reserve. Table 8 
below contains more detail on program status.

                       TABLE 8.--PROGRAM STATUS \1\ (IN MILLIONS) AS OF FEBRUARY 29, 2004
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                 Report \2\
                          Sector 2207                             spending   Apportioned   Committed   Obligated
                                                                    plan
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Security and law enforcement...................................    $3,243.0     $2,232.7      $850.4      $292.0
Electricity....................................................     5,560.0      1,683.1     1,301.4       428.2
Oil infrastructure.............................................     1,701.0       1600.0       772.2         4.0
Justice, public safety, and civil society......................     1,018.0        560.9       130.3        25.0
Democracy......................................................       458.0        458.0       106.0       106.0
Education, refugees, human rights, governance..................       280.0        138.5        32.6        27.1
Roads, bridges and construction................................       370.0        119.3         0.0         0.0
Health care....................................................       793.0        330.0         0.0         0.0
Transportation and telecommunications..........................       500.0        164.0        61.9         0.0
Water resources and sanitation.................................     4,332.0        496.2        18.0        18.0
Private sector development.....................................       184.0         64.5         2.0         0.0
                                                                ------------------------------------------------
    Total by sector............................................    18,439.0      7,947.2     3,273.0       900.3
                                                                ================================================
Construction...................................................    12,611.0      3,950.0     1,783.2       595.8
Nonconstruction................................................     5,370.0      3,539.2     1,383.8       198.5
Democracy......................................................       458.0        458.0       106.0       106.0
    Total by program...........................................    18,439.0      7,947.2     3,273.0      900.3
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Have not been formally reviewed or audited by the CPA-IG.
\2\ Public Law 108-106 Section 2207 is the CPA quarterly progress report. As of the date of this report, CPA was
  revising the IRRF allocations.

  

                          ____________________