We broke it, they buy it -- Dems take aim at reconstruction funds
source: http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2008-04-08-democrats-iraq_N.htm
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"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."
I don't know about you, but proposing loans sounds to me like another structural adjustment debt disaster waiting to happen. Whenever the next President decides to withdraw combat forces, we should still be helping Iraq fix the infrastructure that we have been responsible for decades for destroying. I assume at that point congressional oversight on wasteful spending and corrupt or inefficient contracting will still be sorely needed.
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."
I don't know about you, but proposing loans sounds to me like another structural adjustment debt disaster waiting to happen. Whenever the next President decides to withdraw combat forces, we should still be helping Iraq fix the infrastructure that we have been responsible for decades for destroying. I assume at that point congressional oversight on wasteful spending and corrupt or inefficient contracting will still be sorely needed.
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