Sen. Collins hopes to keep Iraq inspector office afloat

WASHINGTON – Senate supporters of an investigator’s office that has unearthed waste and fraud in the rebuilding of Iraq say they will try to keep it alive, setting up a potential showdown with a Republican lawmaker who helped pass legislation to shut it down.

Led by Stuart Bowen Jr., the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction tracks spending in the multibillion-dollar effort to rebuild Iraq – a process moving slowly because of corruption and overcharging as well as wartime violence.

The agency’s work has resulted in four criminal convictions and, most recently, evidence that a Halliburton subsidiary exploited federal regulations to hide details on its contract performance.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, plans to introduce legislation next week that would extend the office’s life for about another year.

The inspector general’s office “has proven to be a much-needed watchdog auditing reconstruction contracts in Iraq and spotlighting numerous cases of waste, fraud and abuse,” Collins, who chairs the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said Friday.

Sen. John Warner, the Virginia Republican who chairs the Armed Services Committee and met with Bowen this week, said he supports extending the office’s work. Also on board are Democratic Sens. Russ Feingold of Wisconsin and Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut.

The office, which began work in January 2004, was supposed to be temporary from the start, lasting until much of the $18 billion initially allocated for reconstruction was spent.