Collins wants Iraq to help with costs

WASHINGTON – Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, is urging Senate leaders to take steps to require Iraq to shoulder more of the financial burden of rebuilding their own country.

Collins was joined by Sens. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., and Evan Bayh, D-Ind., in proposing legislation at a Capitol Hill press conference Thursday.

The legislation would require the Iraqi government to reimburse Americans for fuel they use in Iraq. It may also include having Iraq reimburse for the salaries, equipment and training Americans provide Iraqi soldiers. Reimbursements would come in the form of direct initial payment or subsequent payment on American loans.

The three lawmakers attempted to pass similar legislation in 2003, when the rebuilding of Iraq was in the early stages, but that legislation did not get passed. Had Congress passed the legislation then, they said, the Iraqi government would need to repay the more than $45 billion the United States has spent on Iraq reconstruction in the past five years. Collins also said she believes that if the first $10 billion allotted to reconstruction in 2003 had been a loan, the reconstruction would be further along because the Iraqis would have had a stake in the process.

The United States is paying about $90 million a month for the salaries of the Sons of Iraq, the local security force, which was critical in the progress made in the Anbar province and around Baghdad, Collins said.

Additionally, while Iraq oil revenue is projected to hit about $56 billion this year, American gas prices have reached record highs, negatively affecting the U.S. economy. Some economists have said that America is nearing a recession, and yet the United States spends about $10 billion a month in Iraq.

“It’s one thing to be asked to help those who can’t help themselves,” Bayh said at the press conference. “It’s another thing entirely to ask the people to borrow more money from China that our children will need to repay, with interest, to give to a country that is running a surplus and is not spending its own money to help itself.”

While American troops in Iraq spend about $3.23 a gallon for gasoline for military vehicles, Iraqi citizens spend only $1.30 a gallon because of government subsidies, Bayh said.

“Why are we paying that cost?” asked Collins at the press conference.

“You don’t do that to your friends,” Bayh said.

The three senators wrote letters to the Senate leadership, Appropriations Committee and U.S. State and Defense departments presenting these policy proposals.

“The time has come to end this blank check policy and require the Iraqis to invest in their own future,” said the April 17 letter sent to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. “It is not our intent to punish or harm the government of Iraq; rather, we believe this is an opportunity for Iraq to demonstrate its desire to act independently from the United States.”

Rep. Tom Allen, D-Maine, who is running against Collins for the Senate, said he agrees “that Iraqis need to take more responsibility for their country,” but the best way to account for the taxpayers “is to set a deadline to bring American forces home responsibly and end our involvement in Iraq’s religious civil war,” he said.

Congress recently enacted legislation written by Allen to establish a bipartisan commission to root out waste, fraud and war profiteering.

Collins is looking to make her legislation part of a war-funding bill that Congress will consider in the next few weeks. She believes it will be met by “overwhelming support.”

“This idea’s not a Democrat or Republican idea. It’s just plain common sense,” Bayh said.

Collins said several of her Republican colleagues already have pledged their support, some wanting to be co-sponsors.

In contrast to 2003, Collins said she believes the administration has evolved in its thinking and is more open to the concepts being presented, “but I have a feeling that we will want to go further than the administration will want to go.”

Some in the administration are saying that these proposals are already being done in Iraq because the Iraqis have begun to take over some of the reconstruction costs. But the senators distinguish the difference between the natural process of assuming the costs of reconstruction and the need for the Iraqis to begin to pay the salaries of the Iraqi soldiers and to reimburse the United States for the oil Americans are using in Iraq to help the Iraqi people.