WASHINGTON – A Senate panel has agreed unanimously to block the Defense Department from funding Iraq reconstruction projects worth more than $2 million and to begin to force Baghdad to cover the costs of training and equipping its security forces.

The provision, included in a 2009 defense policy bill approved this week by the Senate Armed Services Committee, comes as Democrats draft a similar provision within separate legislation that would cover this year’s war spending.

The efforts are part of the latest push on Capitol Hill to get Iraq to spend more of its own money and spare U.S. taxpayers. Democrats and many Republicans say it is unfair that Iraq is looking at pulling in as much as $70 billion in oil revenues this year while Americans grapple with soaring fuel prices at the pump.

“We want to send a very powerful message to the Iraqis and to the administration as to the cost of this war and the absurdity that a country which is exporting 2 million barrels a day of oil, for which we are paying when it gets to the pump now $3.50 a gallon” is not fully paying to rebuild itself, said Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the Armed Services Committee.

The White House said Thursday that for American troops to be withdrawn eventually from Iraq, money must be spent to help rebuild the country and train Iraqi troops.

“I think it’s important that the Iraqis actually are spending a lot more on their reconstruction than maybe is commonly understood out there,” said White House deputy press secretary Tony Fratto. “In their most recent budget, they’ll outspend the United States 10 to 1 on reconstruction. … We are pretty much out of the business of very large reconstruction projects in Iraq.”

Fratto did not say whether the administration would threaten to veto the legislation. Lawmakers involved in drafting the bill said it was unlikely, particularly because of the bipartisan support it attracted.

“They didn’t reject it,” said Sen. Ben Nelson of closed-door negotiations this week with the National Security Council. Nelson, D-Neb., sponsored the provision along with Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Evan Bayh, D-Ind.

In a statement, Collins described the Senate Armed Services approval of the provision as an important “victory.”

“There is no reason why the Iraqis cannot bear more of the cost of securing, stabilizing and rebuilding their country,” said Collins. “No more American funds should be spent for major reconstruction projects. The costs of the salaries for the Sons of Iraq, for the training and equipping of the Iraqi security forces, and for other costs such as the fuel we use in Iraq should be borne by the Iraqis. It is really difficult for Americans who are struggling with the high cost of energy to pay these costs in a country that has the second-largest oil reserves and a burgeoning budget surplus.”

The defense policy bill, which will be considered by the full Senate later this month, would affect only Defense Department spending in 2009, which is estimated at $612.5 billion.