"Shame".. was the cry of Senator Robert Byrd as he referred to absence of congressional oversight of the $25 billion dollars requested for the Iraq Freedom Fund Contingent Emergency Reserve fund. "Arrogance"... was the tone he took in order to describe the administration for even daring to ask for what was referred to as a 'blank check' by many of the Senate Armed Services Committee during the three hour hearing held on 5/13/2004. "No money shall be drawn from the treasury but in consequence of appropriations made by law"... was a part of the Constitution that Senator Byrd cited in his message that he wished be sent in response to the administration's request.  The Deputy Secretary of Defense, Paul Wolfowitz, along with his team of representatives from the Office of Management and Budget and the Joint Chiefs of staff were battered by decidedly bellicose questioning by the Committee regarding the accountability and oversight of the proposed funding. Current spending in Iraq and Afghanistan was stated to be between four and five billion dollars per month. Based on an average figure of $4.5 Billion dollars, the spending represents $1712 per second or approximately $148 million dollars per day. Based on a population of 250 million, the current request will cost $100 per man, woman and child in the United States. By adding the approximately $163 billion dollars that has already been spent the per capita figure rises to $752 dollars. It is anticipated that even after the current request is granted, the administration will have to request an emergency supplemental appropriations bill in January of 2005. The additional appropriations bill is anticipated to be for about $50 billion dollars which would bring the per-capita cost of the Iraqi war near $1000.  The request is entitled Iraq Freedom Fund Contingent Emergency Reserve and the document is only four pages in length and of the four pages the only references as to how the money will be spent occupies a single page which may make it one of the highest cost per page budget requests. According to the request, the funding will be allocated as follows: Up to $14,000,000,000 for "Operation and Maintenance, Army";
Up to $1,000,000,000 for "Operation and Maintenance, Navy";
Up to $2,000,000,000 for "Operation and Maintenance, Marine Corps";
Up to $1,000,000,000 for "Operation and Maintenance, Air Force";
Up to $2,000,000,000 for "Operation and Maintenance, Defense-Wide;
Up to $5,000,000,000 may be used to reimburse other appropriations or funds of the Department of Defense and classified programs:
Senator Carl Levin inquired as to the status of the reported $13 billion dollars of international aid that was promised at the Madrid conference only to find that Office of Management and Budget representative was not prepared to answer as to how much of the money was actually delivered. Deputy Secretary Wolfowitz responded that he was aware of a problem with the aid previously pledged for Afghanistan as being 'slow' and that the security problem in Iraq would cause the donations for Iraq to be even 'slower'.
Date: Vendredi, 14 Mai 2004 @ 14:23 Printer Friendly  Email to a Friend 
|
