This week, the GAO released a new report that led me to renew my call for Iraqi fiscal responsibility. The report found that the Iraqi government acquired a budget surplus of nearly $80 billion in the last three years.

It is outrageous that the Iraqi government continues to reap billions in budget surpluses from record-high oil prices, yet American taxpayers have spent $48 billion in Iraq for reconstruction projects alone. It defies common sense and any semblance of fiscal responsibility. This new report makes it crystal clear: it is long past time for the government of Iraq to step up and take responsibility for rebuilding its own country.

Earlier this year, I was proud to author legislation (H. Res. 1111) which states that all future U.S. funding for reconstruction and fuel in Iraq be provided as a loan to the government of Iraq, to be repaid out of oil revenues. Language from my resolution passed the U.S. House in May as part of a supplemental spending bill.

The government report released this week, which was requested by Senators Carl Levin (D-MI) and John Warner (R-VA), concluded that the Iraqi government has a cumulative budget surplus of as much as $79 billion from 2005 to today. The report also estimated that due to record-high oil prices, Iraq will have a budget surplus of $38 billion to $50 billion this year.

I commend Senators Levin and Warner for requesting this important study. Their cooperation and involvement demonstrates again that this is not a Democratic or Republican issue. It is an issue of common sense for the American taxpayer. In these difficult economic times, we can no longer spend billions of taxpayer dollars rebuilding a country which is sitting on massive oil reserves and tens of billions of dollars in budget surplus.

This spring, I led the entire 47-member freshman class of House Democrats in a call for a fiscally responsible new direction in Iraq funding. The freshman class has a geographic reach from Brooklyn, New York to Sugarland, Texas, and includes conservative, moderate and more liberal members. We worked together and passed language through the U.S. House which requires Iraqis to pay for the reconstruction of Iraq, and also requires fair fuel cost negotiations to ensure American taxpayers are no longer being overcharged for gas in Iraq.

This was an important victory for American taxpayers, but this week’s new report shows we still have work to do, and I will continue fighting for fiscal responsibility.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 7th, 2008 at 11:33 am and is filed under Politics, Economy/Budget, Foreign Policy .