Iraq Aid Needs, Pledge at Odds (questions raised re: making up difference)

[kskiska]

The U.S.-run government in Iraq has vowed to seek no congressional funding in 2005 to reconstruct that nation if it receives the Bush administration's full $20.3 billion request this fall, raising questions about how it will meet its total spending needs.

The written pledge, in a document responding to lawmakers' questions, appeared at odds with the Coalition Provisional Authority's estimated costs of reconstruction and the amount of money likely to come from other nations. Treasury Secretary John W. Snow put the total rebuilding cost at $55 billion in a speech yesterday at an Iraq donors conference in Madrid.

If the administration secures its full request from Congress, the United States will have committed less than half that amount -- $24 billion in 2003 and 2004. Pledges from the World Bank and other donors total little more than $8 billion so far, and the Madrid conference started on a disappointing note for U.S. officials, largely because of reluctance from Saudi Arabia.

The provisional authority's document to Congress concedes that any money pledged from other nations will not be available until 2005, leaving the near-term rebuilding costs solely on the U.S. government. Still, the authority wrote to Congress this week: "If we receive our full request of $20.3 billion, then we will not seek additional reconstruction funds in FY 2005," which ends in September of that year.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A9226-2003Oct23.html