Tuesday, September 30, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Reid wants to wait, Ensign to deal on Iraq funding

WASHINGTON -- Nevada's U.S. senators said Monday they have problems with President Bush's call for $20.3 billion to rebuild Iraq, but they differ on how Congress should handle the request.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said lawmakers should take a longer look at a bill that contains the president's reconstruction plan and delay a vote that the Senate has scheduled for this week.

"My point is, what's the rush?" said Reid, who has not said how he would vote.

Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., said he is trying to reshape the president's request to derail such criticism. He and other Republican senators met Monday with National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice.

"We're trying to come up with something from a policy standpoint that would still accomplish what (the administration) wants to accomplish but to do something that will protect the American taxpayers," Ensign said.

Ensign said he wanted to see what emerges before committing to vote for the package.

The Iraq reconstruction funding is part of an overall $87 billion supplemental spending bill to pay for ongoing military activities in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Most lawmakers favor $67 billion in the bill that would be spent on U.S. troops.

But the $20.3 billion for rebuilding Iraq has run into growing criticism as details surface about line items such as $400 million to build two prisons, $19 million for a wireless telephone network, and $9 million to add ZIP codes to the Iraqi mail.

Ensign, a budget hawk, said he wants explanations from the White House on some of the line items. He said he is fearful U.S. money will rebuild Iraq just in time for the French and the Russians to step in and profit.

But Ensign said he plans to work with Bush on any changes. "We want to work with the president and help him win the war on peace," he said.

Reid proposed separating the reconstruction funds from the rest of the president's $87 billion proposal and voting on it separately.

"I think that the money for reconstruction is, on its face, pretty problematic," Reid said.

During a news conference in his Capitol office, Reid ran through a list of items in the reconstruction request, including $700 million for a children's hospital.

"We could use this in Nevada," Reid said. "It took me more than 10 years to get a visitors center at the Great Basin National Park. Well, shouldn't we -- for Iraq -- go through the same procedure?"

Reid called L. Paul Bremer, the top American civilian administrator in Iraq, "the king of Iraq."

"I'm not anxious to just give the king -- Bremer is the king over there ... He's the ruler. You want some money for this, go to Bremer," Reid said. "He's the king of Iraq right now. I don't have a thing in the world against him, but I just don't think that's the position I want to put him in."

Supporters of the president's request have compared it to the Marshall Plan, the American economic recovery package that helped rebuild Europe after World War II.

"The hearings for the Marshall Plan went on for months," Reid said. "I think I heard a thousand witnesses came and testified."

Stephens Washington Bureau Chief Steve Tetreault contributed to this report.