White House lauds Iraq’s reconstructions efforts

The White House on Wednesday said Iraq has taken over much of the cost for its reconstruction and is working to figure out how to spend its surplus budget from oil revenues.

The Bush administration’s response comes after the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report that showed Iraq could expect more than $50 billion in a windfall budget surplus this year, but has done little to fund reconstruction after the U.S. invasion in 2003.

{mosads}“The Iraqis are currently working on a supplemental budget text for how they will spend such funds. We welcome it,” White House spokeswoman Dana Perino told reporters. “They’ve already taken over a lot of their reconstruction cost, and I think the vast majority of it. They want to be able to do more, and they are doing more.”  

Democrats had seized on the GAO findings.

“It is inexcusable for U.S. taxpayers to continue to foot the bill for projects the Iraqis are fully capable of funding themselves,” said Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) Tuesday. “We should not be paying for Iraqi projects while Iraqi oil revenues continue to pile up in the bank, including outrageous profits from $4-a-gallon gas prices in the U.S.”

The GAO had stated that the “substantial increase in revenues offers the Iraqi government the potential to better finance its own security and economic needs.”

Perino also stressed that it is important how Iraq will share the wealth among its different sects around the country.