Statement from Bruce Lunsford Regarding Iraqi Budget Surplus
LOUISVILLE – U.S. Senate candidate Bruce Lunsford expressed outrage today after reading published reports that the Iraqi government will amass a whopping $79 billion budget surplus by the end of the year from oil profits. Only a small percentage of the surplus is being spent on reconstruction costs with the American taxpayers paying for the bulk.
“Iraq is running up billions of dollars in surpluses, while American soldiers are risking their lives and the American taxpayer is footing the bill,” Lunsford said. “George W. Bush and Mitch McConnell should quit writing a blank check for Iraq and instead focus on our urgent needs at home. While we’re busy building bridges in Iraq, roads and bridges are in urgent need of repair and replacement here in Kentucky.”
According to a recent GAO report, U. S. taxpayers have spent about $48 billion to rebuild Iraq since Fiscal Year 2003. $23.2 billion of that money went toward security, oil, electricity and water projects. By comparison, from 2005 through April of this year, the Iraqi government spent only $3.9 billion on similar projects.
Additionally, much of the Iraqi budget surplus is held at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. That deposit is so large that the United States has paid $435.6 million in interest payments to Iraq through the end of 2007.
“The Iraqi government must be held responsible and pay their fair share of reconstruction costs,” Lunsford said. “Adding insult to injury, while we are paying $4 a gallon for gas we are also paying the Iraqi government more than $430 million in interest payments. The American taxpayer needs relief.”
