How Much Will the U.S. Collect for Reconstruction Expenses?

The White House, adhering to no-compensation support, and the U.S. Congress, maintaining a loan support philosophy, are making war on the supplementary budget of the reconstruction of Iraq and Afghanistan amounting to $87 billion presented by the George W. Bush administration.

The U.S. House of Representative passed a resolution which insists the reconstruction expenses should be provided in the form of loan, not in the form of a grant support, by an overwhelming margin on October 21 (local time).

The resolution by the votes of most Democrats and 84 Republicans resulted from the concern that the U.S. tax money, which should be spent on the U.S. voters, are spent on Iraq without compensation while the financial deficit is increasing, concerning the general election next year.

Josua Bolton, the budget director of White House sent a warning letter saying “If even a little portion of the supplementary budget is provided in the form of a loan, President Bush will exercise his veto power” to the congress leaders in advance of the House of the Representatives’ passing. President Bush objects to the form of loan strongly saying, “If the Iraqis pay the reconstruction expenses, it would make our efforts on democracy useless,” however this is the first time of mentioning the veto power.

The U.S. Senate passed a separate resolution which insists that half of the reconstruction expenses of $20 billion should be provided in the form of loan by a narrow margin last week.

However, the possibility of providing the construction expenses in the form of a loan seems low because President Bush is sticking to the ”no-compensation support” position despite the passing of resolution by the Senate and the House of Representatives. The leaders of Grand Old Party (GOP) holding the Senate and the House of Representatives are optimistic, saying, “When the final mediation of the resolution of the Senate and the House of Representatives is done, the article of loan will be excluded.”

Rae-Jeong Park ecopark@donga.com