THE US: US congressional negotiators yesterday rejected a plan to require repayment by Iraq of half of its US aid package, backing President Bush's position on the issue, as they prepared a final $87 billion Bill for Iraq and Afghanistan.
The White House had threatened to veto the entire Bill if Congress did not agree to give Iraq the nearly $20 billion devoted to reconstruction, rather than go along with a Senate-passed plan that would have turned half of that amount into loans to Iraq.
Republicans from the Senate Appropriations Committee, including two who had supported loans in the full Senate, voted against including them in the final Bill as House of Representatives and Senate conferees met to resolve differences in their versions of the Bill. All but one Democrat from the Senate Committee backed loans.
The measure was not in the House Bill, so the repayment provision was eliminated from the final Bill. With that key hurdle passed, negotiators from the Appropriations Committees of each chamber hoped to agree on a Bill later in the day.
Both the House and Senate are expected to approve the final Iraqi aid package easily, despite broad support among lawmakers to make Iraq use its potential oil wealth to repay part of the reconstruction money.
The final legislation then would be sent to President Bush, who argued that seeking repayment would burden Iraq with more debt, slow efforts to stabilize the country and prolong the US occupation.
The US administrator in Iraq, Mr Paul Bremer, briefing lawmakers on Capitol Hill, said he thanked the members for their support for the emergency spending Bill. "We'll put that money, that American taxpayers' money, to good work in finishing the job of reconstructing Iraq," he said.
- (Reuters)