Help America to Vote Act

HELP AMERICA TO VOTE ACT

Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, before I give my remarks, let me thank my colleagues on both sides of the aisle who have worked so hard to craft this amendment. It has been a great pleasure to work with all of them. I believe the proposal we are advancing this evening not only reflects a great deal of thought and deliberation but is by far the best policy we could pursue.

The Senate is engaged in a historic debate: the consideration of the most comprehensive package of military and foreign reconstruction assistance since the Marshall plan. The administration has asked the Congress to appropriate $87 billion, some of which would go to Afghanistan, but the vast majority would go for Iraq.

As a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, I visited Iraq last July. I am well aware of the urgent need for additional funding to support our troops. Rogue elements operating in Iraq, whether it is the remnants of the Baathist regime or terrorists from other countries, endanger our troops and threaten to undermine our efforts to establish a prosperous and democratic society. It is imperative that our troops have all the support they need to be as safe and as effective as possible. In that regard, it is indeed heartening that the $66 billion included in this package that will be used to support our troops enjoys widespread support.

The stakes are very high. We simply cannot fail in Iraq. The sacrifices of our young men and women in uniform cannot be in vain. This funding will help to support their efforts and to ensure their success.

I also recognize that Iraq needs our assistance in constructing a modern infrastructure and rebuilding its security services.
There are $20 billion included in this bill targeted for those purposes. I note the significance of that amount; it is more than our entire foreign aid budget. So this is a very significant assistance package we are considering tonight.

It is vital that basic services be restored to the Iraqi people as soon as possible so that their hardships do not continue.
Without reliable electricity and clean water, the Iraqi people cannot rebuild their lives, their country, and their economy. I believe there are, however, ways to structure this assistance to provide the Iraqis with the help they need while lessening the impact on the American taxpayer. That is the goal of the bipartisan amendment we have put forth this evening.

While I fully support the President's overall budget request, we have an obligation to explore ways to lessen the burden on the American taxpayer. To accomplish this goal, our amendment proposes that part of this assistance be provided to the Iraqi people in the form of a loan, to be repaid at some point in the future when Iraq once again becomes the prosperous nation it has the capacity to be.

When I visited Iraq, I was struck by how little damage the war actually inflicted on the infrastructure of that nation. I saw firsthand evidence of how our precision weaponry and the care our troops took were successful in targeting installations that posed a threat to our troops or supported the regime of Saddam Hussein while sparing the civilian community.

I was also struck, however, by the dreadfully poor infrastructure of communities throughout the nation. Basic elements of a modern nation, such as the electricity, clean water, schools, hospitals, roads, and bridges, were ignored by Saddam Hussein as he looted the country and left it in shambles. In fact, when you think about it, what we are really talking about is construction costs, not reconstruction. Iraq lacks many of the elements of a modern and well-functioning infrastructure.

I do not believe it is in any way unfair to ask the Iraqi people to invest in their own future by repaying the American taxpayers some of the funding used to construct their infrastructure, particularly when they clearly will have the ability someday to do so, for Iraq is not Afghanistan; Iraq has an educated population, abundant natural resources and, most notably, the second largest oil reserves in the world.

The administration projects that Iraq will be generating $20 billion in annual oil revenue within just 2 years. With such economic assets, Iraq undoubtedly one day will have the financial wherewithal to repay this loan. Moreover, asking the Iraqis to take some responsibility for rebuilding their own country will help give them a sense of ownership, increasing the chances that our reconstruction efforts will endure long after our troops have returned home.

One of the arguments put forth by opponents of the loan concept is that Iraq is already burdened with an estimated $100 billion to $125 billion in debt from Saddam Hussein's regime. But what is often left out is that some of the largest holders of that debt are Saudi Arabia, France, Germany, and Russia. If it were up to the leaders of three of those nations, the Iraqi people would still be suffering under the brutal and repressive regime of Saddam Hussein.

The American people will be justifiably outraged if one dime of their money is sent to France while the American people are pouring millions of their hard-earned tax dollars into rebuilding Iraq. France, Germany, and Russia should not be paid for the debts incurred by one of the most despicable and violent leaders in decades while the American taxpayer invests billions in the rebuilding and stabilization of Iraq.

I also point out that structuring our assistance as loans is not without precedent. Most of the large-scale infrastructure projects undertaken in postconflict Bosnia have been administered through the World Bank in the form of loans with reasonable repayment conditions. If this approach is not hindering the reconstruction of Bosnia, the same surely should hold true for Iraq, a country with far greater economic resources.

That is why we have joined this evening to offer this amendment. This amendment ensures that the American taxpayer will eventually be reimbursed for a portion of our investment in Iraq. Under our proposal, $10 billion in our construction assistance will be made available for use as loans while the other $10 billion will be available as grants.

So you can see we have taken a very reasonable, moderate approach in constructing this amendment. By making available $5 billion in grants for rebuilding Iraq's security services and yet another $5 billion to jump start the reconstruction process, our approach ensures that the administration has the funds necessary to address the immediate and pressing needs.

Furthermore, the amendment requires the administration to notify congressional committees after the expenditure of every $250 million of the funds. This provision will help to enhance accountability. The President is then authorized to use the remaining $10 billion as loans to the Iraqi Governing Council or its successor.

Here is an important provision of our amendment. We say that if, however, 90 percent of Iraq's bilateral foreign debt is forgiven, then the remaining assistance will be converted to grants and the loans already obligated will be forgiven. So this is a very generous proposal.

This provision will encourage other countries to forgive at least a portion of their debt and ensure that we are not financing the rebuilding of Iraq's infrastructure while nations that loaned money to Saddam Hussein are repaid.

In addition, the amendment includes a sense-of-the-Senate provision encouraging all the nations to forgive their pre-liberation bilateral debt and to provide robust levels of reconstruction aid to postwar Iraq at the upcoming donors conference.

The American people are very generous. They not only want to give our troops the support they need but they want to provide help to the Iraqi people. The American people understand that Iraq cannot repay this money immediately. That is not what we are asking. But the American taxpayer does deserve to be repaid eventually for some of our investment in this country. And Iraq deserves to be treated as a country that has the enormous economic potential that it clearly has.
Structuring our reconstruction assistance as a loan is a reasonable approach that satisfies both concerns.

Again, I acknowledge the hard work of the group of Senators, including the Presiding Officer, who have worked very hard to come up with what I believe is a commonsense approach to this aid package.

Thank you, Mr. President. I yield the floor.