That $87 Billion Vote

President Bush says Senator Kerry flip-flopped on Iraqi reconstruction. Kerry says he didn't explain his vote well. Both men seem to assume that Americans can't decipher the ways of the Congress. I disagree.

There were two bills introduced that dealt with supplemental reconstructional monies: S. 1689, The Emergency Supplemental Appropriations for Iraq and Afghanistan Security and Reconstruction Act, 2004 (introduced 30 Sept 2003), and H.R.3289, The Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Defense and for the Reconstruction of Iraq and Afghanistan, 2004 (introduced 14 Oct 2003). [The title of the final bill that the President signed is The Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Defense and for the Reconstruction of Iraq and Afghanistan, 2004]

There were actually two parts to the bill(s): $66 billion for US military spending and $21 billion for reconstruction. One controversy was over the reconstruction money: should it be a loan or a grant?

The Administration was adament that the money be allocated as a grant:

According to Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), Bush said: "I'm here to tell you this is what we have to do and this is how we have to do it. It's not negotiable, and I don't want to debate it."

However, according to the Washington Times, a mid-October 2003 CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll revealed that 57 percent of us opposed the $87 billion request, saying that Congress should not authorize it. This was despite September news reports that Paul Bremer believed Iraq should have sufficient oil money by 2005 to begin paying for some reconstruction.

Perhaps it is not surprising, then, that on 16 October 2003 the Senate passed an amendment (51Y - 47N) to S. 1689 that converted half of the Iraqi reconstruction money from a grant to a loan. This loan would be forgiven if other nations were to write off 90 percent of the debt incurred by Saddam Hussein's government. [Note: the US is currently squabbling with France and others about how much of Iraq's $200 billion debt to write off -- we want to write off as much as 95 percent of Iraq's debt.]

It was this vote on an amendment to the bill (not on the bill itself), roll call number 389, when Senator Kerry voted "yea" ... a (moderately) fiscally conservative vote that was an affront to the Administration's plan.

What else did the Senate change?