Lynn C. Woolsey: “for the last 2 years, Halliburton and subsidiaries such as Kellogg, Brown, and Root, have received billions of dollars…”

“for the last 2 years, Halliburton and subsidiaries such as Kellogg, Brown, and Root, have received billions of dollars in contracts to rebuild Iraq. Despite the handsome profits, Halliburton, which used to be run by the Vice President, Dick Cheney, has not had to offer competitive bids on the vast majority of these projects. Earlier this week a Halliburton subsidiary received yet another no-bid contract for reconstruction efforts. This should not come as a surprise to anyone, anyone who has monitored the greed, the selfishness, the sheer corruption with which the Bush administration has administered Iraq's reconstruction. Only this time, the contract was not for Iraq, it was for hurricane relief and reconstruction efforts here in the United States. Finally, the chickens have come to roost. Mr. Speaker, my colleagues might recall that Halliburton is the company that overcharged the United States Government for meals served to soldiers serving in Iraq. It is also the company that made the United States Government pay a ridiculous markup on gasoline purchased from nearby Kuwait. Unfortunately, the Bush administration did not seem to mind. Halliburton's corruption certainly did not stop the White House from turning to them yet again as its primary source for no-bid government contracts in the Gulf. But the sad truth is, these examples of corruption and incompetence are not just isolated to Halliburton. They are emblematic of the Bush administration itself.…”