Cord Byrd: “I respect my colleague greatly, and I respect his reasons for objecting to my unanimous consent request. I have already…”

“I respect my colleague greatly, and I respect his reasons for objecting to my unanimous consent request. I have already offered the unanimous consent request to divide the President's supplemental request into portions, one on the $71.5 billion for our military and for Iraq's own security force, and one for $15.2 billion in reconstruction aid. Although there was objection to my request, the American people understand why the issue of security is not the same as the issue of reconstruction. The amendment that I will now offer would strike $15.2 billion in reconstruction aid from the supplemental appropriations bill. This would allow the Senate to proceed with its consideration of $70.7 billion in security-related funding for Iraq, $5.6 billion for the Department of Defense, $5.1 billion for building the new Iraqi army and a national police force, and $1 billion for aid to Afghanistan, and State Department operations. Adopting my amendment would allow the Senate to return to the issue of reconstruction after completing action on the President's request for security-related funding. In the meantime, the Senate should give more careful consideration to the administration's plan for rebuilding Iraq. We should take a closer look at the plan for postwar Iraq. The plan distributed by Ambassador Bremer to the Appropriations Committee on September 22 adds but 28 pages. The plan provides few details, and it only looks out on the next 5 months of our occupation.”