Tim Mahoney: “Madam Speaker, I rise today on behalf of Florida's 16th Congressional District in support of House Resolution 97…”

“Madam Speaker, I rise today on behalf of Florida's 16th Congressional District in support of House Resolution 97, providing cost accountability for the Iraq war. If we take a look at what has happened over these past 5 years, America has rid Iraq of a brutal dictator. America has given the Iraqi people a chance to create their own democracy, and we have invested over $400 billion and more than 3,000 American lives in securing their country. Madam Speaker, it is time for the Iraqis to step up and to take control of their destiny and their own security. And it is imperative that any future American financial expenditures in the Iraq war be subject to accountability and transparency. An estimated $9 billion of Iraqi reconstruction funds are missing. According to a January 2005 report by the Office of the Special Inspector General of Iraq Reconstruction, these $9 billion have gone missing because of inefficiencies and bad management. For the past 4 years, Congress has not exercised the oversight and accountability necessary to ensure that our money is being used effectively to support our troops to achieve our objectives in Iraq. We have paid billions of dollars to private contractors for work in Iraq; at the same time, the reports have uncovered waste, fraud, abuse, and even possible war profiteering by some of these contractors.”