Kent Conrad: “This country has the second largest oil reserves in the world, and we are getting ready to have the American people…”

“This country has the second largest oil reserves in the world, and we are getting ready to have the American people rebuild that nation. There is something really wrong with the administration's thinking on this matter, to come before us and ask for $21 billion, to say there is another $40 billion to $50 billion of need in the next year and that they are going to get it from somewhere else, when the somewhere else has promised $1.5 billion. So there is a shortage of another $40 billion. Where is that going to come from, and what is it being used for? My colleague from North Dakota pointed out what was in the Washington Post this morning, a detailed analysis of some of these expenditures. One that I found most unusual was $1 million per family in Iraq for a witness protection program for 100 families. That is $100 million--$1 million a family. That is a pretty good deal. It is going to be used to build prisons in Iraq for $50,000 a bed. Somebody is not thinking straight.”