mr. chairman , i rise in opposition to the emergency supplemental wartime appropriations act . 
it is unconscionable that the administration comes to congress for another emergency supplemental when it has failed to account for previous emergency funding , and has failed to include the cost of the war in the fy '06 budget . 
how can this administration offer a budget that does not include funding for america 's military operations overseas when we have more than 150 , 000 soldiers in iraq and afghanistan for an indefinite period of time ? 
why does the administration continue to resort to supplemental funding to pay for this war instead of including the cost in the budget where it will sufficiently reflect the impact of operations iraqi freedom and enduring freedom on our deficit ? 
mr. chairman , i did not support the iraq supplemental request last year because i had serious concerns about no bid contracts in the bill . 
unfortunately i was right to be concerned ; just today it has been reported that pentagon auditors have found excess billing for postwar fuel imports to iraq by the halliburton company totaling more than $ 108 million . 
to add insult to injury congress has not received any of the nine auditing reports from the pentagon , but instead must resort to receiving this information through unofficial channels . 
despite repeated requests , the administration has kept nine audits confidential from both republican and democratic members of congress . 
accountability is a bipartisan issue . 
this $ 81 billion emergency supplemental funding request for the department of defense 's iraq and afghanistan operations comes on the heels of $ 25 billion of emergency spending already appropriated for this year . 
enacting this request would mean that this congress will have provided this administration with almost $ 300 billion for military and reconstruction efforts in afghanistan and iraq . 
it is clear that this body is willing to live up to its end of the bargain and provide funding for our troops , but the administration is determined to continue to avoid serious questions and concerns about its spending . 
let me state outright that i opposed going to war in iraq , but that is not my reason for opposing this supplemental request . 
i oppose simply because we can not allow continued deception by the administration on every aspect of our engagement with iraq . 
we were deceived with exaggeration of hussein 's weapons capabilities , and now we are being deceived about the duration of the engagement and its exact cost -- on the american purse and the loss of our men and women in uniform . 
we have exacerbated the situation in the middle east and put our country in a more vulnerable position because of this war , and now we are asked to surrender the responsibilities of this body to hold the administration accountable for its actions . 
mr. chairman as a member of congress i must provide answers to my constituents about the money that congress spends . 
accountability is not a partisan issue , we must all demand answers . 
our constitution was carefully crafted so as to allow a balance of power in our government . 
congress is obligated to use appropriations and the oversight that accompanies it as a means of holding the executive branch accountable for its spending of american funds . 
any attempt to usurp that balance of power is a betrayal of the moral fiber of our government and must be taken as an attack on the integrity of this body . 
the department of defense by law must submit reports to congress with a detailed explanation of the spending and future costs of the iraq war . 
these reports were due october of last year and at the beginning of this year . 
despite this legal obligation clearly delineated in last year 's defense appropriations act , we have to date received no report accounting for the spending and detailing cost estimates of previous supplemental funding . 
our government should not fail to meet its legal responsibility without consequence . 
how can we justify more emergency appropriations without adequate assurance that what has already been appropriated has been shrewdly spent ? 
sadly , we have no report directly from dod but the inspector general reported that almost $ 9 billion in reconstruction funding has been mishandled and poorly accounted for . 
in fact , the inspector general suggests that thousands of `` ghost employees '' were on an unidentified ministry payroll . 
in addition , dod has stated in the past that 220 , 000 iraq security forces had been trained and equipped , that number was then scaled down to 136 , 000 . 
moreover , the pentagon has recently put into question if these troops are truly prepared for service . 
mr. chairman , opposition to this bill is not a vote against supporting our troops . 
this body has proven over and over again through appropriations that it supports our troops . 
congress has appropriated $ 20 billion for iraq reconstruction despite the administration 's claims that iraq reconstruction would cost between $ 1 and $ 2 billion and could be financed by iraqi oil revenues . 
with enactment of this bill congress will have appropriated $ 300 billion for the efforts in iraq without proper accounting of the spending of these funds . 
the administration claimed that we would be received as great liberators and that just a few short months after the invasion we could start withdrawing troops , but instead we have no exit strategy and over 1 , 500 troops have died and thousands seriously injured . 
i could go on and on about the disastrous miscalculations and misleading estimates . 
this bill is critically lacking in accountability . 
no more blank checks for this administration . 
