Elect a Madman and Get Madness per Sen. Harkin

The White House recently submitted an emergency supplemental bill totaling more than $100 billion to pay for its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But while the Republican President continues to push for spending billions more of your tax dollars overseas, there are urgent needs here at home that we can no longer ignore. We're now burning through an incredible $2.5 billion a week in Iraq, over $250,000 per minute. Meanwhile, here in the U.S., bridges are collapsing, school buildings are crumbling, and infrastructure projects are being cut back or canceled for lack of funding. Another sad irony is that, as we go deeper into debt to pay for this ruinous war, the Iraqi government is racking up tens of billions of dollars in budget surpluses - including some $30 billion deposited in U.S banks. Iraq will earn an estimated $100 billion in oil revenue this year and next, building those surpluses even higher. The Bush Administration wants to spend another $100 billion for Iraq and Afghanistan, on top of more than a half-trillion dollars already spent in Iraq alone. I believe we can and must use that bill to stimulate our economy - to create jobs and address needs here at home. What I hear from taxpayers in Iowa is they want better roads, they want safer bridges, they need their schools repaired, they need clean water, they need waste water treatment. In fact, there is a $2 billion in backlog for rural water and wastewater projects. But what we hear from the administration is that government spending for reconstruction is fine in Iraq but somehow it's onerous here in America. It seems to me that the time and the place for it is when the need is here and the need is here right now. Congress must support initiatives that will create jobs, and protect and rebuild communities in the U.S.