Senate Panel Approves $592 Million for U.S. Embassy in Baghdad 4/7/2005
The Senate Appropriations Committee has cleared an $80.6-billion emergency supplemental spending bill that includes $592 million for a new U.S. embassy complex in Baghdad. If the full Senate goes along, its version of the bill would have to be reconciled with the House's, which bars spending money on the embassy project. The committee's measure could come to the Senate floor as early as April 11, an aide said.
The Senate committee's bill, approved 28-0 on April 6, did pare the Bush administration's request for the Baghdad project by $66 million, or 10%. In a draft report to accompany the bill, the panel said, "In planning for the construction of this embassy, the Dept. of State has relied on several optimistic planning factors: first, a construction workforce of 2,000 personnel, laboring in a permissive security environment, will be able to complete construction within 24 months; second, projected mission staffing levels will approximate those needed for current operations and conditions; and, third, that the square footage and acreage required for the embassy compound should be commensurate with wartime staffing levels."