Representing North Carolina’s Ninth District                                                                        

REPS. MYRICK, UPTON, AND KIND INTRODUCED AMENDMENT TO STRIP IRAQ EMBASSY FUNDING FROM THE SUPPLEMENTAL BILL

(Washington, D.C.) – Today, Representatives Sue Myrick (NC-9), Fred Upton (MI-06), and Ron Kind (WI-03) introduced an amendment to HR 1268, the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations bill.  This amendment would strike funding in the Supplemental bill for the new embassy in Iraq. 

 “We introduced this amendment because building this embassy is not an emergency,” said Rep. Sue Myrick.  “Why is an embassy in Iraq suddenly considered emergency funding when we knew we would need one from the moment Saddam’s regime fell? This supplemental bill is suppose to go to the aid of Tsunami victims and to support our troops, not build an embassy.  Funding for an embassy should go through the proper process and not be slipped into an emergency bill especially when we are trying to control spending.”   

 To top it off, Congress has already allocated funding for an embassy.  Congress appropriated $35.8 million in the 2003 and 2004 supplemental bills, $105.75 million in 2004 for Coalition Provisional Authority funds, $107.75 million in Iraq Relief and Reconstruction funds, and $665.3 million in the 2005 Department of Defense bill for State Department costs.  This amendment begs the question why does Congress need to allocate $592 million more?

 This amendment passed the House by a vote of 258-170.

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