IV 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 404
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the position of 
Iraqi Reconstruction Coordinator should be established within the De-
partment of State to be accountable for all reconstruction funding in 
Iraq, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 16, 2003
Ms. DELAURO (for herself, Mr. EMANUEL, Mr. PRICE of North Carolina, Mr. 
LARSON of Connecticut, Mr. MEEHAN, Mr. GEORGE MILLER of Cali-
fornia, Mr. FARR, Mr. BERMAN, Mr. PASCRELL, Mrs. MALONEY, Mr. 
BROWN of Ohio, Mr. MCGOVERN, Ms. WATSON, Mr. GORDON, Mr. 
BERRY, Mr. MORAN of Virginia, Mr. MARKEY, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. 
HOLT, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. STRICKLAND, Mr. RYAN of Ohio, Mr. 
DELAHUNT, Mr. BELL, Ms. LEE, Mr. WATT, Mr. ISRAEL, Mrs. JONES 
of Ohio, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. HONDA, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. GRIJALVA, 
Mr. ALLEN, Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, Mr. CAPUANO, Ms. JACKSON-LEE 
of Texas, Mr. OBERSTAR, Mr. UDALL of Colorado, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. HIN-
CHEY, Ms. WOOLSEY, Ms. BERKLEY, Mr. SPRATT, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, 
Mr. INSLEE, Ms. NORTON, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Ms. SOLIS, Mr. LAMPSON, 
Mr. KLECZKA, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, Mr. MICHAUD, Mr. OWENS, Mr. 
SCHIFF, Mr. TIERNEY, Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania, Mr. ETHERIDGE, 
Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Mr. TOWNS, Mr. 
PALLONE, and Ms. KILPATRICK) submitted the following resolution; 
which was referred to the Committee on International Relations 
RESOLUTION 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that 
the position of Iraqi Reconstruction Coordinator should 
be established within the Department of State to be 
accountable for all reconstruction funding in Iraq, and 
for other purposes.
•HRES 404 IH 
Whereas the United States has accepted the enormous re-
sponsibility of restoring freedom, self rule, and democracy 
in Iraq, and has pledged to help restore and rebuild a 
functioning market economy in that country and to assist 
in repairing Iraq’s physical infrastructure; 
Whereas the United States has embarked on similar inter-
national nation-building efforts in the last half century, 
the most comprehensive of which was the Marshall Plan, 
which enabled war torn European countries to rebuild 
their economies and to build successful democratic soci-
eties, and was largely responsible for defeating post-war 
Soviet designs on western Europe; 
Whereas the success of the Marshall Plan was due in part 
to President Truman’s desire to eliminate political con-
siderations and special interests from the decision-making 
process by creating a new governmental authority to 
manage planning and funding decisions independent of 
the White House executive administration in conjunction 
with European governments, and these governments exer-
cised a major role in determining reconstruction prior-
ities, planning and implementation, and contributed re-
sources to their efforts; 
Whereas in his speech before the United Nations on Sep-
tember 23, 2003, President Bush characterized the re-
construction plan for Iraq as ‘‘the greatest financial com-
mitment of its kind since the Marshall Plan’’ and high-
ranking officials of the Administration have publicly de-
clared that the United States is engaged in a modern 
version of the Marshall Plan; 
Whereas the fiscal year 2004 supplemental appropriations re-
quest of $18,649,000,000 for Iraq reconstruction trans-
mitted to Congress by the President is very unlike the
•HRES 404 IH 
Marshall Plan in that it is open-ended without a specific 
time limitation or total funding level, while the Marshall 
plan as authorized under the Economic Cooperation Act 
of 1948 provided a total of $13,000,000,000 over a four-
year period; 
Whereas, in addition, the President’s plan is unlike the Mar-
shall Plan in that the effort would be overseen, managed, 
and implemented with little or no decisional input from 
current or future Iraqi authorities and in a top-down 
fashion structured by funds appropriated directly to the 
President, who apportions the funds to the Secretary of 
Defense, who in turn apportions the funds to the Admin-
istrator of the Coalition Provisional Authority; 
Whereas the President’s proposal is significantly different 
from the Marshall Plan because it fails to mandate a 
multilateral approach to the common economic problems 
of the region while the plan that former Secretary of 
State Marshall enunciated at Harvard University on 
June 5, 1947, required the 16 European countries to or-
ganize to produce a rational, multilateral approach to 
their common economic problems; 
Whereas the goal of the United States is to restore self-gov-
ernment to the Iraqi people, which means incorporating 
the Iraqi people to the maximum extent possible in high-
level economic and planning decisions relating to recon-
struction of Iraq; 
Whereas under the Emergency Wartime Supplemental Appro-
priations Act, 2003 (Public Law 108–11), the President 
was given sole authority to spend the $2,475,000,000 ap-
propriated to the Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund, 
and in entering into contracts for such relief and recon-
struction of Iraq, normal competitive bidding require-
•HRES 404 IH 
ments of the Federal government were waived and bids 
from businesses which were perceived to have preexisting 
qualifications were requested; and 
Whereas a functioning electrical system, water distribution 
system, oil production system and other key elements of 
the Iraqi national infrastructure continue to be non-func-
tioning six months after the conclusion of Operation Iraqi 
Freedom: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep-
resentatives that—
(1) the position of Iraqi Reconstruction Coordi-
nator at the level of Undersecretary should be estab-
lished within the Department of State, with such 
Coordinator reporting directly to the Secretary of 
State, and that the individual first appointed to the 
position should be appointed on an acting basis but 
with subsequent confirmation by and with the advice 
and consent of the Senate; 
(2) the Coordinator, under the authority of the 
Secretary of State, should be accountable for all re-
construction funding in Iraq; 
(3) 20 percent of the amount appropriated for 
Iraq reconstruction under an Act making emergency 
supplemental appropriations for fiscal year 2004 
should be made immediately available to the Coali-
tion Provisional Authority through the Department
•HRES 404 IH 
of 
State 
to 
meet 
the 
Coalition 
Provisional 
Authority’s immediate needs; 
(4) the amount appropriated for Iraq recon-
struction under an Act making emergency supple-
mental appropriations for fiscal year 2004 should be 
contingent upon a detailed and comprehensive pres-
entation to Congress by the Administration and the 
Coalition Provisional Authority consistent with a 
plan proposed by the President to restore freedom, 
self-rule, and democracy in Iraq; 
(5) further funding for Iraq reconstruction 
should be made available as such plans are devel-
oped and agreed to between the appropriate Iraqi 
authorities and the Coalition Provisional Authority; 
(6) the expenditure of funds for Iraq recon-
struction should be obligated to the maximum extent 
possible in Iraq with the objective of promoting the 
redevelopment of Iraq, and steps should be taken to 
ensure transparency in contracting to prevent profit-
eering; 
(7) local procurement and local management in 
Iraq should be encouraged wherever feasible, includ-
ing through local prime contracting as such capacity 
can be developed; and
•HRES 404 IH 
(8) the Secretary of State should work with the 
governments of other countries to establish an Iraqi 
Reconstruction Council to consist of all major donor 
countries, all neighboring countries, and the Iraqi 
Governing Council with the mandate to set donor 
priorities and foster regional economic cooperation.
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