Fox New-Budget to be sent to Parliament within Days & Where's the Beef?

[Marilyn53]

Fox News:Budget to be sent to Parliament within days, Welfare money runs outPosted: November 22, 2010 by Justhopin in Iraqi Dinar/Politics

Tags: Iraq, United States, Nouri al-Maliki, Saddam Hussein, Politics of Iraq, Jalal Talabani, Sadr City, Finance Minister 0Iraq has run out of money to pay for widows’ benefits, farm crops and other programs for the poor, the parliament leader told lawmakers, who have collected nearly $180,000 so far this year in one of the world’s most oil-rich nations.

In only their fourth session since being elected in March, members of Iraq’s parliament on Sunday demanded to know what happened to the estimated $1 billion allocated for welfare funding by the Finance Ministry for 2010.

“We should ask the government where these allocations for widows’ aid have gone,” demanded Sadrist lawmaker Maha Adouri of Baghdad, one of the women who make up a quarter of the legislature’s 325 members. “There are thousands of widows who did not receive financial aid for months.”

Another legislator said farmers have not been paid for wheat and other crops they supplied the government for at least five months.

The cause of the shortfall was unclear, but officials have worried that the deadlock over forming a new government since March’s inconclusive election ultimately would lead to funding shortages. Whatever the cause, the welfare cutoff has been felt among Iraqis.

“We are sick people and others are old, and not getting our welfare puts us in a financial crisis,” said Fatima Hassan, 54, a widow who lives with her four children in Baghdad’s Sadr City slum.

“How can we pay for our daily needs and for our medicine, or to cover the needs of my children? Where are the revenues of our right in our oil?” said Hassan, who stopped receiving government payments more than four months ago.

Speaker Osama al-Nujaifi promised that parliament would push the Iraqi government for answers on where the money went. But he said new funding for the nation’s social care programs will have to come out of the 2011 budget, which he said would be sent to parliament within days.

He said the Finance Ministry recently alerted parliament of the cash drain. A Finance Ministry official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media put the 2010 welfare budget total at about $1 billion. He would not say what caused the shortfall.

“We will ask the government about this — if there is any carelessness or delaying these payments,” said al-Nujaifi, a Sunni member of the Iraqiya political alliance.

Iraq sits on top of some of the world’s largest oil reserves, although production has failed to grow significantly since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion and subsequent reluctance by private investors to mine the vast petroleum fields. There are an estimated 143.1 billion barrels of oil reserves in Iraq, valued at over $11 trillion, based on the $81.51 per-barrel price as of Friday.

The lawmakers’ eagerness to take up an issue dear to their constituents may have been aimed in part to reverse public scorn for their own lavish paychecks.

Even though parliament has hardly met over the past eight months, lawmakers have continued to pull in salaries and allowances that reach $22,500 a month — as well a one-time $90,000 stipend and perks like free nights in Baghdad’s finest hotel.

“They kept our millions in their pockets,” said Mizher Abdul Majeed, 49, a farmer in the northern town of Mosul whose bank refuses to cash the Iraqi Trade Ministry-issued checks that pay for his wheat. “How can we prepare for the coming planting season?”

The four-hour session was otherwise largely taken up by procedural issues since lawmakers still can’t take up the most politically meaty issue before them — approving a new government.

Factions have already started haggling over positions in backroom talks, even though President Jalal Talabani has not yet formally asked Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to begin selecting ministry leaders — a step that government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said would likely come in several days.

Once the official request comes from Talabani, al-Maliki has 30 days to assemble his Cabinet. So the delay gives al-Maliki, a Shiite who nearly lost his job after his alliance fell short in the March vote, more time to decide how to divvy up the posts among his competing partners.

A power-sharing agreement designed by Iraq’s Kurdish leaders has assured that al-Maliki will remain prime minister even though a Sunni-backed but secular alliance known as Iraqiya won the most seats in the election.

Meanwhile, gunmen stormed the home of an Iraqi TV reporter Sunday and shot him to death in front of his parents in the northern city of Mosul, police said. Mazin Mardan, 18, was the third employee of the Al-Mousiliyah satellite channel to be killed by insurgents this year.

A Mosul police commander described the shooting but refused to discuss possible motives. A city hospital official confirmed the slaying. Both spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.

The U.S. military said a soldier was shot dead Sunday in northern Iraq. The statement did not provide details, pending notification of next of kin. But an Iraqi policeman in the northern city of Tikrit, Saddam Hussein’s hometown, reported a U.S. soldier was hit by sniper fire at the Salahuddin provincial council headquarters.

It was the third combat-related death of an American service member since the U.S. formally ended all combat operations Aug. 31 and turned its focus to advising and assisting Iraqi soldiers.

http://fxn.ws/blUr3y

[bobby_cahill]

1st and foremost......God bless that soldier and his family. Thats a great loss to our Nation

As far as the content of the post.........

Why in the world would i want to invest in this country post RV? More money? Yeah for the GOI, not the people of Iraq

When i made this investment i knew nothing about the people of Iraq. Now that i know, i truly hope their dreams of providing for their families come true

While all the "elected officials" are making out like fatcats, the PEOPLE suffer

If and when this RV happens, i'll keep my money in the USA

Thanks for the "eye opening" post

Semper Fi

[gman51]

1st and foremost......God bless that soldier and his family. Thats a great loss to our Nation

As far as the content of the post.........

Why in the world would i want to invest in this country post RV? More money? Yeah for the GOI, not the people of Iraq

When i made this investment i knew nothing about the people of Iraq. Now that i know, i truly hope their dreams of providing for their families come true

While all the "elected officials" are making out like fatcats, the PEOPLE suffer

If and when this RV happens, i'll keep my money in the USA

Thanks for the "eye opening" post

Semper Fi

I totally agree. I do not know how this is coming to fruition. Their leaders don't seem to care about the people who put them there. It sickens me to see those people suffer, while the government sits on their butts getting richer. Take away their salaries and see how fast they act. I am beginning to feel regretful for getting involved with this investment.

[financeminister]

Hmmmmmm, sounds kinda like American politicians doesn't it. Everywhere in the world, politicians have a license to steal.

[Halo9678]

Gman,

If I may be allowed to say so, this was not your fault nor did you have anything to do with the Soldier losing his/her life. This "investment" is your, my, our chance to ****** victory from immenent defeat, to strike a blow for the underdog, the little guy, and to ensure that we educate ourselves in the use of such funds as to provide for future generations. Yes, it there will be sacrifices, not all who began this investment will see it through. Be it lack of resolve, determination, or a bad stroke of luck that will require them to 'cash out'. Yes, there were sacrifices made by good men and women to attempt to give the people of Iraq a chance to creep out of the past and stand on their own into the future. We cannot help that there are those who whould impede such progress over secularism or any other "division of necessity". Remember why you started this investment and remember who its' going to help. In times like these, serenity is a very precious comodity. Temper your passion with wisdom and steel your resolve with compassion. I hope this helps. Best of luck.

As for the pathetic, self-serving, neaderthals that intentionally prolong the suffering of their people,

While not to sound religious or sectarian but rather a human, your days are numbered! I would suggest that you get it together and be seen as a help to your people rather a hinderance. Rampant unemployment, starvation, lack of BASIC services. You guys are sitting on a powder keg that has "domestic uprising" wrapped in a pretty bow in big bold letters and just in time for Christmas. How nice. And, "No, you cannot use my EOD team to disarm the 'problem'. You messed it up, you clean it up!" (Insert name of chosen deity) help you for I suspect that should this 'uprising' come to pass, there will be blood in the streets and history will hold you accountable for failing your people in their darkest hour.

(Note to self... No more reading Revelations before bedtime...)

[echo0marie]

1st and foremost......God bless that soldier and his family. Thats a great loss to our Nation

As far as the content of the post.........

Why in the world would i want to invest in this country post RV? More money? Yeah for the GOI, not the people of Iraq

When i made this investment i knew nothing about the people of Iraq. Now that i know, i truly hope their dreams of providing for their families come true

While all the "elected officials" are making out like fatcats, the PEOPLE suffer

If and when this RV happens, i'll keep my money in the USA

Thanks for the "eye opening" post

Semper Fi

Our politicians are doing the same thing also.... I think its just a political oath politicians take...get rich and rob from the people

[bobby_cahill]

I really don't think I'll ever compare my government to the GOI

Do we make mistakes? Hell yeah we do

Mistakes were made 2 years ago and we the people are correcting those mistakes

Lets hope the Iraqi people have that same right

Semper Fi

[gman51]

Gman,

If I may be allowed to say so, this was not your fault nor did you have anything to do with the Soldier losing his/her life. This "investment" is your, my, our chance to ****** victory from immenent defeat, to strike a blow for the underdog, the little guy, and to ensure that we educate ourselves in the use of such funds as to provide for future generations. Yes, it there will be sacrifices, not all who began this investment will see it through. Be it lack of resolve, determination, or a bad stroke of luck that will require them to 'cash out'. Yes, there were sacrifices made by good men and women to attempt to give the people of Iraq a chance to creep out of the past and stand on their own into the future. We cannot help that there are those who whould impede such progress over secularism or any other "division of necessity". Remember why you started this investment and remember who its' going to help. In times like these, serenity is a very precious comodity. Temper your passion with wisdom and steel your resolve with compassion. I hope this helps. Best of luck.

As for the pathetic, self-serving, neaderthals that intentionally prolong the suffering of their people,

While not to sound religious or sectarian but rather a human, your days are numbered! I would suggest that you get it together and be seen as a help to your people rather a hinderance. Rampant unemployment, starvation, lack of BASIC services. You guys are sitting on a powder keg that has "domestic uprising" wrapped in a pretty bow in big bold letters and just in time for Christmas. How nice. And, "No, you cannot use my EOD team to disarm the 'problem'. You messed it up, you clean it up!" (Insert name of chosen deity) help you for I suspect that should this 'uprising' come to pass, there will be blood in the streets and history will hold you accountable for failing your people in their darkest hour.

(Note to self... No more reading Revelations before bedtime...)

Thank you for the kind words. I have not forgotten why I started this. The people that need our help are still out there, and still need the help. I am here for the long haul. I have never been one to give up, I am not starting now.

[financeminister]

I really don't think I'll ever compare my government to the GOI

Do we make mistakes? Hell yeah we do

Mistakes were made 2 years ago and we the people are correcting those mistakes

Lets hope the Iraqi people have that same right

Semper Fi

Me either, ours is worse!

[cplinedrive]

Hmmmmmm, sounds kinda like American politicians doesn't it. Everywhere in the world, politicians have a license to steal.

Yes, we call them 'Legal Thieves'.......

[rick_jb]

Thanks for the post Marilyn53.

[marknet73]

Well said Halo9678

[Doc31]

Thanks for the post!

[keepmwlknfny]

All the money is in the new budget....they have money....dont get it twisted....its just they cannot release any of it until the new budget is agreed on, passed, and put into action.....thats they only way they will know what is allocated to which sector and to whom the money goes too.....thats why the govt has stated they have no more money to pay the widows and welfare, etc, etc......of course they are not completely out of money.....they just wont be able to do anything with it until they get their arses together, finish the cabinet and vote on the budget.......hopefully for the people it will be taken care of by weeks end!!!

[cbs71]

All the money is in the new budget....they have money....dont get it twisted....its just they cannot release any of it until the new budget is agreed on, passed, and put into action.....thats they only way they will know what is allocated to which sector and to whom the money goes too.....thats why the govt has stated they have no more money to pay the widows and welfare, etc, etc......of course they are not completely out of money.....they just wont be able to do anything with it until they get their arses together, finish the cabinet and vote on the budget.......hopefully for the people it will be taken care of by weeks end!!!

No question! Rate is has been chosen for awhile now if you ask me. The details are already in there just waiting to be released. Now, if they would stop being so daggone hard-headed...