Coleman: rescind Iraqi reconstruction money

Washington D.C. — (AP) - U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman says he'll push to rescind $1 billion in U.S. funding for Iraqi reconstruction -- responding to a report that Iraq could finish the year with as much as a $79 billion cumulative budget surplus.

Coleman, R-Minn., says he'll introduce legislation to rescind $1 billion that Congress had appropriated in an emergency supplemental war bill.

He says that Iraq has the money to pay for its own reconstruction, adding, "the United States should not be an ATM for the Iraqi government."

This week, the U.S. General Accounting Office predicted Iraq could finish the year with the surplus due to the influx of oil revenues.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)