The U.S. Government Accountability Office says higher oil prices could earn Iraq up to $79 billion this year. That is twice its average annual oil revenue" class="hjdict" word="revenue" target=_blank>revenue from 2005 to 2007.
　
Higher oil earnings could give the government in Baghdad a budgetsurplus of up to $50 billion - a windfall that has been noticed by senior senators in both U.S. political parties.
　
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Michigan Democrat Carl Levin and the committee's ranking Republican Virginia Senator John Warner say Iraq should use some of that money to repay American taxpayers who have already spent approximately" class="hjdict" word="approximately" target=_blank>approximately $48 billionstabilizing and rebuilding Iraq.
　
The GAO report says Iraq's central ministries last year spent just 11 percent of their capital investment budget - less than $900 million.

Since the 2003 invasion" class="hjdict" word="invasion" target=_blank>invasion, the report says the United States has spent more than $23 billion restoring Iraqi security, oil, electricity and water. From 2005 to April of this year, Iraq's government has spent less than $4 billion on similar services.
　
Levin says it is inexcusable that U.S. taxpayers are continuing to pay for projects that Iraqis are fully capable of funding themselves.