U.S. Government Accountability Office . The United States has put about $ 48 billion toward reconstruction since the 2003 invasion of Iraq , auditors reported . About $ 23 billion of that was spent on the oil and electricity industries , water systems and security . Iraq spent $ 3.9 billion on those sectors from 2005 through April 2008 , according to the GAO , the investigative arm of Congress . The ongoing fighting there , a shortage of trained staff and weak controls have made it difficult for the Iraqi government to spend its surplus on needed projects , the agency 's report concluded . Levin , a Michigan Democrat , has been an outspoken critic of the slow progress of reconstruction and an advocate of a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq . His criticism Tuesday was echoed by Sen. John Warner , a Virginia Republican who is the former chairman and now a leading member of Levin 's committee . `` Despite Iraq earning billions of dollars in oil revenue in the past five years , U.S. taxpayer money has been the overwhelming source of Iraq reconstruction funds , '' Warner said in a joint statement with Levin .
WASHINGTON -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Iraq is raking in more money from oil exports than it is spending , amassing a projected four-year budget surplus of up to $ 80 billion , U.S. auditors reported Tuesday . Oil accounted for 94 percent of the Iraq 's revenue from 2005 to 2007 , a U.S. report says . Leading members of Congress , noting that Washington is paying for reconstruction in Iraq , expressed outrage at the assessment . One called the findings `` inexcusable . '' `` We should not be paying for Iraqi projects while Iraqi oil revenues continue to pile up in the bank , including outrageous profits from $ 4-a-gallon gas prices in the U.S. , '' said Sen. Carl Levin , the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee . `` We should require that U.S. taxpayers be reimbursed for the cost of large projects . '' Baghdad had a $ 29 billion budget surplus between 2005 to 2007 . With the price of crude roughly doubling in the past year , Iraq 's surplus for 2008 is expected to run between $ 38 billion and $ 50 billion , according to a report from the