Aug. 27 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush will seek more money this year to rebuild Iraq, a spokeswoman said after the top U.S. administrator in Iraq said the job will cost ``several tens of billions'' of dollars in the next year.

Paul Bremer, the U.S. occupation coordinator in Iraq, said Iraq's economic needs are ``almost impossible to exaggerate,'' and include $2 billion for electricity and $16 billion for clean water over four years, the Washington Post reported today, citing an interview with Bremer.

``The president has said that the troops and that the people who are in Iraq responsible for the reconstruction will have everything they need to get the reconstruction done,'' spokeswoman Claire Buchan told reporters in Crawford, Texas, where Bush is spending August at his ranch. The White House will seek supplemental funding for fiscal 2004, which starts Oct. 1, Buchan said, declining to provide a figure.

The Bush administration has refused to publicly project how much the U.S. occupation of Iraq will cost. Critics such as Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the top Democrat on the panel overseeing foreign aid budgets, want details first on how the money will be spent.

``Unless we get a lot more information, it would be irresponsible to appropriate more money,'' Leahy said in a statement yesterday to Bloomberg News.

The administration is asking foreign governments to share the burden with U.S. taxpayers. ``I will continue to challenge other countries to join in this important mission,'' Bush said in a speech in St. Louis yesterday.

Variables

Buchan said the administration has yet to determine how many countries will participate, how much they'll give, and how much revenue will flow from oil. ``When we have an accurate estimate, a responsible estimate, we will go to Congress'' to seek new Iraq aid, she said.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld testified in July that U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan cost almost $5 billion a month. As of June 30, the U.S. government allocated about $2.7 billion for relief and reconstruction work in Iraq, the White House said in a report to Congress.

Almost $2 billion was appropriated by Congress and spent by the Pentagon and U.S. Agency for International Development; the remaining $750 million came from Iraqi assets and was used to pay Iraqi workers and pensioners, the July 14 report said.

Faster Infusion

Bremer told U.S. legislators who visited Iraq last week that he needs an infusion of cash by January to prevent his operation from running out of money, one of the lawmakers, Representative Jim Kolbe, an Arizona Republican, told reporters last week on a conference call.

Bremer had said rebuilding Iraq's infrastructure may cost from $50 billion to $100 billion over the next three years. Kolbe said Bremer scaled back that estimate and is seeking money more quickly.

Iraqi oil revenue won't come close to covering the country's economic needs, Bremer told the Washington Post.

The Congressional Budget Office said yesterday the U.S. government faces a record budget deficit of $480 billion next fiscal year, a shortfall that will increase as Congress pays for the occupation of Iraq and finishes its budget.

Bremer and Bush are wary of revealing specific costs of Iraq's recovery after the CBO's projection, the Post said. Some countries are unwilling to provide money or manpower unless the United Nations is given more authority in Iraq, the Post said, citing Bremer.

Last Updated: August 27, 2003 15:25 EDT