PORTLAND (AP) – U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg said Thursday that taxpayers are being bilked by contractors profiting from the war in Iraq.

The New Jersey Democrat was in Portland to endorse U.S. Rep. Tom Allen’s candidacy for the Senate. Democrat Allen, who’s in his sixth House term, faces incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins and two independents in the closely watched race.

“We need a working majority in the Senate so we can end the war in Iraq, hold contractors accountable, provide universal health care and protect the middle class,” Lautenberg said. “And Tom Allen will help us lead the way to getting those things done.”

Lautenberg has been an outspoken critic of companies he said have made billions of dollars in profits for services the troops in Iraq did not receive. He has called for hearings into contracts awarded to Houston-based Halliburton into the contracts for work in Iraq.