The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) plan to spend nearly $170 million to try eight defendants, a process they anticipate could take until March 2011. This January 30 budget estimate represents a sizeable increase from the ECCC's initial three-year $56.3 million budget. This new provisional budget foresees an international contribution of $134.3 million and a Cambodian contribution of $35.4 million. Foreign donors, still stung by management and corruption scandals uncovered in 2007 [IJT-75], seem to be balking. No one has publicly committed funds, despite the fact that the Cambodian side of the court will start running out of money in April. The European Commission has called for an independent review to assess whether the ECCC has solved its problems, and the results could be in this month. The United States has yet to commit funds, despite signs late last year that the State Department was warming to the idea. Skepticism is running high in the American Congress, which barred direct funding pending assurances that the court could meet "international standards". "Perhaps the best indication that the [ECCC] may ultimately succeed is if the Cambodian government kicks in more than a token amount," one senior congressional aide wrote in an anonymous email. Khieu Kanharith, the Cambodian government's spokesman, said the government—which has so far contributed $1.5 million in cash and an estimated $5.3 million in kind to the court—is willing to come up with more, he just can't say how much yet. By far the largest cost increases in the revised budget come from increased staffing. However, the new budget does not include an allowance for a UN special adviser to the court, a controversial idea that has been espoused by donors as a way to strengthen the court's troubled international leadership. Nor does it include money for legal assistance to victims.