Doug Ose: “I thank my colleague. It is interesting that the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Pence) was frankly very thorough in his…”

“I thank my colleague. It is interesting that the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Pence) was frankly very thorough in his remarks. One of the things that I continually try to do is bring to focus why this is important for my constituents. Because, frankly, the Oil-for-Food program, paid for by oil revenues from the sale of Iraqi oil, okay, big deal. We needed it. But let me share why I think this is so important. First of all, in addition to the reasons elucidated by the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Pence), the money that was skimmed was supposed to go to the benefit of the Iraqi people for the purpose of purchasing food and medicine. In the absence of that money, somebody else must step in and fill that void. Somebody else must step in and buy the food or buy the medicine that the Iraqi people need. Now, is that the United States? Is that the United Nations? Is that Europe? Whoever it is, they are having to buy something that should have been funded by money that belonged to the people of Iraq by virtue of the sale of oil that had belonged to the people of Iraq. That is a very important point, because if the United States is going to have to fill the gap created by the loss of these funds, then my colleagues and I are going to have to take it out of the Treasury of the United States. And that is important to each and every one of our constituents.”