Mike Pence: “I rise tonight to join the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith), and thank him as well as the gentleman from…”

“I rise tonight to join the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith), and thank him as well as the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Shays), for their extraordinary efforts in bringing what is very likely the largest scandal in the history of the United Nations into the public domain. Mr. Speaker, a very limited fan of the Larry King Live program would know that the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Shays) is one of the most eloquent and compelling Members of Congress in the national media, and I, for one, am grateful that the chairman is willing to dedicate so much of his energy to calling the Nation's attention to this issue and wish to commend him for doing that. There seems to me to be an opposite impulse afoot in both the international community as well as here in our Nation's capital. Despite the fact that this multibillion dollar Oil-for-Food program, which operated from 1996 to 2003, resulted in billions of dollars lost in graft and payoffs, there seems to be an impulse among some quarters within our own diplomatic community here in Washington and even around the world to simply move on. Clearly, I would be, as a strong supporter of Operation Iraqi Freedom, I would be the very first to say we ought not to let the mistakes of the past interfere with opportunities for alliances in the future.”