Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2017
Floor Speech
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Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to the Huffman/McClintock amendment.
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Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Chairman, last year, the House voted to remove longstanding language from the fiscal year '16 Department of Defense Appropriations bill that sourced Pennsylvania Anthracite to a public utility in Germany, which provides energy and heat for our troops stationed in the Rhine area and, in particular, in Kaiserslautern.
While seemingly well-intentioned, my colleagues misrepresented the overall costs associated with this provision, and they painted this as the poster child for government waste.
Taking their concern into account, the Appropriations Committee drafted language for fiscal year 2017 that does not prescribe the energy type or where it is to be sourced from, with the exception that the energy be domestically produced here in the United States.
Mr. Chairman, nearly 56,000 American defense personnel and family members reside in the Kaiserslautern military community. There are more overseas U.S. defense installations and personnel in Germany than in any other nation. Their well-being is of the utmost importance.
Unfortunately, the amendment to strike section 8127 will place the energy needs of our military installations and, by the way, all the dependents, those family members, clearly in the hands of Russia.
And I am not the only one sounding this alarm. In February, Commander of the U.S. Forces in Europe, General Philip Breedlove, testified before the House Armed Services Committee that, and I quote: ``European continued dependence on Russian energy, specifically former Soviet and Eastern Bloc states, only serves to bolster Russia's ability to coerce those nations to achieve political gains.''
Former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO provided testimony before the Armed Services Committee that: ``Mr. Putin's strategy does not rely on military power alone. He seeks to maintain European dependence on Russian gas and continues to use that dependence as a weapon; he deftly applies a `divide and conquer' strategy to undermine Europe's cohesion.''
Mr. Chairman, Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia, Dr. Evelyn Farkas testified that ``the Defense Department should no longer do any business with Russia.'' She concluded that ``we must work with Germany and other allies to meet Europe's natural gas demand in a way that gives them leverage against Moscow, not the other way around, and benefits U.S. companies and alternative suppliers.''
Those who have environmental concerns need to recognize that even Greenpeace evaluated the facilities at Kaiserslautern in 2013. They set a goal for the reduction of CO
Mr. Chairman, I do agree with my colleagues that we should do everything in our power to increase efficiency, but the cold reality is that if we do not domestically source energy for our troops, it is going to be left in the hands of Russia.
I encourage my colleagues to take into consideration what is at stake and reject the Huffman amendment. Failure to address these concerns could leave our servicemen and -women serving overseas in a new and very literal cold war.
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Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Barletta).
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Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as he may consume to another gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Dent).
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