[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 41 (Wednesday, March 12, 2014)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E361-E362]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    CONDEMNING VIOLATION OF UKRAINIAN SOVEREIGNTY, INDEPENDENCE AND 
                         TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                             HON. RUSH HOLT

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, March 11, 2014

  Mr. HOLT. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this resolution.
  Just today, a CNN camera crew reported evidence that Russian troops 
are literally digging in on the Crimean peninsula, including the 
installation of minefields along the new, illegal border they have 
created with the Ukraine. The world community cannot stand idly by in 
the face of this unprovoked Russian aggression against another 
sovereign member of the United Nations. The House, by passing this 
resolution, will be taking an important step towards that end.
  There are several provisions in this resolution calling on the new 
Ukrainian government to implement measures to end political corruption, 
respect the human rights and civil liberties of ethnic minorities in 
the Ukraine, and so on. These and other reforms are essential for 
Ukraine to truly consolidate its revolution and ensure a transition to 
a truly open, democratic society.
  But the people of the Ukraine will find it difficult to maintain 
their freedom and independence if their largest neighbor continues its 
illegal occupation of the Crimea, threatens additional areas of eastern 
Ukraine with invasion, and takes steps--overt and covert--to undermine 
the new Ukrainian government. The resolution before the House today 
calls upon the Obama administration to boycott the upcoming G8 summit 
and work with our partners to expel Russia from the G8. Given that the 
Russian government refuses to recognize Ukraine's new government and is 
proceeding with a sham ``referendum'' on Crimea's future, I believe the 
Administration must take the steps called for in this resolution. I 
also call upon the Administration to keep the Congress fully and 
currently informed on any indications that further Russian aggression 
may be attempted elsewhere in the Ukraine.
  There is one amendment to this resolution that the committee adopted 
that concerns me, and it involves a call to increase U.S. natural gas 
exports. Simply, the U.S. does not currently possess the ability to 
export LNG to

[[Page E362]]

Ukraine or other European allies, and export facilities currently under 
construction will not be operational until late 2015, at the earliest. 
It is opportunistic and frankly not based in fact, to have natural gas 
companies and their allies in Congress using this crisis as a catalyst 
for increased LNG exports.
  Further, the U.S. does not have a state run energy conglomerate like 
Russia, and we cannot simply turn our energy exports up or down 
following a single executive decree. LNG export terminals cost billions 
and the companies making these investments will not proceed with their 
construction unless they have already secured LNG supply contracts, 
typically with Asian countries, like Japan, China, and India, where 
high natural gas prices will result in the greatest profits. If our 
concern is ensuring Ukraine has reliable energy sources, we should be 
talking to our European partners about how best to accomplish that 
goal.
  Again, I encourage my colleagues to join me in supporting this 
legislation.

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