[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 127 (Thursday, July 27, 2017)]
[House]
[Page H6512]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         RUSSIAN ENERGY THREATS

  (Mr. BACON asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. BACON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to call attention to the growing 
threat to our overseas military facilities posed by the Russian 
Federation.
  Today, one of the serious risks to our bases in Europe is Russia's 
corner on oil and natural gas. One such facility is the Army's new 
medical complex in Germany, planned to be located near Ramstein Air 
Base, where I was the installation commander.
  It would be financially irresponsible and strategically reckless to 
spend $1 billion for a state-of-the-art hospital, only to have the 
design of the new facility compromise the very reason it exists by 
relying on Russia as its primary source of fuel. There are local mixed-
fuel energy supply options readily available, and it would be 
inexcusable not to make them part of the design of this project. This 
is good strategy, good economics, and just plain common sense.
  We can't allow ourselves to be put in a situation where Russia has 
the ability to cut off energy to our forward bases, especially when we 
could have averted this tragic vulnerability ahead of time.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues in the House and Senate to join me 
in exercising aggressive oversight of this threat to our national 
security.

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