Political Quotes

“Congress in recent years has attempted to exercise responsible oversight over negotiations between the U.S. military and foreign governments, primarily Germany, on how much compensation our government will receive for the residual value of improvements we made to military bases we are closing and returning to those governments. In some cases, there are very valuable facilities we built on those bases, paid for by U.S. taxpayers, that still have some reuse value to the governments to which they are being returned. For each facility, the Defense Department has determined the remaining value of those improvements, and negotiations ensue with the host government over how much compensation we will actually receive. The vast majority of these facilities are in Germany, which was the front line of efforts to deter Soviet expansion during the cold war. To show the Germans that we were serious about being fairly compensated for the improvements we made at military facilities on their soil, and to give our own negotiators maximum leverage, Congress has passed a series of measures over the last few years.”