Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, it is great to be here tonight to talk about something that we have talked about quite a bit. I am glad to see the gentleman has, obviously, the LNG terminal and the Lithuanian- flagged Independence. I also brought it down. I don't have to be as complete in my comments, because I have heard the comments of easing and helping Europeans be independent of imported Russian natural gas. Lithuania is on the Baltic Sea. I am the chairman of the Baltic Caucus. We have Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia. I have spent a lot of time watching them and encouraging them in their actual leadership of Eastern Europe. They set out in 2014 to become independent of Russian gas. So they went through the process of getting the LNG terminal. I love the name. It is called the Independence so they can be independent and free. They have a history of being extorted by the Russians in the crude oil department. There is a refinery there called Mazeikiu Nafta, which a U.S. company bought and then the Russians turned off the oil. So those are the extortions and the concerns. Now what they have is the ability to compete in the open market. They had their first LNG gas come from the United States earlier in 2017. They now have an ability to negotiate for the best price, which helps a lot. First of all, it helps their citizens. It helps, obviously, their businesses. It also helps the allies in surrounding countries.…”