Source: United States Senator for Connecticut – Chris Murphy
July 21, 2021
WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on Wednesday released the following statement on the United States-German Nord Stream 2 agreement:
“The Nord Stream 2 pipeline is bad for Europe, Ukraine and the U.S., but the deal reached today is good news under the circumstances,” said Murphy. “The pipeline was going to be built regardless of the United States’s objection, and President Biden saw that reaching an agreement was better than sitting on the sidelines. Because of this, Biden was able to help Kyiv take steps toward integration with the broader European power grid and got a commitment from the Germans to take actions against Russia, including sanctions, if it uses the pipeline to hurt Ukraine. I look forward to learning more about the details of this agreement, but frankly I’m glad we have a president that deals with reality rather than hawkish fantasy and always makes calculations that always put the United States and our interests first.”
Last Congress, Murphy’s introduced the European Energy Security and Diversification Act of 2019 which was included in the FY2020 omnibus. The legislation specifically:
· Authorizes approximately $1 billion in financing from FY20-FY23 through the Development Finance Corporation to catalyze public and private sector investment in strategically important energy projects in European and Eurasian countries. This is a new tool to counter Russia’s predatory energy policies and promote the energy security of U.S. allies and partners;
· Increases funding for the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) by $31.5 million for FY20 to help connect American companies to business opportunities and provide feasibility studies, reverse trade missions, pilot projects, and technical workshops to support projects in the earlier stages of development; and
· Encourages the State Department to ramp up its political and diplomatic support to eligible countries such as by facilitating negotiations for cross-border energy infrastructure and assisting eligible countries improve their energy markets and regulatory environments.
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