mr. toomey: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from pennsylvania is recognized. mr. toomey: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: wort. mr. toomey: thank you, mr. president. i rise this morning to address legislation that's under consideration, the extension of what is known as the t.a.g. program, the acronym stands to be the transaction account guarantee. i want to discuss in a little bit and the reasons for my opposition to the extension of this program. first, a little bit of history about this. many people are familiar with the fdic insurance program. it is a longstanding program that provides a limited guarantee on bank die posits. actually, for a very long period of time, for i think it was over 25 years starting in 19 0erb8gs the limit on the dollar amount -- starting in 1980, the limit on the dollar amount that would get this fdic guarantee wrasse -- was $100,000. that was raised to $250,000 during the financial crisis o

mr. toomey: i'd like to make a couple of observations and explain why i'm going to object to this. first, for the record to be clear, it's my understanding that this measure, and the gentleman from illinois, there is no question he's put a great deal of work into this. all of his motives are absolutely commendable and legitimate motives. the measure itself, i believe, has not been through a markup in the banking committee. and there are many members who have serious concerns about this particular bill for which the unanimous consent request is being made. but more broadly about the ex-im bank. in fact, i would argue this bill and this unanimous consent request puts a light on one of the concerns that many of us have with the ex-im bank in the first place. so let's remember what the ex-im bank s. this is a taxpayer subsidy for large corporations. i'm a big fan of trade. i'm a big fan of exports. i am not a fan of taxpayers having to subsidize the activity. and some of us, myself very much included, believe it ought to be a very high priority of this and any other administration to w

mr. toomey: thank you, mr. president. i'd like to thank my colleague, the senior senator from pennsylvania for organizing this brief tribute that is so much deserved by the men and women that we're acknowledging today. i want to begin my bye extending my deepest condolences to the families, to the friends, loved ones of these pennsylvania heroes that we're going to acknowledge this evening. in the lives that our service members led and the cause for which they died, these folks represent all that's great about america. many enlisted right after graduating from high school, and during those really tough and grueling days and weeks in basic training they probably never heard of places like anbar province in iraq, the tangi valley of afghanistan or other areas in those nations where they fought and ended up dying for our country. these pennsylvanians join a long line of soldiers and sailors and airmen and coast guard members who have given the supreme sacrifice to their country, a line that extends well back, and in the latt

mr. chairman. >> i will note this senator menendez will chair a subcommittee field hearing in new jersey next monday december december 10 on super storm sandy. senator toomey. >> thank you mr. chairman and thank you mr. secretary for joining us. i would like to understand better and aspects of the actuarial review. the question arises from the interest-rate assumptions and the interest-rate interest rate environment that is used to determine the prevailing view about the value of the mutual mortgage insurance fund and the family fund. more specifically, you observe on page eight of your testimony the fact the worst shape the fund is to simplify that and you walk through the mechanisms by which a lower interest rates while good for the economy overall tend to have an adverse impact on the value of the fund. my understanding is that the actuarial review contemplates glowegee straight environment. and in the low interest-rate environment, the value of the fund is negative $31 billion. aren't we in a low incher straight environment today, and partly by virtue of what the fed has said, which is to say maintaining current policy at least through mid-2015, so thr

mr. palmer, this is your day. thank you. [applause] >> ladies and gentleman, united states senator from the state of pennsylvania, the honorable patrick toomeyd morning and welcome to our guest of honor. we all know that's arnold palmer is a man of exceptional talent and success. one of the greatest golfers of all time. he even has his own soft drink named after him. it is hard to do better than that. he is also renowned for his generosity and kindness and his commitment to his community. born in latrobe, pa., he continues to call it home. he is famous for saying that your home town is not where you are from. it is who you are. this is not just something he has said. is a principle he has lived by. some many local institutions have benefited enormously from his generosity. the arnold palmer regional airport. a cancer survivor himself, he is actively involved in supporting medical institutions. there are many. the arnold palmer hospital for children, the winnie palmer hospital for women and babies and others. all the contributions he has made it were the product of a dogged work ethic and stubborn determination. he has the same on the wall of

mr. speaker. i again simply want to thank on the senate side, senator toomey and of course here my colleagues on the homeland security led by peter king and ranking member thompson and certainly chairman bilirakis and my dear friend, ranking member jackson lee, for all their support for this commonsense legislation, to assist america's homeless veterans. and with that i urge the adoption of the senate amendment to h.r. 6328 so this measure can be sent to the president for his signature and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back the balance of her time. the gentleman from florida is recognized. mr. bilirakis: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i urge members to support this commonsense piece of legislation and if the president promptly signs it into law, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida yields back the balance of his time. the question is will the house suspend the rules and concur in the senate amendment to h.r. 6328. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the

mr. palmer, this is your day. thank you. [applause] >> ladies and gentleman, united states senator from the state of pennsylvania, the honorable patrick toomeyg and welcome to our guest of honor. we all know that's arnold palmer is a man of exceptional talent and success. one of the greatest golfers of all time. he even has his own soft drink named after him. it is hard to do better than that. he is also renowned for his generosity and kindness and his commitment to his community. born in latrobe, pa., he continues to call it home. he is famous for saying that your home town is not where you are from. it is who you are. this is not just something he has said. is a principle he has lived by. some many local institutions have benefited enormously from his generosity. the arnold palmer regional airport. a cancer survivor himself, he is actively involved in supporting medical institutions. there are many. the arnold palmer hospital for children, the winnie palmer hospital for women and babies and others. all the contributions he has made it were the product of a dogged work ethic and stubborn determination. he has the same on the wall of his off

mr. president, i call up a list of 11 amendments which have been cleared by myself and senator mccain, kyl amendment 2927 as modified, akaka amendment number 3019, toomey amendment number 3062, broin of ohio amendment number 3133, as modified by changes at the desk, rubio amendment number 3175, as modified by changes at the desk, carper amendment number 3241, carper amendment number 3242, toomey amendment number 3277, as modified by changes at the desk, and the moran are amendment number 3285, as modified by changes at the desk, bennet amendment number 3226 as modified by changes at the desk, the hatch amendment number 3117, as modified by changes di at the desk. mr. mccain: these amendments are all cleared on this side. mr. levin: now i ask unanimous consent also that the senate consider these amendments en bloc, amendments be agreed to and the motion to reconsider be laid upon table. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, so ordered. mr. levin: thank the presiding officer. and i thank all of our colleagues who have cooperated to get us to this point. we will be propounding a unanimous consent agreement, i believe -- i note the

mr. toomey: i have a different plea for my colleagues and that is to sustain this point of order, acknowledgingre mitigation would in fact be spent for future mitigation. the question before us is when we're running $1 trillion deficits, must we really add another $60 billion on top of that deficit? so what i've done is i've looked at this bill and there's many parts that are not directly in aid of any of the victims of sandy. look, my state was hit by that storm, not nearly as bad as new york, new jersey and connecticut and some others, but there are real victims of this storm. there are genuine needs and we need to fund those needs. and i'm in favor of making sure we do fund the needs that we have. but we've got a category of spending that is going out for construction for years to come to mitigate against dangers of future storms in future years and future decades. that might be very wise. that might be a very appropriate spending. but it's not an emergency. this is not sandbags around someone's house who is in danger of a storm. and that kind of infrastructure spending is the kind of spendi

mr. casey: i want to thank senator toomey for reading the first half of our names. i'll continue with 20 more names. sergeant derrick lee shanfield, united states marine corps, hastings, pennsylvania. sergeant first class robert james fike, united states army. sergeant first class brian allen hoover, united states army, west elizabeth. sergeant joseph davis caskey, united states marine corps, pittsburgh. lance corporal joshua thomas twigg, united states marine corps, be indiana. corporal joshua alexander hartin, united states army, bethlehem. lance corporal ralph john fabree, united states marine corps. staff sergeant david g. weigel, united states army, philadelphia, pennsylvania. corporal eric michael torbit, jr., united states marine corps, lancaster. corporal gerald lee king, united states army, eerie. sergeant robert curtis sisson jr., united states army, alaquippa. sergeant first class john frances kim, united states army, philadelphia. first sergeant kenneth brian ellwell, united states army erie. sergeant edward william kohler iii, united states army lebanon