mr. toomey: mr. president, i rise to address an amendment that i have worked on with my colleague, senator corker, from tennessee, an amendment i hope we're going to get a vote on today because i think it is timely. it is important. and it's really a measure that would simply restore to congress a responsibility that the constitution assigns to congress. so what am i talking about? i'm talking about the amendment that we've crafted which would simply require that before a president, this president or any other president can invoke section 232 of our trade law which is the provisions that grant the president special powers when the national security of america is threatened, is at risk, gives him the power to impose tariffs in that situation. and what this amendment would do is it would say when a president maics that determination -- makes that determination, that he wants to impose tariffs because it's essential for the security of our country, that he could do so as long as he has the assent from c

mr. toomey: mr. president, i rise this afternoon to address the national defense authorization bill that is under consideration. we'll be probably wrapping it up this week. first i want to address an amendment that senator corker and i have filed. it is an amendment that is related to the topic at hand, which is our security, because it is an amendment that would restore to congress the authority to have the final word on the deployment of tariffs, taxes on american consumers when purchasing goods that originate overseas, tariffs that are implemented, imposed with the justification that our national security depends upon. these are often referred to as the section 232 tariffs, because that is the section of trade law that authorizes these tariffs. the short version, mr. president, is i think we ought to be having a debate and a vote on whether or not this responsibility that the constitution clearly gives to congress should be restored to congress. it's my view that it should. senator corker and i ha

mr. toomey: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from pennsylvania. mr. toomey: mr. president, i rise to address an amendment that i have worked on with my colleague, senator corker, from tennessee, an amendment i hope we're going to get a vote on today because i think it is timely. it is important. and it's really a measure that would simply restore to congress a responsibility that the constitution assigns to congress. so what am i talking about? i'm talking about the amendment that we've crafted which would simply require that before a president, this president or any other president can invoke section 232 of our trade law which is the provisions that grant the president special powers when the national security of america is threatened, is at risk, gives him the power to impose tariffs in that situation. and what this amendment would do is it would say when a president maics that determination -- makes that determination, that he wants to impose tariffs because it's essential for the security of our country, that he could do so as long as he has the assent from c

mr. toomey: mr. president, i rise to address an amendment that i have worked on with my colleague, senator corker, from tennessee, an amendment i hope we're going to get a vote on today because i think it is timely. it is important.

mr. toomey: mr. preside, i rise this afternoon to address the national defense authorization bill that is under consideration. we'll be probably wrapping it up this week. first i want to address an amendment that senator c and iave filed. it is an amendment that is related to the topic at hand, which is our security, because it is an amendment that would restore to congress the authority to have the final word on the deployment of tariffs, taxes on american consumers when purchasing goods that originate overseas, tariffs that are implemented, imposed with the justification that our national security depends upon. these are often referred to as the section 232 tariffs, because that is the section of trade law that authorizes these tariffs. the short version, mr. president, is i think we ought to be having a debate and a vote on whether or not this responsibility that the constitution clearly gives to congress should be restored to congress. it's my view that should. senator corker and i have sought a

mr. toomey are blocking right now saying we should curtail the president's ability to invoke national securityllies allies likend -- canada. sen. portman: i expressed that concern as i have in other settings. my concern is it is a national security tool and ought to be used rarely and appropriately for that purpose and this case of using 232 is not appropriate. with regard to steal, it is a national security concern, but you need to target it as to product and company and if it is not targeted, it is the misuse of 2. mainll either use 232 appropriately and there will be a case against us in the world trade organization and we may lose that and lose the ability to use 232. article 21 of the wto allows you to use it, but only on narrow national security issues. the second thing that could happen is countries will say we will do the same thing and raise tariffs on u.s. products not for national security concerns, but because you can do it without having to prove there is dumping or selling below cost or subsidization. or that there is a surge or material injury, these are all things that have to

mr. toomey: i thank my colleague from tennessee. i'll put aside how stunned i was to hear that my colleague from ohio suggests that maybe we want to emulate the communist managed economy of china as a good model for economic development. i -- that's just breathtaking to me. but i really want to stress the point that the senator from tennessee made, and that is the fact that this amendment has nothing to do china. we can go on all day about how outrageous some chinese behavior is in the trade space, and it's true. there is some really bad behavior. by the way, we need to address that. we would be able to address the theft of intellectual property if our allies were working with us to address that outrageous behavior, but it's hard to get your allies to work with you when you are hitting them with tariffs and the excuse is national security. let me just put a little bit of scale to this. our colleague suggested how important it is that these industries survive. i completely agree. domestic producers produce 75% of all the steel we con

mr. chairman. >> senator toomey. >> thank you, mr. chairman. ms. brant, welcome. you know, we all know medicare is the largest purchaser of prescription opioids in the country. i'm a little shocked to learn that in a typical year, 2016 anyway, one at out of three beneficiaries received an opioid prescription. not a doctor, not an expert on this, but it is counterintuitive to me that one out of three people needs to be given a drug that is so powerful and so dangerous, but that's the case. it's further even more surprising that medicare actually pays more on a per patient basis for opioids than either commercial insurance or medicaid. so over $4 billion on opioids alone in 2016. so i really, really wonder about the total consumption levels. i know that medicare and medicaid have overutilization monitoring systems. i know there's been some progress with respect to the people being tracked, but i am concerned that the overutilization monitoring systems are, in fact, monitoring a tiny percentage of the people that maybe should be monitored. i say that because in novem

toomey. >> thank you mr. chairman. i can't help but observe there more than a handful of senate delegations from various states including ohio which consists exclusively of middle-aged white males and the voters of those states are all part of the good old boys network. let me raise a question about a decision i'm sure you are aware of come the second circuit court of appeals ruled that non-bank when they purchase loans and debts that originated by a national bank will no longer be entitled to a federal preemption from the state usury laws. this is a big departure from the practice and the president that has prevailed under the principle. even the obama administration argued that decision was wrongly decided and the result of that of course is uncertainty on the part of a potential buyer of a bank uncertainty as to whether or not the usury laws will apply a dramatic reduction in credit axis to low-income people has already occurred quite predictably. if banks can be confident they can sell these loans they just are goi

mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator toomey. it was the committee's intention to nominate four members. but we'll have to move these to the floor later today. i understand the ranking member would like to make a brief statement about the nominees, and i recognize senator wyden. >> thank you very much, senator, and i agree with the decision to vote on these nominees off the floor later. we are going to be putting on four nominations as chairman isakson noted. they're up for positions on the tax court. obviously key positions with respect to fairness for taxpayers. mr. chairman, i note that our friends senator scott has come. i believe he probably wants to ask questions of mr. rettig. why don't i hold off making my comments about the nominees. then we can let senator scott go before we go to another matter. >> senator scott, you're recognized. >> well, thank you both very much. mr. rettig, the department of treasury and the irs formally certified nominations from the state, the district of columbia, and all positions of the united states to designate opportunity zones in their areas of ju

mr. mcconnell: i send a cloture motion to the desk for the toomey amendment number 2700. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senator from kentucky mr. mcconnell, cloture motion, wegn senors in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the sene do hereby move to bring to a close debate on senate amendment number 2700 to amendment 2282 as modified to h.r. 5515, an act to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2019 m fitary activities of the department of defense, for military construction and for defense activities of the department of energy to prescribe militarysonnel strengths for such fiscal year and other purposes signed by 17 senators. mr. mcconnell: i ask consent the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i send a cloture motion forhee amendment number 2282 as modified. the presiding officer: the clerk will report clerk we the undersigned senators in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate do hereby move to bring to a close debate on

mr. toomey: mr. president, i rise this afternoon to address the national defense authorization bill that is under consideration. we'll be probably wrapping it up this week. first i want to address an amendment that senator corker and i have filed. it is an amendment that is related to the topic at hand, which is our security, because it is an amendment that would restore to congress the authority to have the final word on the deployment of tariffs, taxes on

mr. toomey: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from pennsylvania. mr. toomey: i ask the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. toomey: i ask unanimous consent to address the body for one minute. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. toomey: thank you, madam president. i simply want to make the case that this amendment we're about to vote on is a simple question of whether we think that we ought to be accountable, that we ought to take responsibility for the legislative authority that we delegate. rule making is a legislative function, and in this bill, the cfius reform bill that is in the ndaa, as in many other occasions, we delegate a portion of that authority, we delegate that rule making to the executive branch, which is fine. but we have got a responsibility to make sure that they get it right. this administration and future administrations. and so this amendment has a simple mechanism that requires a simple up-or-down vote. it can't be filibustered, it can't be delayed. it's a simple majority vote to affirm th

mr. toomey: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from pennsylvania. mr. toomey: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. toomey: thank you, mr. president. i am looking forward to proceeding to the national defense authorization bill. soon, earlier today, i requested to a consent request to get on the bill because i wanted an opportunity to offer an amendment i had based on the efforts of our chairman and his confidence that i will be able to offer this amendment, i'm prepared to agree to allow us to get on the bill and i look forward to doing that. i want to address two amendments that i am hopeful will be included, mine and one other. one of them has to do with the tariffs on -- especially on steel and aluminum that come under section 323 of our trade laws and another is an amendment that i intend to offer with respect to the cfius reform. let me start with the section 232 tariffs. this is a section of trade law that allows the president to restrict imported goods that threaten our national se

mr. toomey: it was recently reported out of the kpwafrpbging committee, cfius reform legislation. i want to continue to work with the chairman and the ranking member and the leader to ensure that i'll have an opportunity to offer this amendment. that's all i'm looking for, is to have a vote on my germane amendment. when we can work that out, i'll be happy to grant my consent, but in the meantime i object. the presiding officer: objection is heard. mr. mcconnell: mr. president, i send a cloture motion on the motion to proceed. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the cloture motion. the clerk: cloture motion, we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the motion to proceed to calendar number 442, h.r. 5515, an act to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2019, for military activities of the department of defense, and so forth and for other purposes, signed by 17 senators. mr. mcconnell: i ask reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without obje

mr. toomey: madam president, i appreciate the majority leader teeing up my comments today and introducing what i'm going to be speaking about, which is a topic he addressed briefly, and that is the six-month period of time since we passed tax reform. this week six months ago that we had an historic vote, the biggest tax reform in over 30 years, and we're beginning to get some data that is really worth discussing and analyzing. i would strongly disagree with the characterization of the minority leader. i was home in pennsylvania recently traveling around the state, as we all do when we're not in this town, and on one recentccasion i was talking to small business owners in bloomsberg, pennsylvania, and one of the companies is a small business and the owner was there and he was really enthusiastic about how this tax reform is helping his small business. and i mentioned him, it's actually a very typical story that i'm hearing across pennsylvania, but i mentioned him because, as it happens, his company is in the carpet business and they happen to make the very carpet that i'm standing on now.

mr. mcconnell: i call up amendment number 2700 on behalf of senator toomey. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from kentucky mr. mcconnell for mr. t numbered 2700 to amendment number 23282. -- to amendment 2282. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the reading of the amendment be waived. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. reed: mr. president, i call up amendment 2756 to amendment number 2700. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the cletor from rhode island mr. reed, proposes an amendment number 2756 to amendment 2700. rdrd i ask consent the reading -- mr. reed: i ask consent the reading ed of amendment be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from utah. a senator: i call up amendment 2366. mr. president, i ask unanimous consent further reading of the bill be dispensed with. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection.