1863 Gettysburg Campaign Act

Mr. President, today, I have sought recognition to offer legislation supporting the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg. This legislation will serve to commemorate three historic events in our country: the 1863 Invasion of Pennsylvania, the decisive Battle of Gettysburg, and President Lincoln's famous Gettysburg Address.

On November 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln chose Gettysburg for his most famous address because the battle was the turning point of the Civil War. The safety and security of Pennsylvania's capital, railroads, industries, and citizens were at stake. The resulting Battle of Gettysburg was the largest and costliest of the Civil War and of the country to date with 51,000 Union and Confederate casualties. Soldiers from the U.S. Regular Army and volunteer units from Pennsylvania, Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Ohio, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin served during this campaign and battle. Their sacrifices should not be forgotten.

This legislation will authorize the Secretary of the Treasury to mint and issue commemorative Gettysburg coins in three denominations: $5 gold, $1 silver, and half-dollar silver. These coins will only be distributed during the calendar year of 2013, the 150th anniversary of Gettysburg, and will have surcharges of $35, $10, and $5 respectively. The revenue generated from these surcharges will be divided between the Gettysburg Foundation and the Army Heritage Center Foundation to help finance their respective nonprofit programs dedicated to supporting the hundreds of thousands of visitors who walk the Gettysburg grounds each year and to preserve the memory of those who served and the history that they made.

These two foundations are nongovernmental, member-based, and publicly supported nonprofit organizations that are dependent on funds from members, donations, and grants for support. The foundations use such support to help create and sustain the Gettysburg National Military Park and the Army Heritage and Education Center. The Gettysburg Foundation is recognized as the official partner of Gettysburg National Military Park and the Army Heritage Center Foundation is recognized by the Secretary of the Army as the lead agency supporting the development of the Army Heritage and Education Center.

The Gettysburg Act will greatly benefit our nation by preserving this historic battle ground for countless visitors from across the nation and from around the world. It will help fund battlefield preservation and rehabilitation

projects at Gettysburg National Military Park by restoring approximately 27 acres of battlefield to its 1863 appearance. This act will help preserve the hallowedness of the ground by relocating 12 monuments to their original locations, where the veterans themselves placed these monuments several generations ago. Visitors to Gettysburg will benefit from increased educational programming at both the Army Heritage and Education Center and the Gettysburg Battle Visitor Center as the act helps facilitate the continued expansion of the Army Heritage and Education Center and construction of the Army Heritage Museum, both of which are dedicated ``to telling the Army story . . . one Soldier at a time.''

The importance of the 1863 Campaign in Pennsylvania, the Battle of Gettysburg, and Lincoln's address stretch well beyond the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and stand as an enduring reminder of how our nation was reborn out of the Civil War as a stronger Union more dedicated to its ideals of freedom and liberty. I urge each of my colleagues to join Senator Casey and myself in supporting this legislation.

Mr. President, today, I have sought recognition to offer legislation supporting the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg. This legislation will serve to commemorate three historic events in our country: the 1863 Invasion of Pennsylvania, the decisive Battle of Gettysburg, and President Lincoln's famous Gettysburg Address.

On November 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln chose Gettysburg for his most famous address because the battle was the turning point of the Civil War. The safety and security of Pennsylvania's capital, railroads, industries, and citizens were at stake. The resulting Battle of Gettysburg was the largest and costliest of the Civil War and of the country to date with 51,000 Union and Confederate casualties. Soldiers from the U.S. Regular Army and volunteer units from Pennsylvania, Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Ohio, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin served during this campaign and battle. Their sacrifices should not be forgotten.

This legislation will authorize the Secretary of the Treasury to mint and issue commemorative Gettysburg coins in three denominations: $5 gold, $1 silver, and half-dollar silver. These coins will only be distributed during the calendar year of 2013, the 150th anniversary of Gettysburg, and will have surcharges of $35, $10, and $5 respectively. The revenue generated from these surcharges will be divided between the Gettysburg Foundation and the Army Heritage Center Foundation to help finance their respective nonprofit programs dedicated to supporting the hundreds of thousands of visitors who walk the Gettysburg grounds each year and to preserve the memory of those who served and the history that they made.

These two foundations are nongovernmental, member-based, and publicly supported nonprofit organizations that are dependent on funds from members, donations, and grants for support. The foundations use such support to help create and sustain the Gettysburg National Military Park and the Army Heritage and Education Center. The Gettysburg Foundation is recognized as the official partner of Gettysburg National Military Park and the Army Heritage Center Foundation is recognized by the Secretary of the Army as the lead agency supporting the development of the Army Heritage and Education Center.

The Gettysburg Act will greatly benefit our nation by preserving this historic battle ground for countless visitors from across the nation and from around the world. It will help fund battlefield preservation and rehabilitation

projects at Gettysburg National Military Park by restoring approximately 27 acres of battlefield to its 1863 appearance. This act will help preserve the hallowedness of the ground by relocating 12 monuments to their original locations, where the veterans themselves placed these monuments several generations ago. Visitors to Gettysburg will benefit from increased educational programming at both the Army Heritage and Education Center and the Gettysburg Battle Visitor Center as the act helps facilitate the continued expansion of the Army Heritage and Education Center and construction of the Army Heritage Museum, both of which are dedicated ``to telling the Army story . . . one Soldier at a time.''

The importance of the 1863 Campaign in Pennsylvania, the Battle of Gettysburg, and Lincoln's address stretch well beyond the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and stand as an enduring reminder of how our nation was reborn out of the Civil War as a stronger Union more dedicated to its ideals of freedom and liberty. I urge each of my colleagues to join Senator Casey and myself in supporting this legislation.

Mr. President, in the years leading up to the financial crisis, risky and reckless bonus-laden pay packages ruled at Wall Street banks.

After crashing our economy, these too-big-to-fail banks needed the Bush administration and the American taxpayer to bail them out.

The Temporary Asset Relief Program, TARP, pumped billions and billions of taxpayer dollars into the financial system to stabilize our economy and prevent another Great Depression.

The Obama administration continued the TARP program while also taking necessary and swift action passing the Recovery Act.

But unemployment remains high even as our economy begins to recover, and Wall Street is back to its old ways.

Insurance giant AIG got $182.3 billion in bailout money. Last Wednesday, AIG paid $100 million more in bonuses to its employees.

Goldman Sachs got $10 billion directly from TARP and another $12.9 billion in taxpayer aid through the AIG bailout. Goldman will pay its employees bonuses worth $16 billion.

The average banker at Bank of America got a $400,000 bonus one year after the bank took $45 billion from TARP. The average worker in Ohio makes just over $41,000 a year.

The Federal Reserve has taken extraordinary steps and made trillions of dollars available in low-interest loans to American banks. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are just about the only buyers today for mortgages in the secondary market.

Big banks received hundreds of billions of dollars from U.S. taxpayers in half a dozen ways to stabilize their finances and increase financing to businesses and consumers.

Our economy is reliant on small businesses, which account for more than 65 percent of jobs created in our Nation.

But despite the banks' rapid recovery, their small business lending continues to decrease, month after month.

In November 2009, the U.S. Treasury Department reported that the 22 largest financial institutions receiving taxpayer assistance reduced lending by $10.5 billion over the previous six months.

These same banks reduced small business loans by another $1 billion according to a report released in December 2009.

I have heard from too many small business owners--from Youngstown to Mansfield, from Athens to Elyria--that they simply can't access the credit they need to hire workers or expand business.

For 10 years wealthy bankers were partying like it was 1999. When the economy came crashing down the middle class was forced to sacrifice their money and their children's money to save the banks and unfreeze credit. They are still waiting for Wall Street to live up to their end of the bargain.

That is why today I introduced The Wall Street Bonus Tax Act, which would use Wall Street's excess to fund small businesses.

The Wall Street Bonus Tax Act imposes a 50 percent excise tax for 2010 on bonuses awarded at financial institutions that received TARP assistance.

The revenue generated by the tax would go to the Small Business Administration to implement a direct small business lending program to help small businesses in towns like Bucyrus and Dublin.

Wall Street's lavish bonuses were made possible by the taxpayers' money--money that was supposed to be lent to businesses.

Instead of patting themselves on the back, the banks should be making loans that help the middle class recover.

This bill is a critical step in that direction.