Mr. Speaker, I strongly oppose this bill that uses dangerous procedure to advance dangerous policy to erode our important firearms background check system and undermine public safety.

   In response to the tragic mass shooting at Virginia Tech, the National Instant Criminal Background Check System Improvement Amendment Act was passed by Congress unanimously and signed into law by President Bush because everyone agreed that we need federal and State agencies to submit relevant information to maintain an accurate, effective system.

   This bill directly undermines public safety by permanently blocking a federal agency from submitting records to this critical safeguard system.

   I know the high cost of gun violence on families and communities. I know that policy makers have an obligation to address public safety carefully and responsibly. Reasonable people can disagree about whether the rule by the Social Security Administration struck the right balance between the threshold and process reporting to the background system. While opponents have raised some concerns about whether there is sufficient due process in this rule, the solution is not to block the rule entirely. Rather, the solution is to fix it.

   Therefore, I oppose this CRA because it would permanently prohibit the Social Security Administration from ever reporting individuals to this critical safety system, which is an extreme, dangerous, irresponsible, and irreversible action that threatens the safety of our communities.