Sunshine for Regulatory Decrees and Settlements Act of 2015

Floor Speech

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Ms. KELLY of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I have a motion to recommit at the desk.

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Ms. KELLY of Illinois. I am opposed to the bill in its current form.

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Ms. KELLY of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, this is the final amendment to the bill, which will not kill the bill or send it back to committee. If adopted, the bill will immediately proceed to final passage, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, my amendment is a simple, straightforward, commonsense improvement that I believe both sides of the aisle can agree would help protect American children from the threat of violence.

If my amendment passes, it would ensure that men and women that we represent and their children will have the peace of mind of knowing that this Congress can cast aside partisan differences to vote to protect families and communities from senseless gun violence.

That is because my amendment would exempt this bill to any regulation that would protect Americans, particularly young children, from gun violence in school zones and other sensitive areas.

If an agency proposes a solution that would improve the health, safety, and well-being of Americans, especially children, by limiting gun violence, it is simply unconscionable to throw obstacles in the way to stymie that solution.

I don't see how this Congress, whose Members were entrusted by families in our home districts to defend their right to life, liberty, and happiness, can argue that we did all we could to defend these rights, yet vote against responsible proposals that aim to protect life and preserve liberty and promote happiness.

How can we in good conscience allow this body to pass this bill as is? How can we allow good community safety solutions to get bogged down when we can amend this bill to keep gun violence from ringing out in our classrooms and playgrounds? How can we turn a blind eye to regulations that charge us to act now to keep our children from being victimized by violence and say that the responsible thing to do is to sideline it for 6 months for additional review?

We cannot allow our children to be sitting ducks for half a year. Far too many times we hear about a child the same age as your son, your daughter, or grandchild falling victim to a stray bullet fired by a criminal, someone who should not have been able to purchase a gun but found a way through loopholes in our laws.

Or we hear about young women who are victims of domestic violence and are killed by their former partner who, despite a violent past, was able to legally purchase a firearm.

On Tuesday, President Obama announced a number of executive actions to address our Nation's gun violence epidemic. Specifically, the President's actions expand Federal background checks and improve mental healthcare reporting to ensure guns stay out of the hands of dangerous individuals.

I am not asking for you to vote based on your feelings for the President, but I want to pose this to you: If there were a 6-month waiting period before a regulation ensuring that the dangerously mentally ill are unable to purchase a firearm went into effect, how many innocent lives would be lost? How many men, women, and children would be killed? How many more Newtowns, how many more Auroras, and how many more Charlestons would occur? How many more of my young constituents in Chicago and Riverdale would I lose to gun violence after being shot by a stray bullet on their way home from school?

I support policies that are thorough and measured, but I cannot support policies that prevent health and safety regulations, especially those that ensure the well-being of children from immediately being enforceable.

I have come to this floor countless times to advocate for commonsense gun legislation. We must act. My amendment will improve the bill by putting the health, safety, and well-being of our Nation's children first. It will ensure that Congress works with President Obama and allows his executive actions to start saving lives immediately. I urge my colleagues to support it.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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Ms. KELLY of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.

A recorded vote was ordered.

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