Obama Urged By Advisors To Veto Appropriations Bill

The Executive Office of the President released a statement yesterday regarding the House passage of the FY2013 appropriations bill for the Departments of Commerce and Justice as well as for science and related agencies. They are accusing the House of Representatives of violating the "bipartisan agreement to put the Nation on a sustainable fiscal course in enacting the Budget Control Act of 2011 (BCA)." They go on to say that the President's senior advisors would be urging him to veto this bill.

From a taxpayer's perspective this is rich given that the appropriations bill is below the level that Obama requested. The administration is accusing Republicans of making spending cuts that would mean cuts in services elsewhere in the budget.

However, what is much more interesting is their strong opposition to the budget rider proposed by Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-MT) which would cut the ATF's funding for the multiple semi-auto firearm reporting requirement in the Southwest.

Prohibition on Multiple Sales of Rifles Reporting Requirement. Preventing the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives from requiring licensed firearms dealers in four border States to report information on the sale of multiple rifles or shotguns to the same person would hamper efforts to address the problem of illegal gun trafficking along the Southwest Border and in Mexico.

This reporting requirement is of dubious legality and even more dubious utility in stopping firearms trafficking to the narco-terrorists in Mexico. That the Obama Administration would single it out for special mention speaks to their true intentions regarding firearms.

UPDATE: Bob Owen is reporting that even with the cut to the multiple rifle reporting requirement, ATF will be getting a $1 million increase in its budget over the previous fiscal year. Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) has offered an amendment to the appropriations bill that would remove that same $1 million from the DOJ's General Administration budget. This is the part of the budget that supports the AG's office. Gowdy said he proposed doing this due to their stonewalling over Project Gunwalker. (corrected)

UPDATE II: The NRA-ILA released a statement urging members to contact their member of Congress regarding the Rehberg Amendment and the need to keep it in the appropriations bill.

It comes as no surprise that the Obama Administration put out a Statement of Administration Policy saying that President Obama’s senior advisors would recommend that he veto H.R. 5326 (FY2013 Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations bill)...

Apparently, one of the reasons the President would veto H.R. 5326 is because of a NRA-backed general provision preventing funding for the new and unauthorized multiple sales reporting and registration plan proposed by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE). On Thursday, April 26, the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations approved this general provision offered by Congressman Rehberg (R-Mont.), by a vote of 30-19.

Without this funding restriction, the BATFE could continue to circumvent the will of Congress by collecting information on multiple-sales of long guns by Executive Branch mandate and then, centralizing records of thousands of Americans’ gun purchases, without any legal authority.