The SPEAKER pro tempore. The bill, as amended, shall be debatable for
1 hour equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority
member of the Committee on Financial Services or their respective
designees.
  The gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Hill) and the gentlewoman from
California (Ms. Waters) each will control 30 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Hill).

                             General Leave

  Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all
Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks
and include extraneous material on this measure.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Arkansas?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of Mr. Moore's Protecting
Privacy in Purchases Act.
  Financial privacy is fundamental to consumer trust and confidence in
our financial system. As technology continues to transform financial
services, protecting Americans' financial privacy remains an essential
part of Congress' oversight role.
  Merchant category codes were designed to help process transactions,
not create mechanisms for tracking or categorizing lawful purchases.
Maintaining trust in the payment system requires clear safeguards to
ensure that these tools are used for commerce, not consumer
surveillance.
  H.R. 1181 establishes those safeguards by preventing payment card
networks and processors from using merchant category codes to target
firearms retailers and their customers. The Protecting Privacy in
Purchases Act provides important protections for consumers by
preventing the misuse of payment systems to monitor lawful purchasing
activity.
  Consumers should not have to sacrifice their financial privacy in
order to participate in our modern economy. Protecting financial
privacy helps reinforce confidence in the institutions and
infrastructure that our payment systems operate around.
  Americans should be able to participate in the economy with
confidence that their lawful transactions are simply being processed,
not tracked or categorized or scrutinized beyond what is never
necessary to essentially facilitate the payment. This bill helps
preserve the integrity of that payment system by keeping it focused on
facilitating commerce and efficient movement of funds.
  Importantly, this bill does not interfere with any existing law
enforcement authorities, anti-money laundering requirements, fraud
prevention efforts, or other obligations designed to protect consumers
and safeguard our financial system.
  H.R. 1181 is a commonsense measure that simply safeguards financial
privacy while maintaining the integrity of our Nation's payment
network.
  I urge all my colleagues to support the legislation, and I reserve
the balance of my time.
  Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I strongly oppose this bill because it limits efforts to
detect and investigate gun violence and acts of terrorism.
  Before I discuss the bill, let's start with a few sobering
statistics:
  46,000 Americans die from gun violence every year. That comes out to
an average of more than 125 Americans losing their life each day due to
gun violence.
  Of course, America is unusual in this regard. Americans are 26 times
more likely to be shot and killed than if you lived in any other high-
income country.
  Nearly one in five Americans say they have personally witnessed
someone shot.
  In the past decade, more than 1.2 million Americans have been shot,
with more than 400,000 who died from gun violence. For many who survive
a gunshot, they may still suffer a lifetime of devastating
consequences.
  Most of these data points come from GIFFORDS, a gun violence
prevention group set up by our former colleague in the House, Gabby
Giffords. Of course, she herself was shot when she served as a
Congresswoman, and she later set up the group following the Sandy Hook
Elementary mass shooting when 20 children and 6 educators lost their
lives.
  Now, a few States, including California, New York, and Colorado, have
taken action to require payment card networks to use a merchant
category code, or an MCC, to distinguish firearms retailers from other
types of retailers.
  Many different types of retailers have unique MCC codes, including
florists, barbershops, art dealers, automotive tire shops, and even
candy stores. While these merchant codes don't reveal what individual
goods are purchased, they can indicate an unusually large purchase at a
type of business that might reveal a risk. This information could help
law enforcement track suspicious purchases and prevent even more gun
violence.