SEC. 2. BACKLOG REDUCTION. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the Attorney General 
and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall jointly pro-
vide to the Committees on the Judiciary, Homeland Secu-
rity, and Appropriations of the House of Representatives, 
and the Committees on the Judiciary, Homeland Security 
and Governmental Affairs, and Appropriations of the Sen-
ate, a plan for ensuring that, within 18 months of the date 
of enactment of this Act, the National Name Check Pro-
gram, administered by the Records Management Division 
of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), will no 
longer have any requested name checks from U.S. Citizen-
ship and Immigration Service (USCIS) in backlog status. 
(b) ELEMENTS OF PLAN.—The plan shall include the 
following elements: 
(1) Necessary improvements to computer sys-
tems so that all records may be transmitted, main-
tained, and checked electronically, and whether it is 
possible to centralize this information in a single 
searchable database. 
(2) How the FBI will improve communications 
with USCIS to ensure the maximum efficiency in 
processing name check requests from that agency. 
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(3) Security upgrades in transferring informa-
tion between the FBI and USCIS to ensure the pri-
vacy of any individual receiving a name check. 
(4) Long-term fixes that will prevent any future 
backlog, including a risk management analysis of 
changes that can be made to streamline the process 
and policies for obtaining FBI name checks in con-
nection with applications and petitions for immigra-
tion benefits. 
(5) An estimate of the funding required to com-
plete the operation by the required date along with 
an estimate of any possible fee increases. 
(6) A study regarding the best practices in as-
sessing the level of risk presented by applicants. The 
study will determine whether the current risk assess-
ment process should be modified. 
(7) A report of the number of applications and 
petitions that remain pending at USCIS more than 
6 months after the name check results have been re-
turned from the FBI to USCIS. 
(c) EFFECT
OF BACKLOG ON
AND AFTER 18 
MONTHS OF THE DATE OF ENACTMENT OF THIS ACT.— 
Beginning 18 months after the date of the enactment of 
this Act, the National Name Check Program is not au-
thorized to have any file in backlog status. After that date, 
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any name check request from USCIS held in the posses-
sion of the National Name Check Program for longer than 
6 months— 
(1) will be referred to the Secretary of Home-
land Security, who shall adjudicate interim benefits 
in connection with the application with which the 
FBI name check was requested, unless the Secretary 
certifies there is reasonable cause to suspect that the 
applicant poses a threat to national security, other-
wise poses a threat to the United States, or has bro-
ken United States immigration law; and 
(2) the name check fee shall be fully refunded. 
(d) BACKLOG.—For purposes of this section, the 
term ‘‘backlog’’ means, with respect to a file sent to the 
National Name Check Program from USCIS, that the file 
has been pending under the jurisdiction of the Justice De-
partment for longer than 6 months. 
Æ 
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