Obama Praises Manchin-Toomey Background Checks Deal

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President Obama praised the agreement struck Wednesday between Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Pat Toomey (R-PA) to expand mandatory background checks to gun shows and Internet sales.

In a statement Wednesday afternoon, he called on Congress to “finish the job.”

I applaud Senators Joe Manchin and Pat Toomey for their leadership on forging a bipartisan agreement around commonsense background checks that will make it harder for dangerous people to get their hands on a gun.

This is not my bill, and there are aspects of the agreement that I might prefer to be stronger.  But the agreement does represent welcome and significant bipartisan progress. It recognizes that there are good people on both sides of this issue, and we don’t have to agree on everything to know that we’ve got to do something to stem the tide of gun violence.

Of course, a lot of work remains.  Congress needs to finish the job.  The Senate must overcome obstruction by defeating a threatened filibuster, and allow a vote on this and other commonsense reforms to protect our kids and our communities.  Any bill still has to clear the House.  So I’m going to keep asking the American people to stand up and raise their voices, because these measures deserve a vote – and so do the families and communities they’re designed to protect.

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