The CDC and NIH are strongly discouraged by Congress from funding any public health studies on firearm injuries. "To make sure federal agencies got the message, Rep. Jay Dickey (R-Ark.) sponsored an amendment that stripped $2.6 million from the CDC’s budget, the exact amount it had spent on firearms research the previous year." Guns are also exempt from most of the consumer safety laws that improved the rest of American life. In 2005, Congress passed and President George W. Bush signed the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, which immunizes gun makers against lawsuits resulting from “misuse” of the products.