Press Releases

House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) and House Judiciary Crime Subcommittee Ranking Member Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) released the following statements after the White House announced the commutation of the sentences of 79 individuals:

Yesterday, President-elect Donald Trump announced that U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) would be his choice for U.S. Attorney General. We need an Attorney General who represents the American people's best interests by fighting to strengthen voting rights, prevent violence against women, and work to reform our broken immigration system, among other priorities. Senator Sessions was denied a federal judgeship in 1986 following a history of racially-charged comments and disturbing attitudes towards minority groups; and his record since only furthers cause for concern.

This morning, President-elect Donald Trump announced that U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) would be his choice for Attorney General. We need an Attorney General who represents the American people's best interests by fighting to strengthen voting rights, prevent violence against women, and work to reform our broken immigration system, among other priorities. Senator Sessions was denied a federal judgeship in 1986 following a history of racially-charged comments and disturbing attitudes towards minority groups; and his record since only furthers cause for concern.

While the purpose of H.R. 1669, the "Judgment Fund Transparency Act of 2016," is ostensibly to promote greater transparency in government, I fear that its real purpose is to once again attack the Obama Administration's integrity.

The bill would require the Treasury Department to publicly disclose via the Internet various details about payments it makes on claims paid out of the Judgment Fund, most of which is already available on the Department's website.

President-elect Donald Trump has made two more troubling additions to his transition team. Frank Gaffney, founder of the hard-right Center for Security Policy, has spent two decades advancing conspiracy theories and anti-Muslim rhetoric. Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach is the chief architect of anti-immigrant measures in several states, including Arizona's controversial and unconstitutional "show me your papers" bill.

House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) released the following statement:

H.R. 5422 is a bipartisan measure intended to ensure funding for the National Human Trafficking Hotline.

This commonsense bill would direct funding to the Department of Health and Human Services to administer the grant money for this Hotline.

The crime of human trafficking is a terrible scourge that deprives people of their dignity, humanity, and freedom.

Today, House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) joined 169 members of the U.S. House, led by Congressman David N. Cicilline (D-RI), in sending a letter asking President-elect Donald Trump to rescind alt-right leader Steve Bannon's appointment as White House Chief Strategist. Although Republican members of the House were invited to sign Cicilline's letter, none did so.

Yesterday, Ranking Member Conyers released the following statement on Bannon's appointment:

House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) today released the following statement in response to the news that President-elect Donald Trump has named Breitbart News Executive Chairman Steve Bannon as White House Chief Strategist:

"Steve Bannon is the standard-bearer for the worst instincts in American society.