Press Releases

Today, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee held a full committee Markup of H.R. 4874, the "Search for and Cutting Regulations that are Unnecessarily Burdensome (SCRUB) Act of 2014." Section 101(K) of the bill funds a new Retrospective Regulatory Review Commission by taking $ 25 million or 1%, whichever is greater, of unobligated funding from federal agencies. Under any methodology this figure would reach into the billions. After voting against H.R. 4874, Ranking Members John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) issued the following statement:

Today, Congressman John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) introduced H.R.4835, the "Stopping Abusive Student Loan Collection Practices in Bankruptcy Act of 2014." This legislation curtails ruthless collection tactics used by creditors against borrowers who have taken out student loans and sought bankruptcy relief. In particular, the legislation empowers a bankruptcy judge to award both the costs and attorney's fees to borrowers in bankruptcy cases where student loan creditors engaged in abusive litigation.

Today, the House of Representatives voted 345-59 to approve H.R. 4681, the "Intelligence Authorization for Fiscal Years 2014 and 2015." After voting against the legislation, U.S. House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich) issued the following statement:

Today, Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) joined with Congressman George Holding (R-N.C.) in introducing new legislation to ensure satellite and Internet radio services pay royalties they owe to legendary musicians and artists. Digital radio services today claim a legal loophole allows them to broadcast music recorded before February 15, 1972 without paying anything to the artists and labels that created it, shortchanging all music creators who were creating music before the early '70s.

Congressman George Holding (R-N.C.) and House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers (D-Mich.) will hold a press conference on THURSDAY, MAY 29, 2014 at NOON to introduce bipartisan legislation, the "Respecting Senior Performers as Essential Cultural Treasures" or the "RESPECT" Act. The RESPECT Act ensures older artists receive fair pay from the digital radio services that use their work.

The House of Representatives today approved by a vote of 302-121 the USA Freedom Act (H.R. 3361), a bipartisan bill authored by Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wisc.) that ends bulk collection of data by the government and reforms our nation's intelligence-gathering programs operated under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

Following the announcement of the AT&T and DirecTV proposed merger, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law Subcommittee Chairman Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.), Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.), and Subcommittee Ranking Member Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) issued the following joint statement:

(DETROIT) – Today, Congressman John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) joined with six other Members of Congress urged the Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, to bring more fairness to struggling students by establishing clear standards of eligibility for "undue hardship" discharge of federal student loans in bankruptcy. The members said this type of guidance would benefit the most vulnerable student loan debtors by bringing consistency to the manner in which the Department of Education's contractors handle undue hardship claims.