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House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) today led a letter signed by every democratic member of the House Judiciary Committee to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, urging for swift action on gun violence.

Full text of the letter to the House Judiciary Committee Chairman is below and attached.

June 14, 2016

Chairman Bob Goodlatte

House Judiciary Committee

2138 Rayburn House Office Building

Washington, DC 20515

Dear Chairman Goodlatte:

Detroit, MI – House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (MI-13) today released the following statement on the mass shooting in Orlando, Florida:

Earlier today, House Speaker Paul Ryan's Task Force on National Security introduced its national security portion of the so-called "Better Way" agenda – a rebranding of old partisan proposals. House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) and Immigration and Border Security Subcommittee Ranking Member Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) released the following joint statement after the release of this report:

H.R. 4768, the "Separation of Powers Restoration Act of 2016," would eliminate judicial deference to agencies and require federal courts to review all agency rulemakings and interpretations of statutes on a de novo basis.

As a result, the bill would empower a judge to override the determinations of agency experts and to substitute his or her judgment, regardless of the judge's technical knowledge and understanding of the underlying subject matter.

Today, House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) and Congressman David Cicilline (D-RI) condemned the actions of House Judiciary Republicans who refused to vote on an amendment to H.R. 4768, the Separation of Powers Restoration Act of 2016. The amendment offered by Congressman David Cicilline, would have made clear that a judge cannot be disqualified on the basis of race, ethnicity, or national origin.

Today's hearing promises to be not only informative, but timely given the various issues presented by international antitrust enforcement, particularly with respect to China's enforcement of its Anti-Monopoly Law.

In just the last two days, Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew was in China for the latest round of talks in the ongoing U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue.

It was through this very mechanism that concerns about China's antitrust enforcement practices had been raised previously.

Today, the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) unveiled new data from the 2013-2014 school year showing gaps that remain in educational equity and opportunity for students. Education and the Workforce Committee Ranking Member Rep. Bobby Scott (VA-03) and Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Rep. John Conyers, Jr. (MI-13) released the following statement on the release of the new data by OCR:

TUESDAY, JUNE 7

4:00 p.m. Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law

Hearing on: "International Antitrust Enforcement: China and Beyond"

Witnesses: