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The House Judiciary Committee has announced its schedule for the week of May 16-20, 2016.\

TUESDAY, MAY 17

10:00 a.m. Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations

Hearing on: "Synthetic Drugs, Real Danger"

2141 Rayburn House Office Building

1:00 p.m. Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law

Hearing on: H.R. 4768, the "Separation of Powers Restoration Act of 2016"

On Tuesday, during National Police Week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed S. 125, the Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant Program Reauthorization Act of 2015, unanimously by voice vote.

House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) joined U.S. Representatives Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Darrell Issa (R-CA) as well as legendary Four Tops founding member, Duke Fakir, T Bone Burnett, Roseanne Cash, and more than three dozen artists and musicians at a press conference in support of H.R. 1733, the Fair Play Fair Pay Act. The legislation would harmonize and modernize the outdated rules that currently govern music licensing for digital and terrestrial radio broadcasts.

House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (MI-13), today applauded House passage of H.R. 5046, the Comprehensive Opioid Abuse Reduction Act of 2016 which passed by a vote of 413-5. The Comprehensive Opioid Abuse Reduction Act of 2016 authorizes $103 million per year from Fiscal Year 2017 through 2021 for the creation of the Comprehensive Opioid Abuse Grant Program. The program would provide competitive grants to states and local governments to expand services that address the growing rate of opioid abuse and overdose deaths.

I am pleased to rise in support of H.R. 5046, the "Comprehensive Opioid Abuse Reduction Act of 2016." H.R. 5046 is an important complement to a wide-range of legislation being considered in the House this week that is aimed at combating the devastating impact of drug abuse and addiction that is afflicting communities across our Nation.

We are in the midst of a major public health crisis caused by prescription and opioid abuse. It is a crisis that affects Americans of all ages, races, and income levels in our cities, suburbs, and rural areas across the United States.

The issue of the appropriate roles of Congress and the President with respect to the subject of foreign affairs is certainly worthy of a genuinely substantive discussion.

For instance, we could consider whether our Nation's current military operations against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria have been properly authorized by Congress.

Unfortunately, however, today's hearing – like the prior Task Force hearings – is yet another thinly veiled attack against the current Administration.

H.R. 5063, the "Stop Settlement Slush Funds Act of 2016," would prohibit the enforcement or negotiation of any settlement agreement requiring donations to remediate harms that are not "directly and proximately" caused by a party's unlawful conduct.

The proponents of this bill claim that the Justice Department and civil enforcement agencies use such settlement agreements to unlawfully augment their own budgets as an end-run around the congressional appropriations process.

I oppose H.R. 5063 for several reasons.

Today, the Obama Administration announced that 53 jurisdictions-including Detroit, MI-have committed to Police Data Initiative (PDI). As part of President Obama's Task Force on 21^st Century Policing, the White House launched PDI as a community of practices aiming to improve the relationship between citizens and police through uses of data that increase transparency, build community trust, and strengthen accountability.

House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) applauded the President's Police Data Initiative with the following statement: