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Today, Representative John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, and Representative Eliot L. Engel (D-N.Y.), ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, led an 82 member letter to President Barack Obama urging him to renew enforcement of the ban on imported military-style firearms that was previously enforced during the H.W. Bush and Clinton administrations. Enforcing this ban would serve the dual purpose of improving public safety in the U.S.
Statement of Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr.
Hearing on: Oversight of the U.S. Department of Justice
Full Committee
Tuesday, April 8, 2014 at 10:00 A.M.
2141 Rayburn Building
Mr. Chairman, I would like to begin by asking you to join me in reminding our members that we must conduct ourselves in a manner that befits the House Judiciary Committee. The attorney general of the United States is our guest. No matter what our political differences may be, he is worthy of our full attention, our courtesy, and our respect. Attorney General Holder, welcome.
(ANN ARBOR) – Today, in a 5-4 ruling, the United States Supreme Court ruled in McCutcheon v. FEC that the aggregate limits imposed on campaign contributions through the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 are invalid under the First Amendment. Since significant First Amendment interests were at stake in this case, the Court held that the aggregate limits imposed by Congress on campaign contributions do not further the permissible government interest in preventing quid pro quo corruption or the appearance of corruption. After the ruling, today Congressman John Conyers, Jr.
House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.), Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wisc.) and Crime Subcommittee Ranking Member Bobby Scott (D-Va.) issued the joint statement below following President Obama's proposal to end the bulk telephone data collection program operated under the Foreign Surveillance Intelligence Act (FISA) and reform other aspects of our nation's intelligence gathering programs.
Statement of Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr.
Hearing on: Innocence for Sale: Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking
Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security and Investigations
Wednesday, March 26, 2014 at 10:00 A.M.
2141 Rayburn Building
Today, media outlets reported that the White House would propose legislation that would allow the NSA to obtain individual phone records only with the approval of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. This morning, the leadership of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence introduced legislation to end bulk collection but allows the government to continue to seize phone records without individualized judicial approval. Although neither proposal goes as far as the USA FREEDOM Act - introduced by Representatives Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wisc.), John Conyers, Jr.
Statement of Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr.
Hearing on: "Section 512 of Title 17"
Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet
Thursday, March 13, 2014 at 9:30 A.M.
2141 Rayburn Building
Today's hearing provides an important opportunity for us to examine online service provider liability, and the effectiveness of section 512 of title 17 of the United States Code.
Statement of the Honorable John Conyers, Jr.
For the Floor Debate on H.R. 3973, the "Faithful Execution of the Law Act of 2014"
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
[I yield such time as I may consume]
M. Speaker: As with our consideration of H.R. 4138, the ENFORCE Act, I must note the lack of deliberative process pertaining to the consideration of this bill.
Like the ENFORCE Act, the Judiciary Committee failed to hold a single legislative hearing on H.R. 3973, the "Faithful Execution of the Law Act of 2014." Nor was there a Subcommittee markup.
Statement of the Honorable John Conyers, Jr.
In Support of Conyers Amendment to H.R. 4138, the
"ENFORCE the Law Act of 2014"
My amendment would exclude actions to combat discrimination and protect civil rights enforcement from the scope of the bill. The last thing we should want to do as a Congress is to pass legislation that makes it more difficult to protect our citizen's civil rights, by executive action or otherwise. Yet if H.R. 4138 had been law, several of the most critical civil rights milestones our nation has experienced would have been subject to unnecessary congressional challenge in the courts.
Today, the House of Representatives debated H.R. 4138 the, "Executive Needs to Faithfully Observe and Respect Congressional Enforcements of the Law (ENFORCE) Act." This floor debate comes on the heels of the House Judiciary Committee having held a full committee markup on the legislation and a hearing a week prior entitled, "Enforcing the president's Constitutional Duty to Faithfully Execute the Laws." This legislation is a faulty solution in search of imaginary problems, and has no hope of being considered in the Senate, let alone becoming law.