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Members of the bipartisan encryption working group – established in March 2016 by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI), House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI), and Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) – today released a year-end report laying out key observations and next steps.

Today, a bipartisan group of ten members of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee-including Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI), and former Chairman Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI), wrote to the Director of National Intelligence James Clapper to memorialize the Director's commitment to provide a detailed look at how the government's phone and email surveillance affects United States citizens. The intelligence community has promised to provide a public estimate of that impact "early enough to inform the debate" on surveillance reform in the next Congress, with a target date of January 2017.

During its final session of the 114th Congress, the Senate passed the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crimes Reauthorization Act of 2016 (S.2854/H.R.5067). In the Senate, the bill was led by Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC), Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO), and Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO). In the House, original sponsors were Rep. John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI), Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) and Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI). The bill now heads to the President to be signed into law.

BACKGROUND

Today, House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) joined Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (D-MD), House Foreign Affairs Committee Ranking Member Eliot Engel (D-NY), House Homeland Security Committee Ranking Member Bennie G.

Today, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) and Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) released the first policy proposal to come out of the Committee's review of U.S. Copyright law. This first proposal identifies important reforms to help ensure the Copyright Office keeps pace in the digital age. With the release of this document, the Committee requests written comments from interested stakeholders by January 31, 2017.

Today, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) and Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) released the first policy proposal to come out of the Committee's review of U.S. Copyright law. This first proposal identifies important reforms to help ensure the Copyright Office keeps pace in the digital age. With the release of this document, the Committee requests written comments from interested stakeholders by January 31, 2017.

Mr. Speaker, in June of 2007, this body passed and the President subsequently signed the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crimes Act. Since that time, the Department of Justice and cold case advocates have reviewed hundreds of cases in a search for justice and a sense of closure for the families of those who fell victim to racial violence in one of the most tumultuous periods of this nation's history.