Media Center

TUESDAY, JULY 12

10:00 a.m. Full Committee

Hearing on: Oversight of the Department of Justice

Witness:

• The Honorable Loretta Lynch, Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice

2237 Rayburn House Office Building

3:00 p.m. Executive Overreach Task Force

Hearing on: Executive Overreach in Regulatory Enforcement and Infrastructure

Witnesses:

I rise in strong opposition to H.R. 4768, the "Separation of Powers Restoration Act of 2016."

By eliminating judicial deference to agency determinations, the bill would make the already ossified rulemaking process even more time-consuming and costly, threatening the ability of federal regulatory agencies to protect public health and safety.

This is true for several reasons. Ironically, for a bill that purports to "restore" separation of powers, H.R. 4768 actually raises separation of power concerns.

House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) issued the following statement in anticipation of tomorrow's U.S. Department of Justice oversight hearing with U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch:

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House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) joined members of the Congressional Black Caucus at a press conference today to denounce the slayings of police officers in Dallas, and the slayings of Alton Sterling in Louisiana and Philando Castile in Minnesota. Below are Congressman Conyers' remarks as prepared for delivery:

H.R. 5578, the "Survivors' Bill of Rights Act of 2016," would provide needed protections and rights to victims of sexual assault.

I am proud to be an original cosponsor of this compassionate and thoughtful piece of legislation.

And, I want to congratulate my colleagues -- Representatives Zoe Lofgren and Mimi Waters – for their leadership on this bill, which will help ensure that victims obtain justice.

This legislation would provide victims of sexual assault the right to receive --

The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs plays a central role in reviewing regulations issued by Executive Branch agencies as well as working to improve the process and quality of federal rulemakings.

It has been 3 years since Administrator Shelanksi was appointed to head OIRA. Accordingly, I would very much appreciate hearing his thoughts on the current state of affairs with respect federal rulemakings and whether any legislative fixes are needed.

Once again, in its 7^th hearing to date, this Task Force is considering old wine in new bottles.

Unfortunately, today's hearing is just the latest in a decades-old line of attack by conservatives on America's longstanding commitments to aid the elderly and the poor.

As we consider the arguments made today, we should keep a few points in mind.

To begin with, efforts to curb "mandatory spending" and stopping the so-called "entitlement crisis" are really intended to slash programs, such as Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.

The crisis of opioid abuse and addiction clearly requires our immediate attention.

In my state of Michigan, for example, there were 1,745 drug overdose deaths in 2014. And, more than half of those overdose deaths were caused by opioids and heroin. Each day, 78 Americans die from an opioid overdose.

Fortunately, we now have better ways of addressing issues of addiction, and we know that incarceration is not the answer.