Today, all of the Democratic women on the U.S. House Judiciary Committee – including Representatives Judy Chu (D-Calif.), Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.), Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) and Karen Bass (D-Calif.) – sent a letter to Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) urging him to shift his focus away from denying women their constitutionally guaranteed right to make their own healthcare d... Read more »
Today, Congressman John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.), along with 65 other members of Congress, wrote Ambassador Samantha Power, the Permanent Representative to the United Nations (UN), about the UN’s inadequate response to the cholera epidemic in Haiti. Specifically, the letter detailed how in October 2010, UN peacekeepers in Haiti introduced cholera to the Caribbean nation and urged the UN to take imme... Read more »
Statement of Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. Hearing on: H.R. 7, the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice Thursday, January 9, 2014 at 10:00 A.M. 2141 Rayburn Building “Today’s hearing on H.R. 7 is yet another attempt to push a divisive social agenda instead of focusing on what Americans care most about: creating jobs and improving our nation’s e... Read more »
(DETROIT) – On Friday, the Obama administration announced two executive actions to strengthen the federal firearms background check system. The Department of Justice (DOJ) is issuing a proposed rule to clarify terminology used in prohibiting firearms purchases on the basis of certain mental health reasons. In addition, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is issuing a proposed rule to... Read more »
(DETROIT) – Today, President Obama commuted the sentences of eight federal inmates serving lengthy time behind bars for nonviolent offenses related to crack cocaine under an older sentencing regime. This decision follows the implementation in 2011 of the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010, landmark criminal justice legislation that reduced mandatory minimum sentences for crack offenses and minimized the ... Read more »
(DETROIT) – Today, Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) Co-Chairs Reps. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) and Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) joined Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), CPC member and ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, to urge the president to take swift action on 46 recommendations made by a presidential taskforce to reform the surveillance program at the National Security Agency (NSA) ... Read more »
(DETROIT) – Today, U.S. House Judiciary Chairman Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) responded to U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon’s ruling yesterday that the National Surveillance Agency’s (NSA) bulk metadata collection program, which collects information on virtually all telephone calls in the United States, is likely unconstitutional under the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition of unre... Read more »
Floor Statement of Rep. Melvin L. Watt (N.C.)General Debate in OppositionH.R. 3309, the “Innovation Act” December 5, 2013 M. Chair—I rise in opposition to H.R. 3309. The term “patent troll” has become convenient shorthand to refer to a class of plaintiffs who engage in abusive litigation tactics against deep-pocketed alleged infringers as well as individual inventors and small companies. I recogni... Read more »
Floor Statement of the Honorable John Conyers, Jr.in Support of Conyers-Watt Substitute Amendment H.R. 3309, the “Innovation Act” December 5, 2013 On behalf of Representative Watt and myself, I am offering a substitute amendment that gives members an opportunity to vote for language that will actually address the identifiable abuses in the patent system. These abuses include the inability to ident... Read more »
