Crime and Federal Government Surveillance (114th Congress)

Conyers & Jackson Lee Letter to DOJ and FBI re: Russian Hacking

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.

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

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.

Today, the U.S. House of Representatives passed S. 2854/ H.R. 5067, the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crimes Reauthorization Act. The Till bill's primary purpose is to provide federal resources to local jurisdictions in the resolution of civil rights era cold cases. This reauthorization represents a recommitment to the original goals of the bill as well as the strengthening and clarification of the law, as called for by interested civil rights groups and families.

The lead House sponsors of the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crimes Reauthorization Act released the following statements after House passage of the legislation:

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) and Ranking Member John Conyers (D-Mich.) joined C-SPAN Newsmakers to discuss the bipartisan Policing Strategies Working Group and the Committee's efforts to reform our nation's criminal justice system. C-SPAN's co-CEO Susan Swain moderated the interview and Kimbriell Kelly of the Washington Post and Jesse Holland of the Associated Press interviewed Chairman Goodlatte and Ranking Member Conyers.

After President-elect Donald Trump's vague announcement this morning to leave his "…great business in total...," all sixteen Democratic members of the House Judiciary Committee wrote today to Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) to request that the Committee hold hearings to examine the federal conflicts-of-interest and ethics provisions that may apply to the President of the United States.

Text of Legislation

• BILLS-1144919ih.pdf

Amendments

• The Honorable Bob Goodlatte

Documents

• Hearing Notice

House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) and House Judiciary Crime Subcommittee Ranking Member Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) released the following statements after the White House announced the commutation of the sentences of 79 individuals:

H.R. 5422 is a bipartisan measure intended to ensure funding for the National Human Trafficking Hotline.

This commonsense bill would direct funding to the Department of Health and Human Services to administer the grant money for this Hotline.

The crime of human trafficking is a terrible scourge that deprives people of their dignity, humanity, and freedom.

Men, women, and children are held against their will. They are often repeatedly beaten, starved, drugged, and forced to perform unspeakable acts under the threat of more brutality against themselves or their loved ones.

Text of Legislation

• BILLS-1141669ih.pdf
• BILLS-1145422ih.pdf

Amendments

• AINS

Documents

• Markup Notice

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 16

10:00 a.m. Full Committee Markup

H.R. 5422, "To ensure funding for the National Human Trafficking Hotline, and for other purposes"

H.R. 1669, the "Judgment Fund Transparency Act of 2015"

2237 Rayburn House Office Building

House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) and House Judiciary Crime Subcommittee Ranking Member Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) today released the following statements after the White House announced the commutation of the sentences of 72 individuals:

House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) and House Judiciary Crime Subcommittee Ranking Member Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) released the following statements after the White House announced the commutation of the sentences of 98 individuals this week:

Washington, D.C. (Oct. 14, 2016)-Today, Reps. Elijah E. Cummings, John Conyers, Jr., Eliot L. Engel, and Bennie G. Thompson, the Ranking Members of the House Committees on Oversight and Government Reform, Judiciary, Foreign Affairs, and Homeland Security, issued the following statement in response to evidence that the Trump campaign apparently knew months beforehand about the hacking of emails from the account of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman, John Podesta:

Detroit, MI – House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (MI-13) today announced more than $2 million in federal funding for police departments in Detroit and Melvindale. The federal funding was allocated through the U.S. Department of Justice COPS Hiring Program (CHP) and will be used to hire law enforcement officers, and to enhance community policing and crime prevention efforts.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And thank you, Director Comey, for your appearance here today.

The FBI's mission is a complex undertaking: to protect the United States from terrorism, to enforce our criminal laws, and to lead the nation's law enforcement community.

That mission ought to mirror our own priorities in this Committee.

In the past few days, for example, we have witnessed near-fatal terrorist attacks in Minnesota, New York, and New Jersey.

Witnesses

James Comey
Director, FBI

I want to preface my remarks regarding today's hearing, which deals with community policing policies, by observing that our Nation's conscience continues to be rocked by a series of tragic events involving law enforcement and the loss of too many black lives.

In our court rooms, in our streets and on our televisions, we confront a never ending body count. Earlier this summer, my Congressional colleagues and I staged an unprecedented sit-in – just to try to get a vote on common sense gun legislation.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) and Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.), leaders of the bipartisan Policing Strategies Working Group, today issued the following joint statement on the police-involved shootings in Tulsa, Oklahoma and Charlotte, North Carolina and subsequent protests:

Witnesses

Robin Feldman Esq.
Harry and Lillian Hastings Professor of Law, Director of the Institute for Innovation Law, UC Hastings College of the Law

U.S. House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) today led a letter signed by every Democratic member of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee requesting that U.S. Department of Justice Attorney General Loretta Lynch investigate allegations of bribery and other criminal misconduct concerning the $25,000 donation from the Donald J. Trump Foundation to Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi.

House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) and House Judiciary Crime Subcommittee Ranking Member Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) released the following statements after the White House announced the commutation of the sentences of 111 individuals earlier this week:

"We are grateful for having worked with President Obama to make reforms to our criminal justice system. Without his persistent leadership this would not have happened. It adds to the legacy of the 44^th President," said Ranking Member Conyers.