CONYERS: Judiciary Policing Strategies Working Group Visits Houston & Holds Press Conference

 Washington, D.C. -- Several members of the bipartisan Policing Strategies Working Group traveled to Houston, Texas to meet with local community leaders and law enforcement to discuss police accountability, aggression towards law enforcement, and public safety concerns related to these issues.

Members of the working group held a press conference on Thursday, April 20 at 12:15 p.m. CT. Details can be found below.

WHO:  Members of Congress

House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.)

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.)

Representative Doug Collins (R-Ga.)

Representative Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas)

Representative Cedric Richmond (D-La.)

WHAT:  Press conference following the conclusion of the bipartisan Policing Strategies Working Group roundtable with community leaders.

WHEN:  Thursday, April 20, 2017 at 12:15 p.m. Media with video equipment can begin setup at 11:45 a.m.

WHERE:   Mickey Leland Federal Building
                    1919 Smith Street

Background on the Working Group: In July 2016, Chairman Bob Goodlatte and Ranking Member John Conyers  announced the establishment of a working group to examine police accountability, aggression towards law enforcement, and public safety concerns related to these issues. The bipartisan working group is in the process of holding a series of roundtables to candidly discuss the issues fueling excessive force used by law enforcement and attacks against police officers. Read Chairman Goodlatte and Ranking Member Conyers’ op-ed on the working group in The Hill here.

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CONYERS, GOODLATTE, LEAHY, GRASSLEY Remain Committed to Good-Faith Talks to Reform Investor Visa Program Ahead of Expiration

EB-5 reforms needed to curb fraud, abuse, national security risks 

Washington, D.C. - Bipartisan, bicameral Judiciary Committee leaders today reaffirmed their commitment to reform the troubled EB-5 investor visa program ahead of its scheduled expiration on April 28, or to let the flawed program expire if reforms are not possible.  Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley and Senator Patrick Leahy, along with House Judiciary Ranking Member JohnConyers, Jr. and Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte reiterated requirements of any meaningful negotiation as they continue to search for a compromise on EB-5 reform.  The program has longstanding, well-documented fraud, abuse and national security concerns, and has drifted away from Congress’ original intent: spurring job creation in rural and economically depressed areas.

Dean of the U.S. House
of Representatives
John Conyers, Jr.

“Despite the well-documented and rampant abuse of the EB-5 Regional Center Program that we have exposed in recent years, we remain committed to working in good faith with our colleagues and industry stakeholders to bring about much needed reforms to this troubled program. However, as we have made clear time and time again, any reforms must contain genuine and sincere changes to allow rural and distressed urban areas, the very communities this program is supposed to benefit, to compete for investment dollars. In addition, any reforms must address the many national security and fraud concerns by containing – without loopholes – compliance measures, background checks, and transparency provisions,” the lawmakers said.

“Just a few weeks ago, we were encouraged by a reasonable proposal offered by IIUSA, the nation’s largest EB-5 industry trade association, containing significant reforms to the program. The proposal was a good faith effort to address our concerns and provide long-term stability to the program, and could have served as a basis for reform negotiations.

“As we have in the past, we remain willing to work with our colleagues and industry groups to produce meaningful reform. This must include strong transparency and anti-fraud measures, meaningful investment differentials, adjustments of the investment amounts to appropriately account for inflation, adequate set asides for both rural and urban distressed areas, and an end to the program’s abusive gerrymandering practices.” 

In a recent letter, below, to congressional leadership, the lawmakers, along with Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein, stated that the program should expire absent these reforms.

U.S. House and Senate Judiciary Letter To Leadership On Reform Investor Visa Program 4-6-2017 by Beverly Tran on Scribd

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CONYERS Speaks To Gray Panthers Of Metro Detroit On Universal Health Care

It was my pleasure to speak to the Gray Panthers of Metro Detroit on the importance of fighting for universal health care, and updated them on HR 676 #MedicareForAll and HR1000 #JobsForAll

A common question I hear is, "What is the Democrat's plan for healthcare?" Well, I've been introducing my plan, #MedicareForAll, every year since 2003. Countries around the world provide quality, universal access to health care and it is about time that we do the same here in the United States. I call on my colleagues to join me in supporting HR.676, Medicare for All.




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CONYERS Health Care Listening Session, April 13, 2017

Today, Congressman Conyers held a Listening Session on Health Care.

Members of the District were given the opportunity to voice their ideas and share their stories pertaining to health care in the United States.

Mr. Conyers announced the formation of the Disability Caucus to further the work for Single Payer, Medicare For All.

More information on how to sign up and participate will be posted.

To learn more on Medicare For All, you can read his op-ed in the New York Times in the link, below.

CONYERS: Medicare for All's time has come

#MedicareForAll    #SinglePayer

My apologies on the lack of rotation of this video post.

When I have found the coding to rotate, you shall know

Single Payer Cost Study by Beverly Tran on Scribd

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CONYERS Cordially Invites You To Attend His Community Listening Panel, April 13, 2017

Congressman John Conyers, Jr., cordially invites you to attend his Community Listening Panel

Date: Thursday, April 13, 2017

Time: 7:00 pm

Location: UAW Local 600 Hall, 10550 Dix, Dearborn 48120

Featured speakers and experts will be in attendance to discuss issues that greatly affect our region such as Healthcare (HR 676) and Immigration.

For more information please call:

Detroit Office (313) 961-5670; or,

Westland Office (734) 675-4084

Congressman Conyers Listening Panel Flyer April 13, 2017 by Beverly Tran on Scribd

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CONYERS & GOODLATTE Seek Answers On Americans Swept Up Under Foreign Intelligence Programs

Washington, D.C. – House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers (D-Mich.) and Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) today requested that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence provide a public estimate of the number of communications involving U.S. persons incidentally swept up under FISA Section 702.

FISA Section 702, which targets the communications of non-U.S. persons outside of the United States in order to protect national security, reportedly contributes to more than a quarter of all National Security Agency surveillance and has been used on multiple occasions to detect and prevent horrific terrorist plots against our country. Although Congress designed this authority to target non-U.S. persons located outside of the United States, it is clear that Section 702 surveillance programs can and do incidentally collect information about U.S. persons when U.S. persons communicate with the foreign targets of Section 702 surveillance.

In their letter to Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, Goodlatte and Conyers state it is crucial that members of the House Judiciary Committee understand the impact of Section 702 on U.S. persons as the Committee proceeds with the debate regarding the reauthorization of this surveillance authority. They request that Director Coats provide a public estimate of the number of communications involving U.S. persons subject to Section 702 surveillance as soon as possible in order to inform public debate on the law.

-Judiciary Letter To NIOD Seek Answers on Americans Swept Up Under Foreign Intelligence Programs 4-7-2017 by Beverly Tran on Scribd

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CONYERS Commemorates Martin Luther King's Sermon "Beyond Vietnam"

This week, longtime civil rights activist and Congressman John Lewis and more than 50 Members of Congress joined me to introduce my new resolution, H.Res. 246, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the April 4, 1967 “Beyond Vietnam” sermon given by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at the Riverside Church in Harlem, New York.

In the sermon, Dr. King declared his opposition to the U.S. war in Vietnam.

He also gave an important warning to our nation, one that still rings true today. Dr. King said: “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.”

Since I recorded this message, President Trump unilaterally decided, without approval from Congress or the United Nations, to bomb a sovereign nation.

Those 59 Tomahawk missiles alone cost taxpayers more than $50 million.

I will continue do to everything in my power to stop Trump from wasting our tax money bombing people abroad, when we have so much important nation-building to do right here at home.

There is no question that the United States must do more to relieve the suffering of the civilians trapped in Syria’s civil war.

If President Trump wants to help the Syrian people, he should start by welcoming those seeking refuge from this terrible civil war. You can listen to Dr. King’s prophetic 1967 speech here:

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CONYERS: Trump Must Come To Congress On Syria

The House Must Reconvene Immediately and Debate the Use of Military Force

Washington, D.C. – Yesterday, following a chemical attack on civilians attributed to the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, United States military forces launched a missile strike on a Syrian airbase.  Rep. John Conyers, Jr., Ranking Member of the House Committee on the Judiciary, issued the following statement in response:

Dean of the U.S. House
of Representatives
John Conyers, Jr.

“There is no question that the United States must do more to relieve the suffering of the civilians trapped in Syria’s civil war. 

“But before we can debate the wisdom of a single unilateral strike on a Syrian air field, President Trump must answer a number of threshold answers:

“First, what is the legal basis for the President’s military intervention in Syria?  The President is bound by the U.S. Constitution, the War Powers Resolution, and the international laws of armed conflict—but Congress has never authorized military action against the Assad regime, and the President took this action without approval by the United Nations or any claim of self-defense.

“Second, what is the President’s plan for Syria going forward?  For years, Donald Trump warned President Obama not to get involved in Syria.  The central theme of his campaign was ‘America First.’ He is not empowered to commit our troops to a new war on a whim, however brutal the actions of President Assad.

“Finally, how does President Trump reconcile this action with the other policies of his Administration?  Like the President, I am haunted by the images of the children who have been murdered in this civil war.  Like many of my colleagues, I wonder if the President understands that the refugees he hopes to ban from entry to the United States seek shelter from the same conflict. 

“I join with Leader Pelosi in her request to reconvene the House immediately to demand answers to these questions.”

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CONYERS: Members Hold Forum On Civil Rights Under The Trump Administration

Washington, D.C. – Today, April 6, 2017 at 10:30 AM, Members of the U.S. House of Representatives held a forum entitled, “Civil Rights Under the Trump Administration-The First 100 Days.” 

The 2016 presidential campaign was the most polarizing and divisive in memory, particularly from a civil rights perspective.  Though the Obama administration made notable legislative and enforcement gains in civil rights, with the rise in hate violence, police shootings and legislative backlash at the state and local level, minority communities have been justifiably concerned about the continuing role of the Federal government in protecting their civil rights.  This forum will examine the appointments, polices and orders undertaken in the first 100 days of the Trump administration in order to help foster an agenda for the protection of civil rights.   

WHO:            Members of Congress

·         House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI)

·         House Committee on Education and the Workforce Ranking Member Bobby Scott (D-VA)

·         Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-LA), Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus

·         House Committee on Science, Space and Technology Ranking Member Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX)

·         Rep. G. K. Butterfield (D-NC)

·         Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX)

·         Rep. Hank Johnson Jr. (D-GA)

·         Rep. David N. Cicilline (D-RI)

·         Rep. Donald McEachin (D-VA)

·         Additional Members of Congress

Panelists

·         Gavin Grimm, plaintiff in transgender rights case,G.G. v. Gloucester County School Board

·         Chief Hassan Aden, Steering Committee, Law Enforcement Leaders to Reduce Crime and Incarceration and former Chief of Police of the Greenville Police Department

·         Catherine Lhamon, Chair of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, former Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education

·         Ron Davis, former director of the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services at the Department of Justice

·         Chiraag Bains, Senior Fellow at Harvard Law School Criminal Justice Policy Program, former Senior Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights

·         Roy Austin, former director of the White House Office of Urban Affairs, Justice, and Opportunity

·         Joe Rich, Co-Director, Fair Housing & Community Development Project, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law

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CONYERS & LEWIS Lead More Than 50 Members Of Congress In Honoring 50th Anniversary Of Dr. Martin Luther King's Landmark Anti-War Sermon

Washington, D.C. — Today, Congressman John Conyers, Jr. (MI-13) and Congressman John Lewis, veterans of the civil rights movement, led more than 50 Members of Congress in introducing H.Res. 246, a resolution to commemorate the 50^th anniversary of the April 4, 1967 “Beyond Vietnam” sermon given by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at the Riverside Church in Harlem, New York. In the speech, he condemned the Vietnam War and called for a fundamental change in the way the United States conducts foreign policy abroad.  

“I consider Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., to be the greatest American figure of the 20^th century. When I introduced the bill to establish the Martin Luther King, Jr. national holiday, it was not only for his work to promote equality for African-Americans. His advocacy for diplomacy over conflict and for spending on human needs instead of weapons of war, was also one of his enduring contributions to mankind,” Rep. Conyers said.

The resolution highlights many powerful and prophetic passages from the sermon.  It quotes Dr. King’s call for a “true revolution in values,” one that “will lay hand on the world order and say of war, ‘This way of settling differences is not just.” The resolution further emphasizes Dr. King’s warning against prioritizing war spending of that for social welfare, declaring that “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.” His statement rings true today, as President Trump has proposed a budget that would increase the U.S. military budget—already by far the world’s largest—by $54 billion dollars, while simultaneously proposing draconian cuts to domestic spending.  King called for transformative changes to our nation’s fabric, stating that “We must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights, are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.’’ The resolution calls on the United States to pursue foreign policy that aligns with Dr. King’s vision for peace by fighting poverty and promoting understanding.

The legislation is cosponsored by Reps. Alma Adams (NC-12), Nanette Diaz Barragán (CA-44), Karen Bass (CA-37), Joyce Beatty (OH-03), André Carson (IN-07), Yvette D. Clarke (NY-09), Lacy Clay (MO-1), Emanuel Cleaver(MO-05), Steve Cohen (TN-09), John Conyers Jr. (MI-13), Joe Courtney (CT-02), Elijah E. Cummings (MD-07), Danny K. Davis (IL-07), Rosa L. DeLauro (CT-03), Val Demings (FL-10), Debbie Dingell (MI-12), Keith Ellison (MN-05), Adriano Espaillat (NY-13), Dwight Evans (PA-02), Marcia L. Fudge (OH-11), Raúl Grijalva (AZ-03), Luis V. Gutiérrez (IL-04), Alcee L . Hastings (FL-20), Sheila Jackson Lee (TX-18), Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), Hakeem S. Jeffries (NY-08), Eddie Bernice Johnson (TX-30), Hank Johnson Jr. (GA-04), Robin L. Kelly (IL-02), Al Lawson (FL-05), Brenda Lawrence (MI-14), Barbara Lee (CA-13), John Lewis (GA-05), Donald McEachin (VA-04), James P. McGovern (MA-02), Gregory Meeks (NY-05), Gwen Moore (WI-04), Jerrold Nadler (NY-10), Grace F. Napolitano (CA-32), Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC), Frank Pallone Jr. (NJ-06), Donald Payne Jr. (NJ-10), Stacey E. Plaskett (VI), Jamie Raskin (MD-08), Cedric L. Richmond (LA-02), Bobby L. Rush (IL-01), David Scott (GA-13), José E. Serrano (NY-15), Terri A. Sewell (AL-07), Nydia M. Velázquez (NY-07), Maxine Waters (CA-43), Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12), and Frederica S. Wilson (FL-24).

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CONYERS: Medicare for All's time has come

Dean of the U.S. House
of Representatives
John Conyers, Jr.

I’m as happy as anyone with the way the Republicans’ plan to wreck our healthcare system crashed and burned. And President Donald Trump is right: Republicans lost because Democrats beat them. We beat them because we were organized, we were unified and we were backed by unprecedented grassroots energy. Members of the U.S. Congress hosted dozens of rallies, advocacy organizations hosted hundreds more and constituents showed up in overwhelming numbers at town halls across this country to make their voices heard.

And what exactly was their message? One of the most poignant moments came at a town hall hosted by U.S. Rep. Diane Black, Republican of Tennessee, where a constituent explained her opposition to the GOP bill using faith. As a Christian, she said, her faith was rooted in helping the unfortunate, not cutting taxes on the rich, so why not expand Medicaid and allow everyone to have insurance? And she’s not alone. Last week, a Quinnipiac survey found that voters overwhelmingly oppose cuts to Medicaid -- 74% of them -- including 54% among Republicans.

Given the record high support for publicly funded healthcare, economists, policy experts and commentators everywhere have called on the Democratic party to build on our momentum by supporting a single payer system. But perhaps the most convincing case I heard came from Jessi Bohan, the teacher from Cookeville, Tennessee who spoke at Rep. Black’s town hall.

The week after her question went viral she wrote to the Washington Post that she was troubled to see her comments used as a "defense of Obamacare" instead of what they were: an indictment of any healthcare policy that leaves anyone out. As Bohan so eloquently put it, "it is immoral for health care to be a for-profit enterprise" that allows insurance companies to make "enormous sums of money off the sick while people are struggling to pay their medical bills." If she had it to do over again, she wrote, she would have explained to Black "the Christian case for universal, single-payer health insurance, which would protect all Americans."

While her message was targeted at Republicans, it is one that many of my colleagues in the Democratic Party need to hear as well. For two weeks, I’ve watched Democrats point to theCongressional Budget Office’s analysis of the Paul Ryan bill and express righteous outrage that it would lead to 24 million Americans losing their insurance. But that same CBO score says that 28 million Americans will still be without insurance even under the Affordable Care Act. I’m impressed that the ACA has expanded Medicaid eligibility in states that have adopted it and more than 20 million previously uninsured now have insurance, but universal healthcare it is not.

Time and time again I’ve heard Democrats dodge questions about their support for universal healthcare by saying they’re focused right now on defending the ACA. Now that we have repelled Paul Ryan’s attack and Donald Trump has signaled that Republicans will move on, the time for those excuses has passed.

For years, I’ve also watched as Democrats, including our presidential nominee last year, have avoided putting their name behind single payer by saying they’re focused on politically achievable short-term goals.

Single payer is politically achievable.

Gallup, the Kaiser Family Foundation, and other polling organizations have found that there is majority support for Medicare for All in America today. But more important, elected officials are not supposed to move to the political center, we are supposed to stake out the moral center and convince others to join us there.

November’s election results showed that we can’t just say "the other side is awful," however true that may be, and expect Americans to flock to us. To win again, we must be a party of principles and present bold ideas and a vision for the future.

It is true that single-payer healthcare has been implemented in virtually every other advanced democracy on Earth. It is also true that in those countries, people live longer andhealthcare is dramatically less expensive than it is here. And finally, it is true that Medicare for All is the direction Americans overwhelmingly want us to go. Nevertheless, I want my colleagues to join me in supporting single-payer not to save money or to win elections, but because it is the moral and just thing to do. If, like me, you believe healthcare is a right to everyone and not a privilege to those who can afford it, let’s be organized and let’s be unified in our support for Medicare for All.

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CONYERS: Democrats Push Trump Administration to Protect the Education of Undocumented Children

WASHINGTON – Today, John Conyers (MI-13), Reps. Bobby Scott (VA-03),  Bennie Thompson (MS-02), and Zoe Lofgren (CA-19), the Ranking Members of the Committees on Education and the Workforce, Judiciary, Homeland Security, and Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security, respectively, sent a letter, below, to Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, and Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly asking them to remind public schools that they are still required to educate undocumented children, despite recent changes to immigration policies. Dean of the U.S. House of Representatives John Conyers, Jr. “We write to express concern that recent changes in immigration enforcement policies are creating fear, anxiety and confusion in immigrant communities around the country,” the Members wrote. “In this environment of trepidation, it is important that we do all we can to minimize the impact these policies have on public school attendance and student learning. One way to address this concern is to ensure that school enrollment and attendance practices do not chill school participation based on the students’ or their parent’s immigration status.” “To assuage increasing apprehensions, we request that the Department of Homeland Security issue a statement making clear that, in spite of other changes in enforcement policy, the sensitive locations policy remains in full effect, at schools and other localities,” the letter reads. “Fear of immigration enforcement actions cannot be allowed to create a hostile learning environment for our children.” In the Plyler v. Doe decision, the Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional to deny any child, including an undocumented child, access to a public education.  A student’s immigration status was irrelevant to the student’s right to access a public elementary and secondary education.

Democrats Request Trump Administration to Protect the Education of Undocumented Children Letter 4-3-2017 by Beverly Tran on Scribd

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