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Founding Member/Dean, Congressional Black Caucus
Member, Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues
Member, Congressional Census Caucus
Member, Congressional Family Caucus
Member, Congressional Human Rights Caucus
Founder, Congressional Out of Afghanistan Caucus
Member, Congressional Progressive Caucus
Member, Congressional Steel Caucus
Founder/Chair, Congressional Universal Health Care Task Force
Member, Congressional Urban Caucus
Member, Democratic Homeland Security Task Force
Former Ranking Member, Judiciary Committee, United States House of Representatives
Member, Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights
Chair, Committee on Government Operations, 1989-1994
Astrological Sign:
Taurus
Favorite Type of Music:
Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Monk, Charlie Parker, & progressive bebop
Hobbies or Special Talents:
Reading
1. Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation?
- Pro-choice
In order to balance the budget, do you support an income tax increase on any tax bracket?
- Yes
1. Do you support mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent drug offenders?
- No
1. Do you support federal spending as a means of promoting economic growth?
- Yes
2. Do you support lowering taxes as a means of promoting economic growth?
- Yes
1. Do you generally support requiring states to adopt federal education standards?
- Yes
1. Do you support building the Keystone XL pipeline?
- No
2. Do you support government funding for the development of renewable energy (e.g. solar, wind, thermal)?
- Yes
Do you support the federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions?
- Yes
Do you generally support gun-control legislation?
- Yes
Do you support repealing the 2010 Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare")?
- No
1. Do you support requiring immigrants who are unlawfully present to return to their country of origin before they are eligible for citizenship?
- No
Do you support same-sex marriage?
- Yes
1. Do you support increased American intervention in Iraq and Syria beyond air support?
- No
1. Do you support allowing individuals to divert a portion of their Social Security taxes into personal retirement accounts?
- No
1. Abortions should always be illegal.
- No Answer
2. Abortions should always be legal.
- No Answer
3. Abortions should be legal only within the first trimester of pregnancy.
- No Answer
4. Abortions should be legal when the pregnancy resulted from incest or rape.
- No Answer
5. Abortions should be legal when the life of the woman is endangered.
- No Answer
6. Prohibit public funding of abortions and to organizations that advocate or perform abortions.
- No Answer
7. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer
1. Agriculture
- Slightly Increase
2. Arts
- Slightly Increase
3. Defense
- Greatly Decrease
4. Education
- Greatly Increase
5. Environment
- Greatly Increase
6. Homeland security
- Greatly Increase
7. International aid
- Greatly Increase
8. Law enforcement
- Greatly Increase
9. Medical research
- Greatly Increase
10. National parks
- Slightly Increase
11. Public health services
- Greatly Increase
12. Scientific research
- Slightly Increase
13. Space exploration programs
- Greatly Decrease
14. Transportation and highway infrastructure
- Greatly Increase
15. Welfare
- Greatly Increase
16. Emergency preparedness
- Greatly Increase
17. Other or expanded categories
- No Answer
1. Armed Forces personnel training
- Greatly Increase
2. Intelligence operations
- Maintain Status
3. Military hardware
- Maintain Status
4. Modernization of weaponry and equipment
- Slightly Increase
5. National missile defense
- Eliminate
6. Pay for active duty personnel
- Greatly Increase
7. Programs to improve troop retention rates
- Slightly Increase
8. Research and development of new weapons
- Greatly Decrease
9. Troop and equipment readiness
- Greatly Increase
10. Other or expanded categories
- No Answer
1. Less than $25,000
- Eliminate
2. $25,000-$75,000
- Greatly Decrease
3. $75,000-$150,000
- Slightly Decrease
4. Over $150,000
- Slightly Increase
5. Over $40,000
- No Answer
6. Other or expanded categories
- No Answer
7. Alcohol taxes
- Greatly Increase
8. Capital gains taxes
- Greatly Increase
9. Cigarette taxes
- Greatly Increase
10. Corporate taxes
- Slightly Increase
11. Gasoline taxes
- Greatly Decrease
12. Inheritance taxes
- Maintain Status
13. Charitable contributions
- Greatly Increase
14. Child tax credit
- Greatly Increase
15. Earned income tax credit
- Greatly Increase
16. Medical expense deduction
- Greatly Increase
17. Mortgage deduction
- Greatly Increase
18. Student loan credit
- Greatly Increase
1. Do you support the permanent repeal of the federal estate tax?
- No
2. Do you support making President Bush's tax cuts permanent?
- No
3. Discuss your proposals for balancing the federal budget. (75 words or less. Please use an attached page if the space below is not adequate.)
- No Answer
4. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer
1. Support public taxpayer funding for federal candidates who comply with campaign spending limits.
- X
2. Increase the amount individuals are permitted to contribute to federal campaigns.
- No Answer
3. Prohibit Political Action Committee (PAC) contributions to candidates for federal office.
- No Answer
4. Allow unregulated soft money campaign contributions to political parties or committees.
- No Answer
5. Remove all contribution limits on federal campaigns and parties.
- No Answer
6. Require Section 527 organizations to register with the Federal Election Commission as Political Action Committees.
- No Answer
7. Do you support instant run-off voting?
- No Answer
8. Should Election Day be a national holiday?
- Yes
9. Do you support a constitutional amendment that would define marriage as a union between a man and woman?
- No Answer
10. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer
1. Support the use of the death penalty for federal crimes.
- No Answer
2. Eliminate the use of the death penalty for federal crimes.
- X
3. Support programs to provide prison inmates with educational, vocational and job-related skills and job-placement assistance when released.
- X
4. Support programs to provide prison inmates with drug and alcohol addiction treatment.
- X
5. Reduce prison sentences for those who commit non-violent crimes.
- X
6. Require that crimes based on gender, sexual orientation, and disability be prosecuted as federal hate crimes.
- X
7. Impose stricter penalties for those convicted of corporate crimes.
- No Answer
8. Minors accused of a violent crime should be prosecuted as adults.
- No Answer
9. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer
1. Support mandatory jail sentences for selling illegal drugs.
- No Answer
2. Expand federally sponsored drug education and drug treatment programs.
- X
3. Decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana.
- No Answer
4. Allow doctors to recommend marijuana to their patients for medicinal purposes.
- X
5. Increase border security to stop the flow of illegal drugs into the United States.
- X
6. Eliminate federal funding for programs associated with the "war on drugs."
- No Answer
7. Support a federal law to standardize testing and penalties for steroid use in professional sports.
- No Answer
8. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer
1. Support national standards for and testing of public school students.
- No Answer
2. Allow parents to use vouchers, (equal opportunity scholarships) to send their children to any public school.
- No Answer
3. Allow parents to use vouchers, (equal opportunity scholarships) to send their children to any private or religious school.
- No Answer
4. Allow teachers and professionals to receive authorization and funding to establish charter schools.
- X
5. Reward teachers with merit pay for working in low-income schools.
- X
6. Increase funding for school capital improvements (e.g. buildings, infrastructure, technology).
- X
7. Support affirmative action in public college admissions.
- X
8. Increase funding of programs such as Pell grants and Stafford loans to help students pay for college.
- X
9. Support federal tax incentives to help families save for college.
- X
1. Increase funding for national job-training programs that re-train displaced workers or teach skills needed in today's job market.
- X
2. Reduce government regulation of the private sector in order to encourage investment and economic expansion.
- No Answer
3. Provide tax credits or grants to businesses that offer child care services to employees.
- X
4. Encourage employers to offer flex-time scheduling, comp-time, and unpaid leave for family emergencies.
- X
5. Eliminate all federal programs designed to reduce unemployment.
- No Answer
6. Increase the federal minimum wage.
- X
7. Support the right of workers to strike without fear of being permanently replaced.
- X
8. Include sexual orientation in federal anti-discrimination laws.
- X
9. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer
10. The federal government should consider race and gender in government contracting decisions.
- X
11. The federal government should discontinue affirmative action programs.
- No Answer
12. The federal government should continue affirmative action programs.
- X
1. Strengthen the regulation and enforcement of the Clean Water Act.
- X
2. Strengthen the regulation and enforcement of the Clean Air Act.
- X
3. Support Clear Skies Act to reduce power plant emissions by setting a national cap on pollutants.
- No Answer
4. Require states to compensate citizens when environmental regulations limit uses of privately-owned land.
- No Answer
5. Relax logging restrictions on federal lands.
- No Answer
6. Relax standards on federal lands to allow increased recreational usage.
- X
7. Support increased development of traditional energy resources (e.g. coal, natural gas, oil).
- No Answer
8. Strengthen emission controls and fuel efficiency standards on all gasoline and diesel-powered engines, including cars, trucks, and sport utility vehicles.
- No Answer
9. Support opening a portion of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil exploration.
- No Answer
10. Encourage further development and use of alternative fuels to reduce pollution.
- X
11. Support the use of ethanol as an alternative fuel.
- X
12. Allow energy producers to trade pollution credits.
- X
13. Support the Kyoto Protocol to limit global warming.
- X
14. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer
1. Reauthorize the ban on the sale or transfer of semi-automatic guns, except those used for hunting.
- X
2. Maintain and strengthen the current level of enforcement of existing federal restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns.
- X
3. Ease federal restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns.
- No Answer
4. Repeal federal restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns.
- No Answer
5. Allow citizens to carry concealed guns.
- No Answer
6. Require background checks on gun sales between private citizens at gun shows.
- X
7. Require a license for gun possession.
- No Answer
8. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer
1. Providing health care is not a responsibility of the federal government.
- No Answer
2. Implement a universal health care program to guarantee coverage to all Americans regardless of income.
- X
3. Expand eligibility for tax-free medical savings accounts.
- No Answer
4. Establish limits on the amount of punitive damages awarded in medical malpractice lawsuits.
- No Answer
5. Support expanding prescription drug coverage under Medicare.
- X
6. Offer tax credits to individuals and small businesses to offset the cost of insurance coverage.
- X
7. Support automatic enrollment of children in federal health care programs such as CHIP and Medicaid.
- X
8. Support stem cell research on existing lines of stem cells.
- X
9. Allow laboratories to create new lines of stem cells for additional research.
- X
1. Decrease the number of legal immigrants allowed into the country.
- No Answer
2. Establish English as the official national language.
- No Answer
3. Support a temporary worker program that would enable illegal immigrants to work in the United States legally.
- No Answer
4. Relax restrictions barring legal immigrants from using government funded social programs (e.g. public housing, food stamps).
- No Answer
5. Support amnesty for illegal immigrants already working in the United States.
- No Answer
1. Aid should be granted to countries when extraordinary circumstances cause disaster and threaten civilian lives.
- X
2. Aid should be granted to countries when it is in the security interests of the United States.
- X
3. Aid should be eliminated for any nation with documented human rights abuses.
- No Answer
4. International Aid programs should be scaled back and eventually eliminated.
- No Answer
5. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer
1. Should the United States continue to provide leadership in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process?
- Yes
2. Should the United States support the creation of a Palestinian state?
- Yes
3. Should the United States withdraw its troops from Iraq?
- Yes
4. Should the United States send more troops to Iraq?
- No
5. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer
6. Should the United States use diplomatic and economic pressure to encourage North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program?
- No Answer
7. Should the United States use military force to dismantle the North Korean nuclear weapons program?
- No Answer
8. Should the United States remove the North Korean government from power?
- No Answer
9. Should the United States increase financial support to Afghanistan?
- Yes
10. Should the United States increase military support to Afghanistan?
- No Answer
11. Should the United States maintain its financial support of the United Nations?
- Yes
12. Should the United States decrease its financial support of the United Nations?
- No
13. Should the United States commit troops to United Nations peacekeeping missions?
- Yes
14. Should the United States lift the travel ban to Cuba?
- Yes
15. Should the United States increase its financial support to Colombia to combat "the war on drugs?"
- No
16. Should aid to African nations for AIDS prevention programs fund distribution of contraceptives?
- Yes
17. Should aid to African nations for AIDS prevention programs fund abstinence education?
- No Answer
1. Do you support the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)?
- No
2. Do you support the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA)?
- No
3. Do you support the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)?
- No Answer
4. Do you support continued U.S. membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO)?
- Yes
5. Should a nation's human rights record affect its normal trade relations (most favored nation) status with the United States?
- Yes
6. Do you support the trade embargo against Cuba?
- No
7. Should trade agreements include provisions to address environmental concerns and to protect workers' rights?
- Yes
8. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer
1. Do you support using military tribunals to try suspected terrorists when ordinary civilian courts are deemed inappropriate or impractical?
- No Answer
2. Should the United States grant law enforcement agencies greater discretion to read mail and email, tap phones, and conduct random searches to prevent future terrorist attacks?
- No Answer
3. Should the United States hold foreign states accountable for terrorists who operate in their country?
- No Answer
4. Should the federal government increase funding to states and cities for homeland security?
- No Answer
5. Do you support the prohibition of torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment of prisoners in U.S. custody?
- No Answer
6. Do you support a policy of pre-emptive military strikes against countries deemed to be a threat to U.S. national security?
- No Answer
7. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer
1. Allow workers to invest a portion of their payroll tax in private accounts which they manage themselves.
- No Answer
2. Allow workers to invest a portion of their payroll tax in private accounts managed by private firms contracted by the government.
- No Answer
3. Invest a portion of Social Security assets collectively in stocks and bonds instead of United States Treasury securities.
- No Answer
4. Increase the payroll tax to better finance Social Security in its current form.
- X
5. Lower the annual cost-of-living increases.
- No Answer
6. Raise the retirement age for individual eligibility to receive full Social Security benefits.
- No Answer
7. Other of expanded principles
- No Answer
1. Collect taxes on commercial Internet transactions.
- No Answer
2. Continue the moratorium on Internet taxation.
- No Answer
3. Implement government regulation of Internet content.
- No Answer
4. Support government mandates to curtail violent and sexual content on television.
- No Answer
5. Support strict penalties for Internet crimes (e.g. hacking, identity theft, worms/viruses).
- X
6. Support legislation to detail how personal information can be collected and used on the Internet.
- X
7. Regulating the Internet is not a responsibility of the federal government.
- No Answer
8. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer
1. Require welfare recipients to spend at least 40 hours a week in a combination of work and training programs.
- No Answer
2. Increase funding for child care programs.
- X
3. Continue to give states and local governments flexibility in and responsibility for welfare programs through federal block grants.
- X
4. Direct federal poverty aid through religious, community-based, or other non-profit organizations.
- X
5. Abolish all federal welfare programs.
- No Answer
6. Support housing assistance for welfare recipients.
- X
On an attached page, disk, or via email, please explain in a total of 75 words or less, your top two or three priorities if elected. If they require additional funding for implementation, please explain how you would obtain this funding.
- No Answer
Latest Action: House - 11/17/2017 Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
Tracker:Latest Action: House - 11/14/2017 Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Tracker:Latest Action: House - 12/13/2017 Referred to the Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security.
Tracker:By John Conyers and Ro Khanna Numerous false narratives have been advanced to sow division in the American electorate, with few more pernicious than the myth of voter fraud. Created as a tactic to justify discriminatory voter suppression practices, this mythos threatens our most fundamental constitutional right and undermines the core democratic values of republican government. The myth that voter fraud is rampant and our elections are infiltrated by undocumented immigrants was used as a pretext for state legislatures across our nation to make it harder for minorities to vote. Against the tide of reforms to expand the franchise for all voters, states like North Carolina began to repeal common sense legislation designed to ease the inconvenience of antiquated voting practices. In 2013, the state enacted a law allowing election boards to cut voting hours. The state Republican Party even informed election officials that "Republicans can and should make party line changes to early voting." Consequently, 23 counties reduced early voting, accounting for half of all registered voters. The North Carolina law also included strict voter ID requirements and banned same-day voter registration, but was later stuck down by an appeals court. A Federal District Court found that the law was written with "discriminatory intent" that surgically targeted African Americans who use early voting more than whites. However, despite successful legal challenges, this voter suppression strategy has served as a blueprint for states across the county, producing in predictable results. The real objective of the voter fraud strategy was suppression of the votes of minorities to achieve a cynical, partisan political outcome. Researchers from U.C. San Diego and Bucknell University measured the consequences of voter ID laws and found that they have a dramatic and discouraging effect on minority turnout. In primaries in states with strict voter ID laws, Latino turnout decreased by nine points, African-American turnout by 8.6 points and Asian-Americans by 12.5 points. Despite these sobering statistics, courts remain divided on voter ID requirements, creating significant voter confusion. A federal judge has twice struck down Texas' voter ID law because it was "enacted with discriminatory intent" and unfairly burdened hundreds of thousands of Hispanic and African-American voters, given that only two instances of fraudulent voting were found in Texas in the preceding decade out of 20 million votes cast. Conversely, though Wisconsin's voter ID law was invalidated after a finding that it would disproportionately disenfranchise working-class Americans and minorities who could not afford photo IDs, that decision was reversed by a federal appeals court just before the 2016 election, making it difficult for hundreds of thousands of Wisconsinites to vote. A nation that hails itself as a beacon of democracy should not tolerate tactics that suppress voter turnout. Numerous studies have proven that the claim of widespread voter fraud is in fact a fraud itself. In one example, Lorraine Minnite, author of The Myth of Voter Fraud, found only one case of voter fraud from 2000 to 2005. Similarly, President George W. Bush's Justice Department also enthusiastically investigated voter fraud claims, but found no coordinated fraud effort. That these plans were intended to target voters on the basis of party-line, race and class is even more anti-democratic and destructive to our system of government. As a core American value, we must be committed to expanding the right to vote and eliminating structural barriers to participation. A series of reform policies can and should be enacted at the federal level to apply equality and fairness across our elections: eliminate strict voter ID laws that discriminate against the working class and minorities; make election-day a national holiday; extend voting hours and increase the number of early voting days; and automatically register all eligible voters. Every eligible American deserves to exercise their constitutional right to vote, have their voices heard, and strengthen the political market place of ideas. Polling has shown that a bipartisan majority of Americans support practices to make voting more convenient. The battle of ideas, not cheap political tactics, will protect and strengthen our democracy. Both sides of the aisle should feel confident enough that their ideas can appeal to the majority without having to disenfranchise those who might vote against them.
By John Conyers, Hank Johnson, David Cicilline, and Don Beyer The recent Equifax data breach jeopardized the economic security of nearly half of all Americans because of the credit rating company's failure to safeguard our most sensitive information, which could now be in the hands of criminals. To make matters worse, many of those affected by this massive security breach are unsure whether they even have legal recourse because of the company's use of forced arbitration clauses. Americans are right to be outraged and frustrated and should be especially concerned about the use of forced arbitration by credit rating agencies like Equifax. Forced arbitration clauses are a predatory consumer practice written into the fine print of contracts. Signers unknowingly waive their right to sue and are forced into arbitration if a dispute arises. Americans should have a right to choose whether to sue or to seek arbitration. Preemptively eliminating our access to the justice system is a violation of every American's right as a consumer. The justice system is one of the few tools that average citizens have to fight deceitful and harmful business practices, vindicate their rights, and pursue justice. Equifax partially revised its forced arbitration policy in response to public outcry, but a limited change is not sufficient given the systemic nature of this problem and the scope of the lives affected. In recognition of the importance of Americans' access to justice, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) finalized a rule to eliminate forced arbitration from consumer financial product contracts. This protection restores the rights of Americans to seek their day in court, and the transparency that comes with it, if their rights are violated by unscrupulous financial services and products. This protection is vital for the economic security of the American people and our country's commitment to the rule of law. But rather than support this commonsense protection, credit rating agencies, like Equifax, reportedly campaigned against it and spent millions in political contributions to undermine both the CFPB rule and the CFPB itself. The Equifax data breach shook public confidence in the entire credit rating industry. Companies such as Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian should take this moment to demonstrate their respect for the rights of customers, not undermine them. This is why we wrote to ask the three credit rating agencies to revise their terms of service and eliminate their use of forced arbitration and class action waivers on all the products they offer. Furthermore, we asked that they end their opposition to the CFPB arbitration rule to restore consumers' day in court. Forced arbitration clauses are a bald and predatory attempt to shield corporations from liability for their misconduct through the fine print of contracts. The credit rating agencies who we trust with our most sensitive data should not be actively working to undermine consumer rights. They should support the CFPB and the rule against forced arbitration. Congress must also step forward to protect consumer's rights. We have led the push in the House to pass the Arbitration Fairness Act, which would eliminate forced arbitration. It deserves a vote. Unfortunately House and Senate Republicans sought a different path. A Republican measure to repeal the CFPB rule, supported by all three credit rating agencies, passed the House of Representatives in July on a nearly-straight party-line vote. It is currently pending in the Senate. We cannot afford to let it pass. The right of your and every other American's access to the justice system is at stake.
