John Conyers

Mr. CONYERS

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Gephardt), the minority leader of the House, to begin the debate on the motion to instruct on this most important vote on civil rights in this session of Congress. (Mr. GEPHARDT asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Bonior), the minority whip of the House.

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Indianapolis, Indiana (Ms. Carson). (Ms. CARSON asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 30 seconds. Mr. Speaker, my friend from Arkansas (Mr. Hutchinson) mentioned the Laramie, Wyoming tragedy with Matthew Shepard. Yesterday, here on the Hill, the police chief of Laramie, Wyoming, joined us in support of our hate crimes prevention act. He met with us yesterday. I might point out that the National Sheriffs Association supports this motion to instruct and the International Association of Chiefs of Police supports this motion to instruct. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman form Missouri (Mr. Skelton), the ranking member from the Committee on Armed Services.

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 15 seconds to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Frank).

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from Wisconsin (Ms. Baldwin), a distinguished member of the Committee on the Judiciary.

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. McCollum), the chairman of the Subcommittee on Crime of the Committee on the Judiciary.

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Delahunt), himself a prosecutor and member of the Committee on the Judiciary.

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Maryland (Mrs. Morella), a leader in the Violence Against Women Act.

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Maloney). (Mrs. MALONEY of New York asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Lowey). (Mrs. LOWEY asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Crowley).

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Frank).

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi).

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Lewis), the deputy whip on the minority side.

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Frank).

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, this measure continues the great struggle for equal justice of all Americans that started in the 1930s with the anti-lynch laws. It has been refined, it has been expanded, it has had a constitutional basis that has been very deeply rooted, and I urge and thank all of the Members who will support this motion to instruct.

Mr. CONYERS. I yield to the gentlewoman from Texas. Point of Order

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will yield, I was yielding pursuant to a request to yield. If it is the gentleman's insistence, though, that I do not do it, I withdraw it.

Mr. CONYERS. I yield to the gentlewoman from Texas. (Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mr. CONYERS

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer) and the gentlemen who have participated in bringing this measure forward. I was very moved by the remarks of the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton). This plays right into the book recently written by Randall Robinson called The Debt in which he, touring the Capitol with his wife, found this tremendous sculpture about everybody that had contributed, but there were no depictions of slaves and their contribution. So all of the dialogue tonight has been very, very important in beginning to recognize and bring forward, as scholars are, as forums are going on in our universities, in which we are bringing up the records of the slaves, of their travels across the waters, the insurance records, and a lot of other factual materials. So it seems to me that we are moving inextricably into the question of how we recognize and study the question of reparations as may affect them. I could not imagine this conversation just going on tonight without us examining what we do in the preparation of a commission to study the history of slaves and their descendants in terms of their contributions and where we might fit into the picture presently. So I see this as a tapestry, a very important part of it. I see the hate crimes bill shortly being very important in which we take the subject of the lynching, the hate crimes started back in the 1920s when the civil rights movement, the NAACP began the great rush to federalize the lynching of African Americans. Then, after Dr. King's assassination in 1968, we got the first hate crimes bill; and we have another pending in this body now. So much of our legislation is moving together. This resolution giving recognition to the contribution of people of color, both free and enslaved, is a very important step forward. I commend all who have contributed toward it. I thank the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer) for yielding me this time.

Mr. CONYERS

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker, the Scoutmaster's Handbook emphasizes these points about being morally straight, and I quote from the United States Supreme Court decision. ``In any consideration of moral fitness, a key word has to be courage, a boy's courage to do what his head and his heart tell him is right, and the courage to refuse to do what his heart and his head say is wrong. Moral fitness, like emotional fitness, will clearly present opportunities for wise guidance by an alert scoutmaster.'' Then the court goes on to say, ``It is plain as the light of day that neither one of these principles, morally straight and clean, quote- unquote, says the slightest thing about homosexuality. Indeed, neither term in the Boy Scouts' law and oath expresses any position whatsoever on sexual matters.'' So the process we have been in today, the most unusual one that I can remember being party to on the floor, we have had a bill brought before us that was not considered by the Committee on the Judiciary or the Subcommittee on Immigration and Claims and the sponsor of the bill did not request the bill be placed on the floor. So we can assume only that it has been placed on the floor as a political stunt. I, for one, will not be a part of this cynical game. Republicans, most of them have no intention of voting for this bill. They have no intention of getting it through the Senate. They have no intention of doing anything to come to the aid of children who are discriminated against because of their sexual orientation. They, the leadership, have bottled up hate crimes legislation because they do not care enough about the lives of children who are victimized or killed because of their sexual orientation. They will not stand up to gay bashing. They want to do nothing except play these kinds of games, which, to me, does a great disrespect to our legislative process. I do not believe that revoking the Federal charter of the Boy Scouts is the proper remedy at this time. Revoking the Federal charter would not have any effect on the Boy Scouts. I urge that those who support me vote present on this matter.

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I thank you. Mr. Speaker, I ask the gentleman, have there been any hearings in the Committee on the Judiciary?

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman again for his comments. And so you are against this bill, have not had any hearings, there have been no votes in committee, and you are urging that we rush it through this process when it has never been through the committee. If that is the case, sir, then I would ask unanimous consent to have this suspension bill removed from the calendar.

Mr. CONYERS

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to clause 7c of rule XXII, I hereby announce my intention to offer a motion to instruct conferees on H.R. 4205 tomorrow. The form of the motion is as follows: I move that the managers on the part of the House at the conference on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the Senate amendment to the bill H.R. 4205 be instructed to agree to the provisions contained in title 15 of the Senate amendment.