John Conyers

Mr. CONYERS

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Doggett), a former member of the Supreme Court of his state.

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Deutsch).

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi).

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Wisconsin, who is the ranking Member on the Judiciary, for his explanation. The one thing it did not include, of course, was that only Members who were trying to have their minds made up were the only ones that came over to the Ford Building that were not members of the Committee on the Judiciary two days before this proceeding on the floor. And I am glad to know now that everybody could have come over but nobody apparently availed themselves until this last minute twisting of arms took place.

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to yield 3\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Wynn), and I ask him to yield a few seconds to me.

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I have just been advised that the chairman of the House Committee on the Judiciary has unilaterally permitted other Members other than committee members to visit the Ford Building to read other materials unbeknownst to me and we had not allowed any Democratic Members to go over there because we did not know that they were permitted to attend if they were not members of the Committee on the Judiciary. And I thank the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Barr) for pointing that out to us. It is an incredible violation of our democratic rights, and I am deeply offended by it.

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Waxman), ranking member of the former Government Operations Committee, and ask that he yield to me briefly.

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 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 3 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Hastings).

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Klink).

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 3\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Markey).

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, could I point out to my distinguished scholars and members of the Committee on the Judiciary, we are not trying to solve this problem within this debate. Let's bring up the motion and we can debate its constitutionality or its unconstitutionality. You surely must know that there have been censures in our American history.

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos) 1 minute.

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 4\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos), a dear friend of mine from the old Government Operations Committee.

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Manton), a distinguished attorney and Member of the House. (Mr. MANTON asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from California (Mr. Rogan), a prosecutor, has indicated for the first time in all of our hearings that there were 16,000 cases of perjury in the State of California alone. I would beg him to supply at any time at his convenience any indication for the Record what source he uses for that statement. There are some that question whether there are 16,000 cases a year in all of our courts much less one State. My friend, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. McCollum) has now brought forward a matter that has been aired sufficiently in the Committee on the Judiciary that he could not possibly have forgotten, that the cell phone incident occurred 1\1/2\ hours after the gifts were returned. Now, perhaps he has a lapse of memory. The record is clear in our hearings and why this would be introduced at this time is beyond this Member. I thank the gentleman for yielding to me.

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Rothman), a distinguished member of the Committee on the Judiciary.

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Jefferson). Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Major Owens), an outstanding member of the committee. (Mr. OWENS asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Tony Hall).

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from the Virgin Islands (Ms. Christian-Green).

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Kennedy). (Mr. KENNEDY of Massachusetts asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. CONYERS. First of all, Mr. Speaker, I want to indicate my concurrence in the position raised by the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Bonior), but is there any reason why the chairman, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hyde), could not wait for 2 days before proceeding with this very serious undertaking, until at least our brave soldiers may be out of harm's way before we proceed?

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, it is our plan to recognize our leadership, and then our members of the Committee on the Judiciary, and then the rest of our distinguished membership on this side. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield three minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Gephardt), our minority leader. (Mr. GEPHARDT asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. CONYERS

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, last night the president ordered an American missile attack on Iraq. Going to war is one of the most serious decisions that Congress can make, and that is why I chose to not take this vote lightly. As a veteran and a Member of Congress, I will honor our troops by working to keep them out of harm's way and the world at peace. I am convinced that the effect of H. Res. 612 will be for Congress to abandon its proper role on deciding when to go to war, one of the greatest issues of Constitutional importance. This act of war being undertaken raises many questions in my mind. How long does the bombing need to go on before the executive will obtain congressional authority? At what point will we deem the bombing a success? What are our goals in the bombing? If the stated goal of the bombing is to destroy weapons of mass destruction, then that is what this resolution should have declared. The United Nations must remain a central component of our policy toward Iraq. I believe it is extremely dangerous to carry out this bombing without the full support of our allies. Failing to do so not only undermines our trust internationally, it also denies our troops the additional military support they deserve. In addition, I do not believe that it is up to the United States to unilaterally determine what constitutes a violation of United Nations Security Council Resolutions. That role properly resides with the UN Security Council. China, Russia and France are already outraged with the American decision to interpret the resolution unilaterally. I am also concerned because this bombing campaign will in effect, if not intent, abandon UNSCOM, the special commission created after the Gulf War to carry out weapons inspections. This clearly begs the question: What will our new disarmament policy be? And how will we conduct inspections, since, as the Pentagon has pointed out, much of the inspection equipment will be destroyed? UNSCOM is an imperfect tool, but it is a necessary tool. This resolution affirms that it should be the policy of the United States to overthrow Saddam Hussein. Members of Congress need to know if this means that our troops will remain engaged in combat until that happens. If overthrowing the government is a reference to a massive covert operation, I would point out that the record of such undertaking in Iraq is not comforting. The New York Times has called the proposed operation an ``expensive fantasy,'' and I think there are a lot of serious problems to consider. For one, we're not sure if the opposition in Southern Iraq actually controls any territory or how united they are. I also doubt that we will be able to get our allies in the region to endorse the overt overthrow of the Government of Iraq, however unpopular that government may be among our friends and the Iraqi people. Kuwait has insisted that any covert action should be part of a larger policy, including one that better addresses the humanitarian crisis in Iraq. Otherwise it is unsustainable. Most critically, when we get down to life or death decisions during a covert action, how far will U.S. support be willing to go? I can imagine some horrible scenarios if the U.S. is asked to help the Iraqi resistance if their rebellion appears to be failing. Haven't we been down this road before? We need to keep the United Nations at center stage, and reinvent a vigorous weapons inspection regime that facilitates disarmament in the Middle East. We need to build political support in Iraq and in the region by revisiting the economic sanctions that have caused a great humanitarian disaster. Most importantly, all of these efforts must be the product of a clear and strong international consensus.