12-17-06, 9:28 am

Detroit, Michigan (12-15-06) – Appearing at a town hall meeting in Detroit, Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) called for a 'new American agenda' for the next session Congress. Conyers discussed a wide range of issues from the war in Iraq to the economy, health care, and the impeachment of President Bush. He declared the new session of Congress, set to begin on January 4, 2007, a 'brand new start after 12 years' of disastrous rule by the Republican Party.

'You are now being addressed by Chairman John Conyers of the House Judiciary Committee,' Conyers told an overflowing audience at the University of Detroit Mercy. He promised to use his authority and influence to help reverse the irresponsible lack of congressional oversight by the Republican-controlled House of the President on issues such as the war and the abuse of civil liberties.

The election on November 7, Rep. Conyers noted, was a referendum on the Bush administration and the Republican Party's ideas, its policies, and its methods of leadership. Conyers called for a national dialogue on a new American agenda and said he plans to hold more public forums in Michigan and across the country.

Conyers proceeded to discuss his opinion on a number of major issues that he intended to address from his new position in Congress. He cited D.C. statehood as one of the first items on the list.

He rejected the Republican's handling of the immigration issue. 'You really have got to be short of ideas if you can only come up with a wall to keep people out of the United States.' He stated that immigration policy that does not address the abuses of both workers and the system by employers will not work.

Conyers also chastised the Bush administration for its hostility for international law and treaties. Citing the administration’s efforts to undermine the Geneva Conventions, its refusal to follow guidelines in treaties signed by the U.S. regarding nuclear disarmament, and its mishandling of 'genocide issues,' Conyers argued, 'Without international law the planet can not go on, and we can not make an attempt to address and control war and divisions that exist in the world today.'

Conyers announced that he and Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) intended to re-introduce a bill in the House that would create a cabinet level Department of Peace. 'Somebody on the national level,' Conyers noted, 'has to be studying how to make peace.'

Conyers also congratulated Kucinich on his announced intention to run for the Democratic Party’s nomination for president. Conyers said that Kucinich would be the 'most progressive candidate' in the field.

Conyers further expressed support for the potential candidacy of Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) saying, 'here's a chance for a person of color to seriously run for president. And that has got to be given serious consideration.'

On the war issue, Conyers said, 'One of the most important things on our agenda is getting out of Iraq as quickly and as intelligently as possible.'

Conyers called the November election a referendum on ending the war. 'We can't stay the course,' he said. 'Our presence there continues and exacerbates the war.'

Conyers rejected Sen. John McCain's (R-AZ) call for increasing troop numbers in Iraq. He pointed out that there is no military solution to the violence in Iraq and urged regional diplomacy and the replacement of U.S. forces with UN peacekeepers. Conyers also rejected proposals made in the Iraq Study Group report to privatize Iraq's oil industry or to install permanent U.S. military bases in Iraq

Bush has ignored the warning signs about ending the war and is still trying to find a way to stay the course. 'Iraqis want us out. The American people want us out. Only one person is holding us up,' Conyers emphatically stated.

On the issue of the ongoing health care crisis, Rep. Conyers stated that the U.S. currently has the most expensive health care system in the world while 47 million people go without coverage and 30 or 40 million more lack adequate coverage for necessary care.

'It's time we had a universal single-payer health care plan,' Conyers said.

Conyers plans to reintroduce the United States National Healthcare Insurance Act (HR 676) in the new session of Congress, and called on the American people to pressure Congress to pass it. 'It's up to all of us to create a movement to bring universal health care to America,' he added.

On the economy, Conyers stated that he agreed with Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D-MI) who campaigned for the 2006 election on developing programs to diversify Michigan's economy and provided training programs to help workers find jobs in the new economy. Conyers pointed to the decline in auto manufacturing in the state and said that people here have to have resources for rebuilding the state’s economy.

Nationally, a similar course must be followed. Conyers said that policymakers are responsible for answering the question 'How do we get back to a full employment economy?' He endorsed the ideas behind the Humphrey-Hawkins Jobs and Balanced Growth Act of the 1970s, which requires the federal government to develop employment programs for people who can't find work in the private sector.

In addition to these major issues, Conyers promised that his committee would open investigations of a number of concerns raised under Republican control of the House over the course of the Bush presidency.

On voting reforms, Conyers said that real measures must be put in place to protect the ballot from outright theft, vote suppression, and faulty voting machinery.

He said his committee would reexamine major abuses of civil liberties such as the PATRIOT Act and the Bush administration’s warrantless wiretapping program. Congress has the duty to 'cut the PATRIOT Act down to size' and to 'cut back Bush's power grab.'

Conyers also called for hearings on the handling of intelligence that pushed America to war with Iraq. He said that he believed that the war was planned well before the fall of 2002 and that 'concealments, misstatements, and exaggerations' got us into this 'misbegotten war that should never have been started.' Conyers added that the war has failed to reduce the threat of terrorism and has distracted from global efforts to stop terrorism.

Conyers refused to introduce articles of impeachment, saying that such a move required much more popular support, a bipartisan effort in Congress, and a stronger Democratic majority to accomplish.

HIV/AIDS has to be made a national priority, Conyers continued, and a universal health care would be the best comprehensive tool for doing so. He insisted that funding for a national health care program and for treating and finding a cure for HIV/AIDS have to come out of the military budget.

He called for revamping foreign policy efforts, opening talks with regional powers in the Middle East, talks with North Korea and China rather than confrontation, and for the U.S. 'to take the lead on disarmament.'

Conyers added support for proposed reforms that would address global warming, protections for pensions, and a Constitutional amendment being offered by Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL) that would make health care a right.

Conyers also announced his plan to introduce a bankruptcy law reform bill with Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN) that would give greater protection to consumers. The bill would also require major multinational corporations who use bankruptcy claims to break collective bargaining contracts with unions in order to kill benefits and cut wages to show their international as well as domestic financial records to the bankruptcy judge.

In closing, Rep. Conyers called for 'a people's agenda' that provides 'jobs, justice, and peace.'

--Joel Wendland is managing editor of Political Affairs and can be reached at