Press Releases

Chairman Goodlatte: From an immigration standpoint, perhaps the most essential lesson from the 9/11 terrorist acts is that foreign nationals who want to do us harm will exploit all aspects of our generous immigration policy to do so - even if it takes months or years. Tragically, our allies in France learned that same lesson when over 120 people, including at least one American, were slaughtered by ISIS terrorists.  And we know that at least one of the perpetrators registered as a refugee from Syria while in transit to Paris. Armed with that knowledge, today we examine the Administration’s plan to admit thousands of Syrians into the U.S.

Washington, D.C.  – The House of Representatives today approved by a vote of 289-137 the American Security Against Foreign Enemies Act of 2015 (H.R. 4038). This bill requires comprehensive background checks of every refugee from Iraq or Syria before they can be admitted into the United States and certification that each does not pose a threat. Since the House Judiciary Committee has jurisdiction of our nation’s immigration laws, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) managed the debate time for H.R.

Chairman Goodlatte: The legislation the Committee will consider today is the culmination of three years of work on over-criminalization and criminal justice reform. In the 113th Congress, I along with Ranking Member Conyers, established an Over-Criminalization Task Force, which held nine hearings on a variety of topics including over-criminalization, over federalization, sentencing reform, prison reform, and regulatory crime. Building upon the work of the Task Force, the Ranking Member and I launched a Criminal Justice Reform Initiative in June of this year.

Chairman Goodlatte: H.R.

Chairman Goodlatte: The Office of the Law Revision Counsel has an ongoing responsibility under section 285b of title 2 of the United States Code to maintain the United States Code and assist the House Judiciary Committee in the revision and codification of Federal statutes. In order to maintain and improve the United States Code, the Office of the Law Revision Counsel must occasionally undertake editorial reclassification projects to reorganize areas of law that have outgrown their original boundaries, or to eliminate organizational units that are no longer efficient.

Chairman Goodlatte: H.R. 4001, the “Fix the Footnotes Act of 2015,” introduced by Congressman Ken Buck of Colorado, is a technical but important piece of legislation.  This bill fixes the footnotes placed by the Law Revision Counsel in Title 18 whenever it appears Congress has made an error in drafting or for clarity. The last piece of comprehensive legislation addressing this issue was enacted in 2002.  Before that, it was the 1994 crime bill – passed by Congress more than twenty years ago.  It is time for Congress to act again to correct clerical and drafting errors in the criminal code. H.R.

Chairman Goodlatte: H.R. 4023, the “Clean Up the Code Act of 2015,” introduced by Congressman Steve Chabot of Ohio, strikes several sections of the U.S.

Washington, D.C.  – The House Judiciary Committee today approved by voice vote bipartisan legislation to reform federal sentencing laws. The Sentencing Reform Act of 2015 (H.R.