Rep. Conyers Won’t Bother Reading Health Care Bill Before Vote

The ethically challenged chairman of the House Judiciary Committee has publicly admitted that he won’t bother reading President Obama’s massive health care bill before voting on it and ridiculed lawmakers who plan to.  

During a speech at Washington D.C.’s National Press Club, Michigan Democrat John Conyers questions the point of reading the 1,018-page America’s Affordable Health Care Choices Act and pokes fun at colleagues who actually take the time to do it. 

In the Press Club video, linked by a news web site, the charismatic House Judiciary Chairman says: “What good is reading the bill if it’s a thousand pages and you don’t have two days and two lawyers to find out what it means after you read the bill?” He also demeans legislators who insist on sorting through the proposed law, adding “I love these members, they get up and say, read the bill.”

Such public remarks from a 21-term Congressman who chairs the committee that oversees the U.S. Attorney’s office and the FBI should concern Americans who will inevitably be affected by the nationalized health plan. Perhaps Conyers figured that his remarks would be overlooked in the wake of his family corruption scandal. 

Conyers’ wife, Detroit Councilwoman Monica Conyers, recently pleaded guilty to taking bribes from a developer to change her vote on a major city contract. Last summer the FBI revealed it had electronic surveillance of the veteran councilwoman taking cash in fast-food parking lots from a developer that recently pleaded guilty to paying her thousands via a courier. 

Although Congressman Conyers claims to know nothing about his corrupt wife’s dealings, he abruptly reversed his opposition to a controversial hazardous waste project with financial ties to her. Along with fellow Michigan Congressman John Dingell, Conyers was vehemently opposed to the project before becoming one of its strongest advocates at the insistence of his crooked wife. 

A few years ago Conyers was involved in a scandal of his own when he illegally forced congressional staffers to be personal servants and work on several state and local campaigns. After a three-year “investigation” the House Ethics Committee took no action against Conyers, declaring that the lawmaker “accepted responsibility” for a series of House rules violations involving the abuse of his staffers. The ethics committee’s top Republican and Democratic members justified the panel’s inaction by declaring that Conyers acknowledged a “lack of clarity” in communicating what was expected of his official staff.