"Michigan Rep. John Conyers, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, previously introduced a bill in 1993 to turn over the ATF's duties to other parts of the Justice Department." (quoted from the same article link from above for reference)
This is interesting. Anyone remember the circumstances for Rep. Conyers proposing this then. I suspect that there may have been some political grand-standing behind that previous attempt to "declaw" the ATF.
There could have been some issues with the Conyers families business
http://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2009/07/conyers-supported-deal-pushed-corrupt-wife/
http://michellemalkin.com/2006/12/31/crooked-john-conyers/