Celebrating the Work of Alpha Omega Veterans Services
Dear Friend,
This morning, I joined the leaders of Alpha Omega Veterans Services and toured their facilities for which I’ve secured $2.25 million in the annual appropriations process. I also denounced Trump’s false claims about election fraud in a speech to the nation, announced more than $3.9 million in National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC), wrote to the Homeland Security Secretary about the recent killings of Americans and immigrants, including two in Memphis; condemned Trump’s “settlement” with the IRS and the nominee for Attorney General who orchestrated it; welcomed a court ruling protecting sick children of immigrants from deportation; met with former Russian political prisoner Vladimir Kara-Murza; voted in the Judiciary Committee to pass my bill dealing with evidence storage in child sexual abuse criminal cases, introduced a measure to provide relief for people who resort to bankruptcy because of medical bills; notified constituents of a September 1 deadline for accepting new casework; met with Coach Dorsey Sims and his team; and offered a health tip, a Bill Day cartoon and a Friday Flashback. Keep reading and follow me on Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram to see what I am doing as it happens.
Celebrating the Work of Alpha Omega Veterans Services
Denouncing Trump’s False Claims about the 2020 Elections
Announcing $3.9 Million in NIH Grants to St. Jude and UTHSC
Demanding Answers from Homeland Security on ICE Policies
Denouncing Trump’s Pick for Attorney General and His Role Advancing Corruption
Welcoming an Agreement Preventing Tennessee from Ending Medical Care to Sick Immigrant Children
Meeting with Former Russian Political Prisoner Vladimir Kara-Murza
Welcoming Committee Passage of the Safe Cloud Storage Act
Introducing the Medical Bankruptcy Fairness Act
Notifying Constituents of a September 1 Deadline for Casework Requests
Meeting with Coach Dorsey Sims and his Team
Celebrating the Work of Alpha Omega Veterans Services
This morning, I toured the Alpha Omega Veterans Services facilities on Jackson Avenue for which I have secured $2.25 million through the annual appropriations process. The work Albert Edwards and his staff are doing for homeless veterans is inspiring, and I am pleased to be able to strengthen its outreach. The veterans home is named for late Cordell Walker who was the longtime executive director of Alpha Omega. He was the reason I stopped in and let them know I was going to help them with their funding.
Denouncing Trump’s False Claims about the 2020 Elections
President Trump delivered a false and misleading speech from the Oval Office Thursday night repeating his obsessive claim that he won the 2020 election when audits and more than 50 court rulings established that he lost. In advance of the speech, I joined fellow Democratic members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in sending a letter to Acting Director of National Intelligence Bill Pulte, Director of the National Security Agency Joshua M. Rudd, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and FBI Director Kash Patel reminding them that they are obligated to prevent misuse of declassified information to mislead the public and to keep the members of the intelligence committees in Congress, like myself, informed of any real foreign interference in elections. We are living in perilous times, and it’s important to be aware and vigilant when the president deliberately sows doubt about the most basic element of the democratic process: a free and fair vote count. See my statement after Trump’s remarks here.
Announcing $3.9 Million in NIH Grants to St. Jude and UTHSC
On Tuesday, I announced that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have invested more than $3.9 million in five research programs – two at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and three at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC). See details of the complex scientific projects in my release here.
Demanding Answers from Homeland Security on ICE Policies
After members of the Memphis Safe Task Force recently killed two people within four days and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents killed well-respected immigrants in Houston and Maine, I wrote to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin demanding answers. See my release and the letter here. These incidents are outrageous and unacceptable.
Denouncing Trump’s Pick for Attorney General and His Role Advancing Corruption
Todd Blanche represented Donald Trump in the Stormy Daniels hush-money case, the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case and the 2020 election interference case, and now he’s been nominated to be Attorney General of the United States. Since he arrived at the Justice Department, Blanche has met with Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein’s sex-trafficking co-conspirator, and “settled” Trump’s $10 billion case against the IRS by giving Trump and his family immunity from audits of their tax returns. I went to the House floor Tuesday to denounce the corruption we witness daily. Blanche is a collaborator in Trump’s ongoing corruption, and his nomination must be rejected by the Senate.
Welcoming an Agreement Preventing Tennessee from Ending Medical Care to Sick Immigrant Children
In a letter to Governor Bill Lee last month, I asked him not to implement a new state law that would kick the children of immigrants without legal status off the Children’s Special Services program that supports the sickest children and provide their names to ICE for probable deportation. Fortunately, after the intervention of the Tennessee Justice Center, the state has now entered into an agreed temporary injunction not to provide the information to ICE and continue providing these life-saving services to children. I commend the Center for the work it is doing. You can follow along with the court case here: SNADER V. TDH | Tennessee Justice Center
Meeting with Former Russian Political Prisoner Vladimir Kara-Murza
As the Special Representative on Political Prisoners for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly, I worked hard to get the Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and Russian dissident Vladimir Kara-Murza released from Vladimir Putin’s gulag. I was pleased to see him freed in a historic international prisoner exchange in 2024. Vladimir came to my office on Wednesday to update me on other prisoner cases and to mention a book he is writing. He is a true hero who is much admired around the world, I am proud to call him a friend.
Welcoming Committee Passage of the Safe Cloud Storage Act
On Wednesday, I welcomed the Judiciary Committee passage of the Safe Cloud Storage Act. I am proud to co-lead this bill, and it would make a significant difference in allowing law enforcement to more effectively and efficiently investigate and prosecute child sexual abuse material (CSAM) cases.
Meeting with Young Adults from Memphis
On Wednesday, I met with students from the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Memphis to discuss their future plans and introduce them to the work I do for the 9th Congressional District. I’m always inspired by the enthusiasm and optimism they demonstrate.
Introducing the Medical Bankruptcy Fairness Act
Also Tuesday, I introduced the Medical Bankruptcy Fairness Act with Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island. Nearly two-thirds of all personal bankruptcies involve medical debt. Americans should not have to lose everything to receive the medical care they need. The Medical Bankruptcy Protection Act will provide much-needed cover for families facing bankruptcy because they got hurt or sick and it will make it easier for them to rebuild their lives.
Notifying Constituents of a September 1 Deadline for Casework Requests
As I prepare to leave Congress, I am particularly proud of the work my staff and I have done to improve lives by helping constituents with interactions with federal agencies like Medicare, Veterans Affairs, HUD, SNAP, the IRS and others. Realistically, resolving these issues takes time, so I have set a September 1 deadline for taking on new casework to ensure that every constituent who reaches out receives the attention and support they deserve.
Meeting with Coach Dorsey Sims and his Team
Coach Dorsey Sims visited my Washington office on Thursday as he does each year when his team of Memphis-area high school basketball players, Diamonds and Gems in the Rough, travels the East Coast for games. They are on their way to New York City to visit Madison Square Garden, Coney Island, Times Square and, with luck, get noticed by scouts from college programs. We talked about my career, the Kennedy assassination, the proposed coin with Trump’s likeness, and the former Grizzly Ja Morant. It’s always nice to catch up with Coach Dorsey and meet his teams.
More than 5,000 cases of cyclosporiasis have been confirmed across at least 30 states, and the Shelby County Health Department says six cases have been confirmed in Memphis, four related to international travel. Investigations into the outbreak are ongoing, but a specific source has not been identified. To minimize risk of infection, wash your hands and all produce thoroughly when preparing food. If you suspect that you have cyclosporiasis, contact your health care provider. For more information about cyclosporiasis and the outbreak, visit this link.
This is me speaking at an anti-Byhalia Pipeline rally in 2021 before the project through Boxtown and over our Memphis Sand Aquifer was canceled. I also worked to defeat the Keystone XL pipeline that would pump Canadian crude oil over the Ogallala Aquifer in Nebraska. President Biden revoked the cross-border permit on his first day in office in 2021. Donald Trump has rescinded the revocation.
A Bill Day Cartoon – “Rigging the Election”
“In his first 100 days in office, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, my grandfather, encouraged us to believe in ourselves, to trust and help our neighbors, and to put the country’s stability and well-being as a whole at the forefront.
“By contrast, the current administration has caused economic chaos at home and abroad, while exhibiting carelessness and cruelty to nearly everyone except billionaires. The early success of a presidential agenda should be defined by what it creates and not by what it destroys — the confidence in the American promise that it inspires, not the fear it sows.
“All my life I have lived in the shadow — no, the glow — of the legacy of my grandparents’ leadership, ideals and public accomplishments. I am 77 years old, and I hope I live to see that legacy give rise to a reborn America that treasures the freedoms they enshrined: the freedom of speech and expression, the freedom to live one’s own faith, the freedom from desperation and want, and most especially, the freedom from fear.” – Letter to the Editor of The New York Times from Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, May 1, 2025
“I am 91 years old, and I served as a political appointee in the Nixon and Ford administrations. One of my more challenging assignments was serving as a member of the team defending Richard Nixon in the unsympathetic courtroom of Judge John Sirica. So I have been around a block or two, politically and legally.
“But whatever one makes of any of Nixon’s alleged crimes and misdemeanors, they pale in comparison with the assault on democracy currently in progress under President Trump.
“We are in uncharted waters, and we had better hope for a passage to safety before it is too late.” -- Douglas M. Parker of Ojai, California, in a Letter to the Editor of The New York Times on Monday.
As always, I remain
Sincerely,
 |
Steve Cohen
Member of Congress