Holding a Telephone Town Hall Meeting Monday Evening
Dear Friend, On Monday evening, I will be Washington, D.C., for votes after which I will hold a telephone town hall, an opportunity for you to call in with questions or just listen as your friends and neighbors ask me about the issues facing Tennessee’s 9th Congressional District and our country as the Trump Administration attempts to dismantle our federal government and democratic institutions. This week, I set up a page on my official Congressional website, Cohen.House.gov, to track the illegal, unconstitutional and dangerous actions the Trump-Musk team has perpetrated; criticized Governor Lee’s completely inadequate children’s summer nutrition program; warned of the danger posed by cuts to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) workforce in the wake of recent serious accidents; expressed profound regret at the Senate confirmation of Kash Patel as FBI Director; and offered a Saturday Night Live 50th anniversary-related “Friday Flashback,” a Bill Day cartoon, and a health tip torn from recent news headlines. Keep reading and follow me on Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter (X) to see what I am doing as it happens. Holding a Telephone Town Hall Meeting Monday Evening Tracking Harmful and Illegal Trump-Musk Actions Calling Governor Lee’s Plan for a Summer Children’s Food Program Inadequate Warning that Staffing Cuts at the FAA Border on Dangerous Regretting 51-49 Vote Confirming Patel as FBI Director Holding a Telephone Town Hall Meeting Monday Evening
On Monday at 6:30 p.m., I will host a Telephone Town Hall to discuss the Trump Administration’s recent spree of executive actions and how I am working to push back in Congress. I will be joined by Nikki McKinney from Democracy Forward, a legal policy expert who will provide insight on the legal challenges being brought against Trump’s actions outside of Congress. Click here to sign up, and I will give you a call on Monday night as the event begins. Tracking Harmful and Illegal Trump-Musk Actions
This week, I created a page on my official website to track the various dangerous and illegal actions taken by the Trump-Musk Administration, from the impounding of funds appropriated by Congress to mass layoffs causing health and safety problems. Breaking things and attempting to fix them later may work for Tesla and SpaceX, but it doesn’t work when the health, welfare and safety of the public is at stake. Take a look at the page at Cohen.House.gov/TrumpAdminTracker. Calling Governor Lee’s Plan for a Summer Children’s Food Program Inadequate
In early January, when I learned Tennessee hadn’t agreed to participate in this year’s federal summer children’s food program, I thought it was probably an oversight, and I asked Governor Bill Lee to address it. When it became clear that the oversight was intentional, I asked him to reconsider. On Wednesday, when I saw that the governor has proposed a summer food program that will reach fewer than four percent of the children served last year, and only in 15 rural, Republican-dominated counties, I called the decision cruel, partisan and inadequate. It is my hope that this pennywise but ultimately harmful decision will be reversed and that the federal summer food program in all 95 counties will be restored. See my statement here. Warning that Staffing Cuts at the FAA Border on Dangerous
A series of air disasters and serious accidents – including a crash that killed 67 people over the Potomac River in Washington – has spotlighted the nation’s serious air traffic control staffing shortage. When I read on Monday of the planned cuts in jobs at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) tasked with keeping the flying public safe, I said it was a mistake and that it bordered on dangerous. As the Ranking Member of the Aviation Subcommittee, I am being briefed regularly on the various investigations by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and look forward to its evidence-based and carefully rendered recommendations. Taking an axe for a job requiring a scalpel seems to be the Trump-Musk strategy, but it is the wrong approach, especially when it comes to the public safety of air travelers. See my statement on FAA staffing cuts here. Regretting 51-49 Vote Confirming Patel as FBI Director
On Thursday, the Senate confirmed Kash Patel as FBI Director, a wholly unqualified Trump loyalist who has said he plans retribution against Trump enemies, which seems to be anyone who has ever questioned Trump or not followed his directives, even when illegal. The FBI, our country’s premier law enforcement agency, has historically gone after criminals like Al Capone and the Mafia but Patel’s job will be to go after Trump’s perceived enemies, including the FBI agents and career federal prosecutors involved in charges against the January 6 rioters. This appointment is a shame. See my statement here.
Bill Day Cartoon – “Another Big Lie”
As I mentioned last week, the seasonal flu is ticking up and it’s a good time to get a flu shot. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has good guidance on symptoms, how to distinguish the flu from a cold, and other useful guidance here. Also, news from West Texas and other parts of the country indicate that the measles is spreading. Please make sure your children are vaccinated. The CDC website, which recently announced it will now only be updated monthly, indicated on February 7 that, of the first cases it is aware of, either they didn’t know the patients’ vaccination status or the victim was not vaccinated. See updates here.
“Appealing to the better instincts of this new Trump administration — with its open disdain for law and morality — has so far proved a losing proposition. And it would be naïve to hope that the public backlash to this abuse of power will give Mr. Trump and Ms. (Pam) Bondi (the Attorney General) real pause about further such abuses in the future. But the efforts of prosecutors, civil servants, elected officials and others to document and decry this injustice and to stand up and even resign in the face of this administration’s transgressions matter enormously." — from the February 17 editorial in The New York Times. “He’s very, very happy. He’s popping champagne in the Kremlin right now.” – Human rights activist Sir Bill Browder, speaking about Trump’s appeasement of Vladimir Putin at the Munich Security Conference on Sunday. “Do not get lost in a sea of despair. Be hopeful, be optimistic. Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, a month, or a year; it is the struggle of a lifetime. Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble.” – Civil rights leader and former Georgia Congressman John Lewis, born on this day in 1940 As always, I remain. Steve Cohen |
