Expanding Opportunity for All Americans
Dear Friend,
This week, the President proposed his 2015 budget plan, I met with several groups of young Memphians in Washington, and the Deputy Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration made the false claim that “every single parent” opposes marijuana. Keep reading to learn more about what I did this week.
Helping Young Memphis Foster Children
Expanding Opportunity for All Americans
Fighting for Sane Criminal Policies
2014 White House Easter Egg Roll
Protecting Women’s Rights
Supporting the DREAM Act and Immigration Reform
Stopping Iran from Acquiring Nuclear Weapons
Building a Healthier Memphis
Fully Funding the HOPE Scholarships
Ensuring Memphians Get the Tax Returns They Deserve
Helping Memphians Get Covered
Helping St. Jude
VA Rolls Out Secure Veteran Health ID Cards
Helping Veterans Become Homeowners
Grant Announcements
Helping Young Memphis Foster Children
Yesterday, I met with several young adults from Memphis who had been through the foster care system and were in Washington representing Youth Villages at the White House with the First Lady. Youth Villages is a non-profit organization that has partnered with the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services to help former foster children by offering comprehensive services to foster children who have aged out of state custody. National studies have found that, with limited resources and support, these young people are more likely than their peers to end up homeless or incarcerated and less likely to have a job or go to college. The programs offered by Youth Villages aim to prevent these outcomes and promote success. The organization’s transitional living program was founded in 1999 by the late Clarence Day, a Memphis philanthropist, and has since expanded to help more than 5,000 young adults.
University of Memphis students Darrah Hall (third from left in the photo above), and Melissa Howard (fifth from the left) sang solos at the White House during a workshop as part of the "In Performance at the White House" music series on Thursday.
Expanding Opportunity for All Americans
President Obama proposed his Fiscal Year 2015 budget plan this week to help create jobs across the country, preserve social security for our seniors, make higher education more affordable for families, cut taxes for hardworking Americans, and ensure that everyone who plays by the rules and works hard gets a fair shot. The President’s plan also continues our commitment to reducing the country’s deficit.
President Obama’s proposed budget also invests in infrastructure projects like Main2Main, which is good news for Memphis, as is his plan to increase funding for local communities to reduce their rape kit backlogs, keep predators off our streets, and bring justice to victims. I hope that House Republican leadership will put obstruction and partisanship aside to join us in passing this budget.
Fighting for Sane Criminal Policies
At a House Committee hearing about federal drug policies which unfairly hurt minority communities and have resulted in 4 times as many African Americans arrested as Caucasians, I was able to question the Deputy Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Thomas Harrigan about his views on federal marijuana. I was surprised to hear that he believes that “every single parent” opposes marijuana and that the drug, which is now legal for medical or personal use in nearly half of the United States, “insults our common values.” When I pressed him for more information, he tried to backtrack his comments and wasn’t able to provide backup for either of his claims. You can watch me questioning Deputy Director Harrigan here.
Like the rest of our federal government when it comes to marijuana, the DEA is out of touch with reality. They haven’t kept up with the science, they haven’t kept up with the medical community, and they sure haven’t kept up with the American people. When a law is almost universally perceived as wrong, it breeds disrespect for our legal system. Americans young and old think federal marijuana policy is a joke. They know that marijuana shouldn’t be in the same category with heroin, and they don’t support taking one’s liberty away because of marijuana.
Among other problems with our drug laws, our nation’s marijuana policy is deeply rooted in racism. 80 years ago it was based on fear of Hispanic immigrants, then Nixon played up raced based fears to garner votes all while his administration lied about marijuana’s health effects. When marijuana was placed on Schedule 1, it was supposed to be temporary until the National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse (known as the Shafer Commission) reported its findings on the drug. That was 1970. The Commission’s 1972 report recommended decriminalizing marijuana possession, though that recommendation was never acted upon. Last month, the Shafer Commission’s Assistant Director Richard Bonnie said: “Frankly, I am astonished that criminal penalties continue to be prescribed and imposed for simple possession of marijuana. It is long past time to repeal them.”
It is imperative that we take an honest look at why we have the drug laws we have today and how and why they should be changed. To paraphrase Maya Angelou---when we know better, we should do better.
2014 White House Easter Egg Roll
As part of their ongoing effort to open the People’s House to as many people as possible, the President and First Lady have announced that this year’s White House Easter Egg Roll will be held on Monday, April 21st. In support of the First Lady’s Let’s Move! initiative to help kids grow up healthy and have the opportunity to reach their full potential, the event will feature sports courts, cooking stations, and, of course, Easter egg rolling in addition to live music and storytelling.
Tickets to the White House Easter Egg Roll, a tradition that dates back to 1878, will be distributed through an online lottery system which opened this morning and will close on Monday, March 10that 9:00AM CT. You can enter the lottery here. Tickets are free of charge and are non-transferable. Full details can be found at www.WhiteHouse.gov/EasterEggRoll and www.recreation.gov.
I am proud that I was recently awarded with a perfect score from NARAL Pro-Choice America for my votes in 2013. It is an honor to be recognized for my record protecting women’s rights and health care choices. While there are some in Congress who want to repeal the last 50 years’ worth of advances in reproductive rights, I will continue to stand with women and do whatever I can to make sure no one tramples on their rights.
Supporting the DREAM Act and Immigration Reform
I was pleased to meet with a handful of Memphis students who were in Washington to push for the passage of the DREAM Act and comprehensive immigration reform, both of which I support. I will continue to urge Speaker Boehner to bring both measures to the floor for a vote, and I hope he does so as soon as possible.
Stopping Iran from Acquiring Nuclear Weapons
After more than a decade of foreign wars, no one thinks we should get into another military conflict, which is why this week I joined a bipartisan Congressional letter to President Obama supporting his diplomatic efforts to get Iran to abandon its nuclear weapons ambitions. However, that country’s history of delay and deceptions raises serious concerns that they may use prolonged diplomatic negotiations to bolster their economy while continuing their progress towards weapons of mass destruction—so it is important that the United States keep all options on the table including stronger sanctions to do all that we can to change Iran’s calculations and make sure they follow through and honestly negotiate with us. Our letter strongly urges the President to keep Congress informed of his progress so that we can swiftly consider additional sanctions if they become necessary.
Among the many benefits of the Affordable Care Act is free preventive care for services like mammograms that can detect breast cancer. A New York Times story noted that Memphis is “the deadliest major American city for African-American women with breast cancer.”
The racial disparity in breast cancer outcomes is deplorable, but we can take steps to reduce it. A primary reason for the high mortality rate among African American women is late diagnosis, when the disease is harder to treat and has much lower survival rates. That’s why I launched my “Building a Healthier Memphis” series on wellness in the Ninth District by hosting an expert panel discussion and education session about this disparity and what we can do to address it and improve outcomes for victims of breast cancer in our city. I’m encouraged by all of the Memphians who attended the event to learn how they can help improve their own health and the health of their families and communities, and I look forward to hosting the next “Building a Healthier Memphis” event at Church Health Center Wellness on Saturday, April 12that 10 AM.
Everyone in the Ninth District should know that provisions of the President’s Affordable Care Act enable them to get mammograms with no co-pays or deductibles. Taking advantage of the Affordable Care Act could help save lives in our city and around the country. And don’t forget that the open season deadline to enroll in health coverage for this year at HealthCare.gov is March 31st.
Fully Funding the HOPE Scholarships
Over the last 10 years, the HOPE Scholarship program that I worked for 20 years as a State Senator to create has been an outstanding success that has provided $2.9 billion to Tennessee’s best and brightest. And while this funding has been critical to helping students attend college and complete 4-year degrees, the HOPE Scholarship has never fully funded college scholarships, as intended, because state lawmakers have not allowed it to keep up with the skyrocketing cost of higher education.
Today’s HOPE Scholarships pay a smaller portion of college costs than it did 10 years ago and, if Governor Haslam’s newly-announced plan to slash the first two years of HOPE Scholarships by 25% is implemented, it will provide even smaller scholarships for freshmen and sophomores. The first two years of college are crucial for students finding their way. With scholarships paying a smaller portion of tuition, families will have to pay more and students may need to work more hours while juggling their scholastic responsibilities, making academic success and retention of the HOPE Scholarship more difficult. Today’s college students are graduating with more student loan debt than ever before, crippling their chances of economic success.
To ensure that HOPE Scholarships continue to help Tennessee’s students afford college and succeed, the program must keep pace with the rising cost of higher education. But the Governor’s newly-announced “Tennessee Promise” actually cuts funding from high-achieving students beginning 4-year degree programs. I am extremely concerned and remain cautious about any plan that would make it harder for our state’s proven young people to begin attending the best universities in Tennessee, or any plan that places additional financial burden on schools like the University of Memphis which are already struggling to keep costs down and provide high-quality educations.
Rather than raiding the scholarship fund’s excess to create a new government program, those funds should be used to provide full HOPE scholarships. Tennesseans voted to repeal our state’s constitutional prohibition on lotteries based on the idea of replicating the success of Georgia’s successful HOPE program which provides full college scholarships. That promise to the people moves farther from being realized with every new idea to siphon money from the scholarship program. Once scholarships are fully funded, the excess funds would be better used, as I personally expressed last year to Governor Haslam, by raising the income cap on or raising the amount of Aspire Awards that give middle- and low-income students who work hard extra help to give them a fair shot at success.
Ensuring Memphians Get the Tax Returns They Deserve
The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is too important for people to overlook, and everyone who is eligible should claim it when filing their taxes. But historically, eligible taxpayers in Memphis and Shelby County have not taken full advantage of the program—last year alone, as much as $70 million in potential tax credits were left on the table by area taxpayers.
Memphians shouldn’t pay more than they owe, and they should receive every penny they deserve in refunds. That’s why I attended the grand opening of one of 15 new Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) sites that recently opened throughout Shelby County to provide guidance and advice free of charge to ensure that eligible Shelby County citizens take advantage of programs like the EITC and get the tax refund they are entitled to. Click here to find a VITA site near you to help ensure you get every penny you are owed.
All Memphians should have quality health insurance and the President’s landmark Affordable Care Act is making affordable, higher-quality coverage available to people who have not had access to it in the past. Luckily, many who have been unable to afford quality coverage in the past are now eligible to enroll in Tennessee’s Health Insurance Marketplace. Please don’t forget that the open season deadline to enroll in health coverage for this year at HealthCare.gov is March 31st. And if you do not have health insurance coverage, you may also be eligible to save money on your health care premiums in the Marketplace.
If you are on Medicare or your employer is offering qualified health insurance that you are enrolled in, you’re already covered and won’t need to enter the Marketplace for your health coverage. If you aren’t sure whether or not you should use the Marketplace to get insurance, call the Marketplace Hotline at 1 (800) 318-2596, visit www.HealthCare.gov, or call Tennessee’s navigator, Seedco, at (901) 528-8341. You can also call my office at (901) 544-4131 or the Marketplace Hotline to find out if TennCare (Tennessee’s Medicaid program) is a coverage option for you. If you are one of the millions of Americans who need health insurance, you can sign up for coverage for 2014 until the open enrollment period closes on March 31st, 2014. Visit www.healthcare.gov today to look at your options.
The Affordable Care Act is already working for families across the Ninth District. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 147,000 individuals in the district now have health insurance that covers preventive services without co-pays, $3.1 million in insurance premiums have been returned to consumers, and more than 5,000 seniors on Medicare paid a total of $5.9 million less for their prescription medications as we continue to close the ‘donut hole.’ Also, health insurance companies can no longer discriminate against patients with pre-existing conditions and young adults up to age 26 can now stay on their parents’ insurance plan.
Many of the Marketplace website issues that have been in the news have been resolved. However, the Marketplace website is only one tool that you can use to sign up for coverage. If you are having trouble accessing the website, please do not hesitate to call the Marketplace Hotline at 1 (800) 318-2596 or visit the Affordable Care Act Navigators at Seedco's Mid-South office at 22 North Front Street (Suite 900) for in-person help. Seedco can also be reached by phone at (901) 528-8341, and if you have any other questions, you should feel free to call my office at (901) 544-4131.
This week, I announced nearly $750,000 in federal grant funds to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital to help treat chronic infections. The funding will be used to continue important research at St. Jude, which is the world’s leading children’s cancer research hospitals and one of the finest health care institutions on the planet.
VA Rolls Out Secure Veteran Health ID Cards
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) recently announced the phased roll out of newly designed, more secure Veteran Health Identification Cards. The new cards are distinguished by additional security features and will have a different look and feel. In addition to being more secure, the card has been transformed into a Veterans Health Identification Card (VHIC).
Similar to a typical health insurance card, the VHIC displays the veteran’s Member ID, a new unique identifier, as well as a Plan ID, reflecting the veteran’s enrollment in VA health care. The card replaces the Veteran Identification Card (VIC), which was introduced in 2004. As part of a phased rollout, the card will only be offered to newly enrolled and other veterans who have not been issued a VIC. In early April, the VA will begin a three month effort to automatically issue the more secure VHIC to current VIC cardholders. The VA recommends veterans safeguard their VIC as they would a credit card, and cut up or shred the card once it is replaced. While not required to receive VA health care, all enrolled Veterans are encouraged to get a VHIC.
Enrolled veterans can get more information about the VHIC by visiting their VA medical facility enrollment coordinator or the website www.va.gov/healthbenefits/vhic, calling 1-877-222-VETS (8387) or visiting their local VA health care facility. Veterans who are not enrolled in the VA health care system can apply for enrollment at any time by visiting www.va.gov/healthbenefits, calling 1-877-222-VETS (8387) or visiting their local VA health care facility.
Helping Veterans Become Homeowners
Last year, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs helped a record number of veterans obtain mortgage loans and become homeowners. In guaranteeing nearly 630,000 home loans, the VA’s Loan Guarantee program helped more veterans become homeowners or move to a new home than at any point in its 70-year history. Not only is this great news for veterans, but it also is another sign that our housing market is rebounding—and that is good news for everyone. The VA Loan Guarantee program has some of the lowest foreclosure rates around and, along with offering low interest rates, their loans do not require a down payment from first-time buyers. If you are a veteran looking to purchase a home, you can learn more about the program here.
I regularly release a list of grant announcements from federal agencies like the Department of Health and Human Services, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Transportation, and others. These federal funding opportunities are available to faith-based and neighborhood associations, nonprofits and other community organizations in the Ninth District. The announcements are updated regularly on my website.
As always, I remain.
Most sincerely,
Steve Cohen
Member of Congress