Fighting for Veterans Who Fought For Us
Dear Friend,
This week, President Obama’s administration selected Memphis to be included in a brand new program aimed at growing our local economy, I voted to help protect our veterans from substandard care, and I commemorated the life of Rev. Frank McRae on the House Floor. Keep reading to learn what else happened this week.
Fighting for Veterans Who Fought For Us
Extending TennCare to More Tennesseans
Stimulating Economic Recovery and Growth in Memphis
Celebrating Memphis in May
Remembering the Late Reverend Frank McRae
Finding Justice for the Unfairly Incarcerated
Recognizing the Monuments Men
Protecting Privacy and Ending Domestic Spying
Working to Bring Back Our Girls
Strengthening our Nation’s Freight Infrastructure
Make Sure to Claim Unclaimed Property
Fighting for Veterans Who Fought For Us
With Memorial Day approaching, President Obama spoke to the nation on Wednesday about widespread reports calling into question the management of and quality of care provided at Veterans Affairs Medical Centers (VAMCs) in several states including Tennessee. Both President Obama and I are committed to ensuring that those who risked life and limb for this country receive the finest care available when they come home—and I am very disappointed with these reports. With more and more of our nation’s veterans returning from combat suffering from PTSD and other serious conditions, I will continue working with President Obama to make sure they are treated with the utmost respect and receive timely, high-quality care at the Memphis VAMC or any other VAMC.
Immediately after the VA Inspector General released a report documenting three deaths at the Memphis VAMC that may have been preventable, I invited Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki to visit our city’s VAMC so that he could see firsthand the problems there and better understand the needs of the Memphis veteran community. This week, I also voted to pass bipartisan legislation that would give the Secretary of Veterans Affairs broader authority to remove failing or ineffective VAMC employees from their posts. People who provide substandard care to our soldiers don’t deserve to be rewarded by being able to keep their jobs, they should be punished.
Whether fighting to ensure the VA has the resources necessary to reduce its backlog or working to bring Secretary Shinseki to Memphis to assess the best way to improve care, I will do everything I can—as I always have—to support the dedicated Memphians who put their lives on the line and to see that they are treated with dignity and respect and that they receive the finest medical care possible.
Extending TennCare to More Tennesseans
I am committed to ensuring that all Tennesseans are able to take advantage of the important protections made available by President Obama’s Affordable Care Act (the ACA), not just citizens who already have health coverage. That’s why I sent another letter to Governor Bill Haslam yesterday offering to help him expand TennCare, our state’s Medicaid program, to more Tennesseans who cannot afford to purchase coverage and are unable to take advantage of many protections in the ACA because of the Governor’s inaction.
By failing to expand TennCare, Tennessee is conveying a message that the State has little concern for the neediest, sickest, and most desperate of its citizens. While this may not be the Governor’s intention, the reality of the situation remains that thousands of Tennessee’s poorest citizens are going without the health coverage that their counterparts in 27 other states (nine of which are led by Republican governors) are receiving. It’s unnecessary and it’s preventable. Governor Haslam should work with the Tennessee General Assembly and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to resolve this problem. I stand ready to assist him in making that happen.
Stimulating Economic Recovery and Growth in Memphis
This week, President Obama’s administration selected Memphis to be one of the first communities in America eligible for a new technical assistance program called “311 for Cities,” which is aimed at helping grow our economy and reduce unemployment. I hope we are able to make the most of the President’s selection and use these new resources as a stepping stone on the path towards getting a Promise Zone designation as soon as possible.
The Memphis in May International Festival is a special time for our city, and it draws people from around the world. From the music festival to the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest and to the crown jewel of Memphis in May – the Sunset Symphony – Memphis in May has something for everyone and everyone has a great time in the Bluff City. On Monday, I spoke on the House Floor to congratulate the organizers of the festival and to thank all the volunteers for their tireless work to make this year’s Memphis in May a success. You can watch my speech here.
Remembering the Late Reverend Frank McRae
This week, our city lost one of its greatest sons and leaders, Reverend Frank McRae, who took urban ministry to new heights in Memphis. Before Dr. King was assassinated, Frank marched alongside him and the sanitation workers. And after the assassination, Frank led a group of ministers to City Hall to urge the mayor to settle the strike.
Rev. McRae knew that the church needed to do good deeds, and that it needed to help people. He founded Friends for Life, which helped people with AIDS and HIV, and he helped found the Memphis Interfaith Association that provided food and clothing to people in need. He opened the doors of his church and made it into a soup kitchen and pantry for the less fortunate.
I am fortunate to have known Frank McRae and Memphis is fortunate he came our way. I was pleased to be able to honor his life on the House Floor earlier this week, and you can watch my speech here. He was a great man who helped make Memphis the City of Good Abode, as it is well known. Rev. McRae will be greatly missed by the Bluff City, his wife, his two children and his three step-children.
Finding Justice for the Unfairly Incarcerated
Earlier this week, I spoke to a large crowd at a briefing on the President’s use of his executive clemency power that was hosted by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM). At the briefing, we heard from four Americans whose sentences were commuted by previous Presidents about how they are making the most of their second chances by leading full lives and contributing to our society. After the briefing, I met with Kemba Smith, whose sentence was commuted by President Clinton, and her son Armani. She described how she has turned her life around since being given a fresh start.
Executive clemency is one of the few unfettered powers the President has under the Constitution. Unfortunately though, President Obama has one of the lowest rates in recent history of issuing pardons and commutations. One of my top priorities over the last few years has been urging the President to use this power more broadly to bring justice to those who should not still be serving lengthy sentences for non-violent drug crimes. Slowly but surely, we are making progress.
In 2010, the President signed the Fair Sentencing Act into law, which dramatically reduced the sentencing disparity between crack and cocaine. That was a major achievement, but because it wasn’t made retroactive, the people who were sentenced prior to that law are now sitting in prison serving sentences that Congress has found void against public policy. For these men and women, every day that they continue to sit in prison, separated from their families and their communities, is an injustice—and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “fierce urgency of now” demands that we help them immediately.
Just a few weeks ago, the President’s Department of Justice announced a new clemency initiative aimed at finding more deserving candidates for Presidential pardons and commutations. I am glad that we are slowly breaking through and the President is making more—and bigger—moves to bring justice to thousands of Americans serving unfair sentences.
I have long been an advocate for the arts as well as for our brave men and women in uniform, so I did not hesitate to support the first-of-its-kind 2007 Congressional bill to recognize the work that the Monuments Men did to protect and preserve artistically and culturally important artifacts that the Nazi’s planned to destroy during World War II.
On Monday, the House voted to approve the Monuments Men Recognition Act, which I cosponsored with Congresswoman Kay Granger (a Republican from Texas), and the Senate voted to pass it this week as well. Now that it has passed both houses of Congress, our bipartisan legislation will ensure that the World War II unit known as the Monuments Men receives a Congressional Gold Medal, Congress’ highest recognition for distinguished achievements and contributions. After single-handedly securing nearly half the signatures required and being credited by Representative Granger as the person responsible for the bill’s passage, I am glad to see that the Monuments Men are being recognized by Congress. Just before the bill passed the House, I spoke in support of it on the House Floor. A video of my speech is available here.
Protecting Privacy and Ending Domestic Spying
This week, the House of Representatives voted to pass a bill that would end the bulk collection of telephone metadata of Americans. The bill was the result of bipartisan negotiations and compromise, and I was pleased to support it. I will continue working, as I have been with my FISA Court legislation, to protect personal privacy and liberty while keeping our nation safe and secure from terrorists.
Working to Bring Back Our Girls and Preventing Human Trafficking
Last month, more than 200 young Nigerian girls were kidnapped by terrorists from the Boko Haram group. In recent years, Boko Haram has targeted churches, schools, mosques, government installations, educational institutions, and entertainment venues across Nigeria to strike fear in local communities.
Earlier this month, I reached out to the U.S. Department of State and the House Foreign Affairs Committee to see what we could do to help rescue the kidnapped girls and was pleased when President Obama’s Administration announced that they had sent an interdisciplinary team as well as troops to help save these girls. I’ve also helped lead a bipartisan Congressional letter to Secretary of State John Kerry stressing our commitment and support of the Administration’s efforts to help resolve this tragedy, and I am glad that this week the House passed H. Res. 573, a resolution condemning these kidnappings and encouraging efforts to Bring Back Our Girls.
As a member of the Human Trafficking Caucus, I am concerned about the trafficking of children both throughout the world and right here in the United States. Frequently, law enforcement and the public encounter difficulties in identifying human trafficking victims. Worse still, the victims of this terrible and dehumanizing crime are themselves often treated as criminals, dropped into a judicial system not equipped to provide the health and protective services that these victims often need. That’s why I was pleased to support several bipartisan bills this week seeking to end child sex trafficking by strengthening investigation and prosecution tools and providing support services to victims.
Strengthening our Nation’s Freight Infrastructure
I was proud to vote in favor of the bipartisan Water Resources Reform and Development Act (WRRDA) of 2014 when it passed the House this week. This bill is an important step in the right direction towards strengthening our nation’s freight infrastructure, the lifeblood of our local Memphis economy. As a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, I will continue to advocate for Memphis whenever the House considers important measures that invest in the roads, rivers, runways, and railways that are integral in keeping our local economic engine running.
Make Sure to Claim Unclaimed Property
The State of Tennessee maintains a searchable database of unclaimed property, which can include bank accounts, stocks and dividends, wages, refunds, insurance payments, gift certificates, credit balances and overpayments, and a number of other things. There is no cost for accessing the database, and you may find that you are owed money or property. If you have not searched the database yet or if you haven’t searched in a while, you can visit https://www.claimittn.gov and see for yourself whether the state is holding any property or assets for you. And you may pass this information along to your friends and family as well!
I hope you have a great Memorial Day!
As always, I remain.
Most sincerely,
Steve Cohen
Member of Congress