Homeland Security

SANTA FE, New Mexico -- Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09), a senior member of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, also known as the Helsinki Commission, today addressed remotely a meeting of the European Union – United States Parliamentary Consultation on Human Rights. He said he was speaking following the recent "unfortunate close call with authoritarianism" in the United States, and expressed concerns about the human rights outlook in Hong Kong, Belarus and Ukraine.

In his remarks, Congressman Cohen said in part:

WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09), a senior member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, today commended the Biden Administration for its efforts to address the cracked span of the Hernando DeSoto Bridge and the resulting diversion of traffic to the Interstate 55 Tennessee-Arkansas Bridge in Memphis.

WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09), who was in the House Chamber when a riotous mob attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, today spoke on the House floor in favor of the bipartisan January 6 Commission modeled on the 9/11 Commission that reviewed the September, 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The House passed H.R. 3233 – National Commission to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the United States Capitol Complex Act – 252 to 175 this evening.

After the vote, Congressman Cohen made the following statement:

WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09), who was in the House Chamber when a riotous mob attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, today spoke on the House floor in favor of the bipartisan January 6 Commission modeled on the 9/11 Commission that reviewed the September, 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

In his remarks from the floor, Congressman Cohen said in part:

WASHINGTON – Representatives Steve Cohen (TN-09), Barbara Lee (CA-13) and Bobby L. Rush (IL-01) will hold a virtual forum on the FBI's notorious COINTELPRO program recently featured in the Academy Award-winning film "Judas and the Black Messiah," which dramatizes the FBI-orchestrated assassination of Black Panther Party leader Fred Hampton in 1969. The forum will be on Monday, May 10, from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Eastern time.

WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09), a senior member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure and Judiciary Committees, has reintroduced the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Second Screening Act. The bill would permit passengers being screened at TSA checkpoints to opt for a second electronic screening, rather than an automatic physical pat-down, when they believe they have produced a false positive result because of inadvertent movement or mistakenly having a foreign object in a pocket.

MEMPHIS – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09), Chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties, today presided at a hearing on "the Need to Expand Eligibility Under the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act." The hearing explored the impact of downwind and other radiation exposure from nuclear bomb testing and uranium mining and other uranium workers during the Second World War and during the Cold War, and the need to compensate the many victims not currently eligible under RECA.

During his opening statement, Congressman Cohen said:

WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09) today voted for, and the House passed, the Dream and Promise Act, providing a path to citizenship for young people brought to this country as children. Before the vote, Congressman Cohen spoke from the House floor during debate on the measure.

In those remarks, he said, in part:

"These Dreamers are trained in America. They've been educated in America. They're talented. They're smart.