Homeland Security
MEMPHIS – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09), a senior member of the House Judiciary Committee, today announced a Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Assistance National Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI) grant of $2 million to the City of Memphis. Over the past decade, Congressman Cohen has been a leader in efforts to increase spending under the initiative, and Memphis has receive substantial resources under the program. At its peak, the rape kit backlog reached 12,000 untested kits in Memphis alone with an estimated 400,000 sitting in evidence rooms nationwide.
MEMPHIS – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09) remembered the attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, and made the following statement:
"We all remember what we were doing when we first heard and saw the horrors of 9/11. I was at Ground Zero weeks after the attacks and saw the wreckage of the Twin Towers. The losses suffered by the FDNY and NYPD have been in my thoughts ever since. Nineteen years on, we highly resolve never to forget those we have lost and promise to take care of all survivors and their loved ones."
MEMPHIS – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09) today announced that the City of Memphis will receive a $38,011 Fire Prevention and Safety grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The grant is intended to reach high-risk groups and reduce injuries caused by fires.
Congressman Cohen made the following statement:
"This funding is a smart investment in fire prevention, and I know Memphis will use it wisely. Firefighters save lives and property and are the indispensable heroes always prepared to keep our community safe."
WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09) today announced that the City of Memphis will receive a grant of $200,505 from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Assistance to Firefighters Program.
Congressman Cohen made the following statement:
"This funding is especially welcome during this pandemic when local resources are stretched thin. The Memphis Fire Department is doing an excellent job under these trying circumstances and I'm pleased this grant will help."
WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09) tonight applauded the inclusion of his priorities in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), a measure providing for our national defense in the fiscal year that begins October 1. The measure, which passed the House 295 to 125 and for which Congressman Cohen voted, includes language that authorizes a $2 million multi-drone/multi-sensor intelligence program that will be housed at the University of Memphis.
MEMPHIS – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09), a senior member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Aviation, today introduced 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) today announced that the City of Memphis will receive a grant of $183,963 from the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program – Covid-19 Supplemental for purchasing personal protective equipment (PPE) in response to the coronavirus pandemic. The funding is part of the $100 million authorized for that purpose by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act that became law in late March.
Congressman Cohen made the following statement:
WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09) today announced that Memphis-area organizations will receive $1,738,964 in emergency preparedness funding from the Department of Homeland Security to protect its port and two Memphis Jewish institutions considered at risk of attack.
The grants announced today for the Port Security Grant Program include $1 million for the Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division; $37,500 for the Memphis Fire Department; $274,500 for the Memphis Police Department; and $227,464 for the Shelby County Sheriff's Office.
WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09) today welcomed the U.S. Supreme Court ruling rejecting the Trump Administration's effort to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program shielding those brought to this country as children from being deported. The court ruled that the Trump Administration was arbitrary and capricious when it suddenly ended the program.
Congressman Cohen made the following statement:
WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09) returned to Washington and voted this evening for a $3 trillion measure to address the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and its impact on the national economy. The measure contains funding for state and local governments, hospitals, first responders, our health care workers, testing, another round of $1,200 economic impact payments and increased spending for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), among many other things.