Transportation

MEMPHIS – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09), a senior member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, today participated in a hearing on "Protecting Transportation Workers and Passengers from COVID-19," describing failures he witnessed in enforcing mask mandates at airport terminals and in flight following the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. His questions elicited testimony indicating airports and airlines were not prepared for the belligerence and non-compliance of some passengers.

MEMPHIS – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09), a senior member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and its Subcommittee on Aviation, today wrote to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) about the results of mandated testing called for in the FAA Reauthorization Act's 2018 Cohen-authored Seat Egress in Air Travel (SEAT) Act provisions. The testing to determine whether aircraft can be safely evacuated in the regulated minimum time permitted got under way after the bill's mandated deadline in 2019 and the results still remain unknown.

MEMPHIS – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN) today condemned the poor example set by President Trump in failing to wear a mask and in ridiculing those who follow guidelines set by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, thereby encouraging his supporters to endanger public health. He made the following statement:

MEMPHIS -- Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09), a senior member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, today was pleased to see the Water Resources Development Act pass the House, a measure which includes his language transferring the operation and maintenance of the Memphis flood control system to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

WASHINGTON -- Congressman Cohen (TN-09) today was elected by the Region VII Delegation as its representative on the powerful Democratic Steering and Policy Committee for the 117^th Congress that convenes in January. Region VII encompasses Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, South Carolina, North Carolina, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Congressman Cohen served as the Region VII Steering and Policy Committee representative in the 116^th Congress and, in the 115^th Congress, served on the Committee as the appointee of Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

MEMPHIS – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09) made the following statement upon learning of the death of Tommy Pacello:

WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09) tonight voted for the updated Heroes Act, which contains many of the provisions he has fought hard to have included in the measure addressing our ongoing health and economic catastrophe to protect lives, livelihoods and the life of our democracy. The $2.2 trillion measure is a scaled down version of the Heroes Act the House passed on May 15 but which the Senate has so far failed to consider.

Tonight's vote on passage was 214 to 207.

Congressman Cohen made the following statement:

WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09), a senior member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and its Subcommittee on Aviation, today voted to advance the Aircraft Certification Reform and Accountability Act. The measure, informed by an 18-month committee investigation of the fatal crashes of two Boeing 737 MAX aircraft in 2018 and 2019 and the certification process by which the aircraft were authorized for flight by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), significantly improves aviation safety regulation and oversight.