Transportation

WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09) urged the Senate to include the Seat Egress in Air Travel (SEAT) Act in its version of legislation to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) before authorization expires on September 30, 2018. The bipartisan bill, which Congressman Cohen introduced with Congressman Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), would require the FAA to establish minimum sizes for seats and distances between rows to ensure that passenger safety is not put at risk by the recent shrinking of seat sizes.

WASHINGTON – Today, at a hearing of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on which he serves as a senior member, Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09) praised the U.S. Department of Transportation's selection of Memphis as center for aerial drone technology and noted the initial success last week of a drone demonstration.

WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09), a senior member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and its Aviation Subcommittee, today announced two Federal Aviation Administration grants. One grant is a reimbursement for $28.5 million spent in reconstructing Taxiways Y and T. A second grant for $14.7 million funds the fifth phase of the rehabilitation of the Memphis International Airport's Concourse B.

Congressman Cohen made the following statement:

WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09) urged Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen to honor today's request from several airlines not to use their services to transport immigrant children separated from their parents as a result of the Trump Administration's "Zero Tolerance" policy. He made the following statement:

"The desire by American Airlines and other airlines to avoid being parties to a Trump Administration policy decision separating children from their parents on the border is an example of good corporate citizenship.

WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09), who introduced the Seat Egress in Air Travel (SEAT) Act to require the FAA to establish minimum seat sizes and distances between rows to help address concerns about the safe evacuation of airplanes in emergencies, applauded this week's decision by the Office of the Inspector General at the Department of Transportation (DOT) to audit the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) oversight of the actual time it takes to safely evacuate various aircraft models.

WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09) today applauded the announcement that Memphis has been awarded a $71.2 million U.S. Department of Transportation Infrastructure For Rebuilding America (INFRA) grant for roadway repairs and capacity upgrades to Lamar Avenue, a regionally and nationally important intermodal freight corridor in the Distribution Hub of America, the City of Memphis. He made the following statement:

WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09), a member of the House Transportation Committee's Aviation Subcommittee, joined Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao today in announcing the selection of the Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority's application to operate as a test site for integrating unmanned aircraft systems into the nation's airspace.

The Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration Pilot Program (UASIPP) will demonstrate new and expanded commercial drone systems and expedite their safe use.