Women's Issues
WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09), Co-Chairman of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, better known as the Helsinki Commission, today addressed the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's Parliamentary Conference concerning the human rights situation in Afghanistan.
MEMPHIS – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09), Chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties, today applauded Attorney General Merrick Garland's decision for the Department of Justice to challenge the constitutionality of Texas' recently enacted SB 8 limiting access to abortion in ways that clearly violate decades of Supreme Court precedent.
MEMPHIS – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09) today congratulated the Mid-South Minority Business Council Continuum (MMBC Continuum), its President and CEO Jozelle Luster Booker and the entire staff of the Tennessee Minority Business Development Center for securing a five-year, $1,875,000 grant from the Department of Commerce to change its name and expand its footprint statewide. Previously, the Memphis Minority Business Development Center emphasized support for minority businesses in the Memphis area.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman Cohen voted for H.R. 1065, the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act. This vital bipartisan legislation expands the rights of working women by establishing the right to reasonable accommodations in the workplace for pregnant workers. It also prohibits employers from discriminating against pregnant applicants in hiring, retaliating against workers for requesting accommodation and forcing workers to take paid or unpaid leave if accommodations can be made instead.
WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09) today voted for, and the House passed, the Paycheck Fairness Act, which closes loopholes and strengthens the 1963 Equal Pay Act, including providing effective remedies for women who are not receiving equal pay for equal work. The vote was 217 to 210.
Congressman Cohen made the following statement:
WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09), Chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties today voted for, and the House passed, an extension of the deadline to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) and a reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act. Congressman Cohen presided at the first hearing on the Equal Rights Amendment in 36 years in May of 2019, and he has been a longtime and consistent supporter of gender equality.
In a floor speech today before the votes, Congressman Cohen said:
WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09) today introduced the Nationally Enhancing the Wellbeing of Babies through Outreach and Research Now (NEWBORN) Act to help address America's unacceptably high infant mortality rate with concrete solutions. If enacted, the bill would create infant mortality-focused pilot programs in the highest-risk areas of the country to help those most in need address this devastating crisis.
Congressman Cohen made the following statement:
MEMPHIS – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09), a senior member of the House Judiciary Committee, today expressed profound sadness for her family and for the nation on the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. He made the following statement:
MEMPHIS – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09) today voted for, and the House passed, the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, which would prohibit an employer from requiring a pregnant worker to accept an accommodation that she didn't agree to and from retaliating against a worker for requesting or using a reasonable accommodation. Employers also could not deny employment opportunities based on the need for reasonable accommodations or require an employee to take paid or unpaid leave instead of providing a reasonable accommodation.
The vote was 329 to 73.
MEMPHIS – Congressman Steve Cohen, a senior member of the House Judiciary Committee, today spoke in favor of, and voted in the Committee to advance to the House floor, the Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair, or CROWN Act. The measure would prohibit discrimination based on race-based hair styles by extending statutory protection in the workplace to hair texture and protective styles such as braids, twists and knots.