Government Reform
In Congress, Congressman Cohen has taken numerous steps to begin to change the way we do business in Washington and to restore accountability and transparency to government.
He has voted for and passed legislation that banned gifts from lobbyists, prohibited the use of corporate jets, and required full disclosure of earmarks. He has supported legislation banning pensions for Members of Congress convicted of certain crimes, and to strengthen the Freedom of Information Act by increasing government transparency.
Congressman Cohen has also taken the lead on important structural reforms, like non-partisan redistricting with the John Tanner and Jim Cooper Fairness and Independence in Redistricting Act, and the rigorous, nonpartisan agency oversight with the Independent Acting Inspectors General Act.
More on Government Reform
WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09) today wrote to Comptroller General Gene L. Dodaro of the U.S. Government Accountability Office seeking a review of the federal government’s costs associated with treating patients who used asbestos-contaminated Johnson & Johnson baby powder and became ill because of their exposure to this known carcinogen.
The letter reads in part:
WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09) will attend this evening’s State of the Union address by President Biden as the nation continues to register major progress in employment, rising wages, investments in infrastructure, ending the COVID-19 pandemic, slowing inflation, and addressing domestic and international threats to democracy. Prior to the President’s remarks, Congressman Cohen made the following statement:
WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09), the newly appointed Ranking Member of the Aviation Subcommittee, today questioned expert witnesses at a full Transportation and Infrastructure Committee hearing on Reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration. Congress periodically reauthorizes the FAA and other Federal civil aviation programs through an FAA reauthorization bill. The FAA was last reauthorized when Congress passed and the President signed the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018.
MEMPHIS – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09) has been closely following developments in today’s shooting at the Poplar-White Station Public Library in East Memphis in which a Memphis Police Officer was wounded and another individual was killed, and made the following statement:
WASHINGTON -- Congressmen Steve Cohen (TN-09), Jesús “Chuy” García (IL-04) and Ro Khanna (CA-17) and Senators Edward J. Markey (D-Massachusetts) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut) today reintroduced the Forbidding Airlines from Imposing Ridiculous (FAIR) Fees Act. This bicameral legislation would prohibit airlines from charging fees – including bag, seating, cancellation, and change fees – that are not reasonable or proportional to the costs of the services actually provided.
WASHINGTON – Representatives Steve Cohen (TN-09), Bill Keating (MA-09), Joe Wilson (SC-02) and Maria Elvira Salazar (FL-27) along with U.S. Senators Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Todd Young (R-IN) today re-introduced the Combating Global Corruption Act, bipartisan, bicameral legislation that would raise the profile of efforts to fight international corruption by evaluating and publicly naming countries where corruption is rampant.
MEMPHIS – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09) today wrote to Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra seeking his assistance to ensure the health and safety of Tennesseans living with and at high risk for contracting HIV by providing HIV treatment and prevention funding directly to county health departments and community organizations after the Tennessee Department of Health’s (TDH’s) decision to discontinue its participation in the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) Prevention and Ending the HIV Epidemic (EHE) initiat
WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09) went to the House floor Tuesday to condemn Republican rules passed in the opening legislative actions of the Republican majority, including passage of a measure to revoke spending for the IRS to go after tax cheats.
In his remarks, Congressman Cohen said in part:
WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09), a senior member of the Judiciary Committee which has jurisdiction over bankruptcy law, today reintroduced the Private Student Loan Bankruptcy Fairness Act (H.R. 138). The legislation would restore the treatment of private student debt to its pre-2005 status and make it dischargeable in bankruptcy.
WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09), Chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties, today applauded the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol for its thorough investigation and compelling conclusions.