Government Reform
In Congress, I have taken numerous steps to begin to change the way we do business in Washington and to restore accountability and transparency to government. I have voted for and passed legislation that banned gifts from lobbyists, prohibited the use of corporate jets, and required full disclosure of earmarks. Also I have passed legislation banning pensions for Members of Congress convicted of certain crimes; and strengthening the Freedom of Information Act to increase government transparency.
More on Government Reform
WASHINGTON - Aviation Subcommittee Ranking Member Steve Cohen (D-TN) and Chairman Garret Graves (R-LA) led a bipartisan group of House Members in sending a letter to Michael Whitaker, Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), encouraging the FAA to modernize its mental health protocols to ensure aviation professionals can obtain mental health care in a timely and efficient manner.
WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-9), a senior member of the Judiciary Committee and its Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government, today questioned expert witnesses at a hearing entitled “The Southern Border Crisis: The Constitution and the States.” The hearing established that federal law overrules state initiatives when it comes to immigration policy and that solving the immigration problem is not in Donald Trump’s best interests as he runs for president.
WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-9) again today voted to avoid a federal government shutdown as Republican disunity and dysfunction required Democratic votes to prevent a catastrophe. This is the third time – after votes on September 30 and November 14 – when the House has had to take up temporary spending bills to keep the doors open.
The vote on passage was 314 to 108.
WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-9) today applauded the Biden Administration decision to shorten the path to student debt cancellation under the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) Program. Those students who borrowed less than $12,000 and have been in repayment for 10 years will have their entire debt cancelled next month without taking any action. The decision accelerates the SAVE deadlines by six months, making life-changing opportunities for student borrowers.
MEMPHIS – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-9), a longtime advocate of lifting regulatory restrictions on marijuana, today wrote to Drug Enforcement Administrator Anne Milgram asking her to act expeditiously on an August 29 Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recommendation to reschedule marijuana to Schedule 3 under the Controlled Substances Act.
MEMPHIS – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-9), the Ranking Member of the Aviation Subcommittee, today called upon the Senate to swiftly pass a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reauthorization bill when it convenes next week. The House passed its FAA bill, the Securing Growth and Robust Leadership in American Aviation Act, by a 351-69 vote last July.
WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen, whose first vote in Congress, in 2007, helped elect Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House of Representatives, today took a historic vote to remove Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House.
The vote to vacate the Speaker’s chair was 216 to 210.
Congressman Cohen made the following statement:
WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-9) and Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts have led a letter to the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Board Chairman William Kilbride and its President and CEO Jeffrey J. Lyash urging them chart a path to 100 percent clean, renewable sources of energy by 2035, in line with the Biden Administration’s executive order on catalyzing a sustainable U.S. economy.
WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-9), a senior member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, today offered an amended version of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Salary Transparency Act that he and Congressman Tim Burchett (TN-2) introduced last week at a markup of the legislation. The full committee passed the bill by a voice vote, and it is now eligible for consideration by the full House of Representatives.
WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-9), a senior member of the Judiciary Committee, today questioned Drug Enforcement Administrator Anne Milgram about the need to decriminalize marijuana at the federal level and about the agency’s approach to stopping fentanyl trafficking. Milgram was testifying at a Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance oversight hearing.