Tennessee

[WASHINGTON, DC] – Congressman Steve Cohen, a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, hailed passage by the House of Representatives of the National Urban Search and Rescue Response System Act of 2016 (S.2971). The bill was previously approved by the Senate and will now head to the President’s desk. This bill would authorize the National Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) program and codify protections for USAR team members, such as workers’ compensation and liability protections.

[WASHINGTON, DC] – Congressman Steve Cohen today released the following statement on the announcement that the Memphis VA Medical Center received a 1-out-of-5-star performance rating from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs:

[WASHINGTON, DC] – Today the Senate passed the 21^st Century Cures Act, which included the Ensuring Useful Research Expenditures is Key for Alzheimer’s (EUREKA) Act, a bill introduced in the House by Congressman Steve Cohen (D-TN) and Congressman John Duncan (R-TN) and introduced in the Senate by Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS) and others.

[WASHINGTON, DC] – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09), a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, today introduced the Bring Enhanced Liability in Transportation for Students (BELTS) Act to help protect children who ride on school buses. The bill would create federal grants to purchase new school buses with lap/shoulder seat belts or equip existing ones with such belts and creates federal grants to equip school buses with motion-activated detection systems.

[WASHINGTON, DC] – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09), Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice, today participated in a forum hosted by members of the House Judiciary Committee with bipartisan experts and noted scholars to discuss proposed reforms to the current method of presidential selection, entitled “The Electoral College and the Future of American Democracy.” A video of Congressman Cohen’s remarks can be found here.

[WASHINGTON, DC] – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09) today released the following statement on the Army Corps of Engineers’ decision to not issue a permit for the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline under Lake Oahe in North Dakota. The Army Corps of Engineers announced that it plans to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for alternative routes. The Standing Rock Sioux tribe and its supporters have raised concerns that routing the pipeline under the lake could contaminate the water supply for the Native American reservation.