Addressing a Harrowing Crime Situation in Memphis
Dear Friend,
This week has been an extremely sad and trying week for Memphis. I continue working to address our city’s vexatious violent crime situation, reaching out to strengthen local efforts and requesting as much federal assistance as possible. On a happier note, I applauded the bipartisan confirmation of the outstanding Memphis lawyer Andre Mathis to serve as the newest judge on the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. I also wrote to Governor Lee about getting serious about providing eligible children with timely pandemic nutrition assistance; spoke forcefully about the need to protect political prisoners in my new global role defending them; announced significant grants to Porter-Leath’s Early Head Start programs and to the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC); remembered a revered British monarch; and offered a health tip. Keep reading and follow me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to see what I am doing as it happens.
Addressing a Harrowing Crime Situation in Memphis
Applauding Bipartisan Senate Confirmation of Andre Mathis to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals
Ensuring Children Receive Needed Nutrition Assistance
Embracing Role as the Special Representative for Political Prisoners
Announcing $2.1 Million Early Head Start Grant to Porter-Leath
Announcing Alcohol Research Grant to UTHSC
Addressing a Harrowing Crime Situation in Memphis
This has been a harrowing, overwhelmingly sad and shocking week of violent crime in Memphis. The recent high-profile killings, horrific in their own right, represent the much larger violent crime problem that Memphis continues to experience. We need to address the dangerous level of violent crime in Memphis. I have called for a summit of elected officials, law enforcement directors, juvenile justice intervenors and school board leaders to address this situation and have asked U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to support our community with all the resources at his department’s disposal. We need to have a comprehensive approach to this problem. See my statement and my letter to the Attorney General here.
Applauding Bipartisan Senate Confirmation of Andre Mathis to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals
I was pleased to recommend Andre Mathis of Memphis to President Biden for nomination for the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals and applauded Thursday’s U.S. Senate bipartisan vote confirming him as a judge on this important court. Memphians can be proud to see the first African American man from Tennessee on the Sixth Circuit bench at the same time my friend, Judge Bernice Donald, enters retirement. I am confident Judge Mathis will dispense justice fairly and I congratulate him on the confirmation. See my statement on the confirmation here.
Ensuring Children Receive Needed Nutrition Assistance
On Friday, I wrote to Governor Bill Lee requesting an explanation for the delay in applying for additional federal nutrition assistance funding and asking him to be more vigilant and, frankly, more fair in providing nutrition benefits to Tennessee children eligible for it. The Republican slow-walking of pandemic relief to those in need must be addressed and remedied. See my letter to the governor here.
Embracing Role as the Special Representative for Political Prisoners
On Tuesday, I testified at a virtual international hearing of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly as its newly named Special Representative for Political Prisoners. I spoke of the growing concern over human rights violations and crackdowns on legitimate dissent and pledged to work diligently to call attention to, and seek to end, these abuses. See my release and testimony here.
Announcing $2.1 Million Early Head Start Grant to Porter-Leath
A few days after my announcement of Head Start grant funding for Porter-Leath, on Tuesday I announced a $2.1 million grant to its Early Head Start programs in Shelby County. See that release here.
Announcing Alcohol Research Grant to UTHSC
The University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) will be receiving a National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism grant to study the effect of ethanol on arteries and the brain. See my release announcing the funding here.
The ties between our two nations were strengthened by the resolute 70-year leadership of Queen Elizabeth, who died on Thursday at the age of 96. We join our British and Commonwealth friends in paying sincere tribute to her.
For years, the National Rifle Association lobbied Congress to retain the Dickey Amendment that prevented public health research on gun violence. We have now broken the gun lobby’s stranglehold and begun to expand research into gun violence. We need to be more vigilant in addressing the implications of the flood of guns in our society. We can turn this around, but we need to seize the moral courage to take on this scourge and end it. If this week in Memphis hasn’t shown the necessity of acting now, nothing can.
The official portraits unveiled Wednesday
“I’ve always described the presidency as a relay race. You take the baton from someone, you run your leg as hard and as well as you can, and then you hand it off to someone else, knowing that your work will be incomplete. The portraits hanging in the White House chronicle the runners in that race — each of us tasked with trying to bring the country we love closer to its highest aspirations.” -- Former President Obama speaking at Wednesday’s unveiling of the official portraits of President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama.
As always, I remain.
Most sincerely,
Member of Congress