Seeking Greater Transparency in TVA Policy Planning
Dear Friend,
This week, I returned to Washington and introduced legislation to make the planning decisions made by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) more transparent by having more people – experts, stakeholders, customers – involved. I also urged the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee to reject the nomination of Lee Beaman to the TVA Board of Directors because he has no relevant experience, potential conflicts of interest and a history of ethical lapses. I also attended an Intelligence Committee briefing on publicly available data, announced more than $3 million in grants to the Memphis Fire Department, condemned Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s extra-judicial killings and President Trump’s pardon of a convicted drug trafficker, applauded House passage of my bill to count the many federal crimes on our statute books, celebrated the satirical renaming of the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of Memphis, remembered Steve Cropper in a Friday Flashback, and offered a Bill Day cartoon and a seasonal health tip. Keep reading and follow me on Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram to see what I am doing as it happens.
Seeking Greater Transparency in TVA Policy Planning
Urging Senate Panel to Reject Trump’s TVA Board Nominee
Attending Intelligence Committee Briefing on Open-Source Data
Announcing $3 Million in FEMA Grants to the Memphis Fire Department
Condemning Reckless Trump Administration Actions
Hailing House Passage of the Count the Crimes to Cut Act
Celebrating the Newly Designated Gulf of Memphis
Seeking Greater Transparency in TVA Policy Planning
On Tuesday, I joined my friend Congressman Tim Burchett of Knoxville in reintroducing the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Increase Rate of Participation (IRP) Act. The measure aims to increase public participation in the public utility’s planning process and assure critical decisions are made in public. I have exercised vigorous oversight of TVA policies throughout my career representing Memphis and its utility, Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division, TVA’s largest commercial customer. See our release on the legislation here.
Urging Senate Panel to Reject Trump’s TVA Board Nominee
President Trump’s nominee for the TVA Board of Directors, Lee Beaman, has no relevant experience, potential conflicts of interest and disturbing ethical issues, which I spelled out in a letter to the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee which considered the nomination at a confirmation hearing on Wednesday. See my release and the letter urging the Committee to reject the nomination here.
Attending Intelligence Subcommittee Briefing on Open-Source Data
Most of the hearings of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, to which I was named a member in June, are held in a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF) to prevent the classified information we discuss from being made public. On Wednesday, I attended a rare open briefing of the Open-Source Intelligence Subcommittee to learn more about useful intelligence data in the public domain.
Announcing $3 Million in FEMA Grants to the Memphis Fire Department
On Monday, I announced three Assistance to Firefighters grants, totaling $3,022,867, to the Memphis Fire Department. The funding will provide the Department with the tools and vehicles it needs to ensure public safety and the safety of firefighters. See details of the grants here.
Condemning Reckless Trump Administration Actions
It appears Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth not only justifies war crimes but orders them when suspected drug boats operated by civilians are extra-judiciously blown out of the water in the name of saving America from the scourge of drugs. But his boss, President Trump, sent a confusing and contradictory message when he pardoned the former Honduran President convicted and sentenced to 45 years in prison last year for helping transport at least 400 tons of cocaine into this country. On Thursday, I went to the House floor to condemn Trump naming the U.S. Institute of Peace that he dismantled in February after himself. See that speech here.
Hailing House Passage of the Count the Crimes to Cut Act
I was the original Democratic House sponsor of the Count the Crimes to Cut Act, a bipartisan measure aimed at requiring the Department of Justice to inform Congress and the public of how many federal criminal laws are on the books with the ultimate goal of making more transparent what are federal criminal offenses. I participated in the floor debate on the bill which passed the House on a voice vote Monday. See my release here.
Celebrating the Newly Designated Gulf of Memphis
One of the more comically idiotic edicts Donald Trump has made in his second term is renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America. News organizations and geographers rightly ignored it. This poster on an easel outside my Washington Office is drawing crowds, picture-takers and positive attention. Go Grizzlies.
Legendary guitar player and songwriter Steve Cropper passed this week at the age of 84. I was present when he donated three Fender guitars and an amplifier to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History on December 1, 2016, where I took this picture. There was no music more associated with Memphis than – not white, not yellow, not Vidalia – but “Green Onions.” It became the background music of so many movies and was a standard covered by countless bands in clubs, bars and restaurants. Some say Steve Cropper was the greatest guitar player in the world, and he was a great songwriter.
A Bill Day Cartoon – “War Crime Hegseth”
Respiratory illnesses such as influenza, Covid-19, and Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) are currently at low levels in Shelby and Tipton counties so far this season, but emergency room visits for the flu are rising in both counties, particularly for young children. Statewide, as of Monday, December 1, levels of Covid are already high. Keep track of respiratory illness in our community with this useful tool from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
“The Trump administration insists the strikes are necessary to stop the flow of drugs into the United States. If that’s the paramount concern, Trump would not have announced plans last Friday to pardon former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández, who was sentenced last year to 45 years in prison for helping move at least 400 tons of cocaine into this country. Perhaps Trump thinks he can negotiate with drug kingpins but not their mules. Either way, he has to act within the law. Good for Congress for belatedly getting on the case.” – Monday’s Washington Post editorial “Pete Hegseth’s Caribbean lawlessness.”
As always, I remain
Sincerely,
|
Steve Cohen
Member of Congress