Welcoming Release of Political Prisoners in Russia
August 2, 2024 |
Dear Friend, This week, as the Special Representative on Political Prisoners for the 56-nation Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly, I welcomed the wonderful news that my friend Vladimir Kara-Murza and 15 others wrongfully detained by the Putin regime and by its ally in Belarus have been freed in a prisoner exchange. I also endorsed President Biden’s proposed reforms of the U.S. Supreme Court with ideas I have been championing for years as a senior member of the Judiciary Committee, reintroduced a measure to require police sensitivity training and independent investigations of incidents involving police officers’ use of deadly force, hailed the reauthorization of the Debbie Smith Act, wrote to Speaker Mike Johnson regarding antisemitic content on X (formerly Twitter), announced a research grant to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, welcomed a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) grant to improve the health of Shelby County adolescents, remembered my friend Gina Sugarmon, and offered a health tip. Keep reading and follow me on Twitter (X), Facebook and Instagram to see what I am doing as it happens. Welcoming Release of Political Prisoners in Russia Endorsing President Biden’s U.S. Supreme Court Reform Proposals Reintroducing the Police Training and Independent Review Act Hailing Reauthorization of the Debbie Smith DNA Backlog Law Announcing St. Jude Research Grant Welcoming CDC Grant to Shelby County to Improve Adolescent Health Welcoming Release of Political Prisoners in Russia On Thursday, as the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s 56-nation Parliamentary Assembly Special Representative on Political Prisoners, I celebrated the release of my friend Vladimir Kara-Murza, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, Marine veteran Paul Whelan, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reporter Alsu Kurmasheva and others in a prisoner exchange with Russia. This is a huge historic deal – the largest political prisoner exchange since the Cold War. I commended President Biden for his persistence and diplomatic skills and for the entire American team resulting in the releases. See my statement on the releases here. See the U.S. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (Helsinki Commission) statements on the release here and here. Endorsing President Biden’s U.S. Supreme Court Reform Proposals On Monday, President Biden proposed substantial reforms for the U.S. Supreme Court, including term limits and an enforceable ethics policy like that by which all other federal judges abide. He also proposed reversing the high court’s recent ruling giving presidents immunity from criminal prosecution. I have supported all of these proposals as a senior member of the Judiciary Committee for years. See my statement here. Reintroducing the Police Training and Independent Review Act Earlier today, I reintroduced the Police Training and Independent Review Act. The measure would require enrollees at law enforcement academies to receive sensitivity training on ethics and racial bias, cultural diversity, and interaction with people with disabilities, those in a mental health crisis, and new immigrants. It would also require independent investigations and prosecutions of law enforcement officers in cases where one or more of the alleged offenses involves an officer’s use of deadly force in the course of carrying out his or her official duties. See my release here. Hailing Reauthorization of the Debbie Smith DNA Backlog Law On Tuesday, President Biden signed into law the Debbie Smith Act, reauthorizing the FBI’s DNA Backlog Elimination Program through 2029. As an original cosponsor of the bill, I know how important eliminating the rape kit backlog is in solving crime. Survivors of rape and other violent crimes deserve justice, and the extension of this program can assure it happens. Calling on Speaker Johnson to Direct the Oversight Committee to Hold Hearings on X’s Antisemitic Content On Friday, I joined 16 of my Jewish Congressional colleagues in a letter urging Speaker Mike Johnson to direct the Oversight Committee to hold a hearing on the startling rise of antisemitic content on the social media site X (formerly Twitter) as well as X’s reported violations of U.S. sanctions law. See the letter here. Announcing St. Jude Research Grant On Thursday, I announced that St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital would receive a $475,020 grant from the National Institutes of Health for research on red blood cell production. See that release here. Welcoming CDC Grant to Improve Adolescent Health On Tuesday, I announced that the Shelby County Board of Education would receive a $367,500 grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to improve the health of adolescents. See details of the grant here. Our community has lost Gina Sugarmon, a friend, civil rights groundbreaker and a passionate advocate for children, who passed last Saturday at the age of 86. Mrs. Sugarmon came to the United States as a refugee escaping from defeated Germany after World War II and settled in Memphis after marrying a soldier from the area. That marriage ended, and she met and married Russell B. Sugarmon, a lawyer, judge and member of the Tennessee General Assembly. Their biracial marriage in 1968 caused a stir in then-racially fraught Memphis just months after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. They were married 51 years. Russell Sugarmon passed in 2019, and I successfully introduced and saw signed into law legislation that named the U.S. Post Office at 1325 Autumn Avenue in Memphis in his honor. For thirty years, Mrs. Sugarmon was active in the Head Start program that prepares young children for success in school. She also worked with the Memphis Council for International Visitors to show off her adopted city to foreign visitors with her unique international perspective. Mrs. Sugarmon was a trailblazer and an inspiration to all who came to know her. I valued her friendship and join her family, friends and admirers in saying hers was a life well-lived. She will be missed. Many residents of the 9th Congressional District are or will be looking for nursing home care for themselves or loved ones. The Medicare.gov website provides a helpful tool for evaluating nursing homes with performance star ratings and staffing data, searchable by address and by facility name. It also helps decision makers by making clear what is and isn’t covered by Medicare. “What have we been talking about all week long? Childless cat women. DEI candidates. Now ‘Is she Black? Is she Indian?’…If you’ll recall, in the previous election, you had former President Trump questioning Obama’s citizenship… Again, it’s unfortunate these are the issues being raised. Is this an issue? Maybe they don’t know how to handle the campaign, so they default to issues that simply should not be an issue.” – Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska after Trump’s remarks at the National Association of Black Journalists Convention in Chicago on Wednesday As always, I remain. Steve Cohen |