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WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09) today introduced the Making Essentials Affordable and Lawful (MEAL) Act to lift restrictions on the receipt of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) for people with prior felony convictions.

Congressman Cohen made the following statement:

WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09), Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, today spoke on the House floor in favor of a resolution to remove a deadline for states to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment and then voted for the measure. The vote on passage was 232 to 183.

In his floor speech, Congressman Cohen said:

WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09), a senior member of the House Transportation Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials, today wrote to Amtrak President and CEO Richard Anderson to ask for accurate and credible evidence that the Amtrak ridership supports decisions to end dining car service on some long-distance routes.

WASHINGTON—Today, Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09) joined with Representative Alan Lowenthal (D-Calif.-47), Senator Tom Udall (D-N.M.), Representative Katherine Clark (D-Mass.-5), and Senator Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) to introduce the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act of 2020, legislation that would phase out unnecessary single-use plastic products, hold corporations accountable for wasteful products, reduce wasteful packaging, and reform our broken waste and recycling collection system.

WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09), the Chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, testified this evening before the House Rules Committee, urging the panel to adopt a rule for consideration of a resolution enabling the full ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment. It would become the 28^th Amendment to the United States Constitution.

WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09), Chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, today presided over a hearing on "Citizens United at 10: The Consequences for Democracy and Potential Responses by Congress."

WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09) went to the well of the House today to condemn the lack of diversity in President Trump's appointments to the federal judiciary, to his cabinet and to the Tennessee Valley Authority's Board of Directors.

"I'm concerned about the lack of diversity, the lack of care about diversity, that this Administration shows in its appointments and in its actions," he said. "In the federal judiciary, the President has nominated approximately 250 judges, six of whom are African American. That's a disturbing and chilling number."