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“I’m pleased to know that the Federal Railroad Administration is committed to undertaking this feasibility study next year. As added insurance, I pushed to include additional funding in next year’s transportation budget to ensure that there will be no further delay,” Congressman Cohen said. “Memphis is the transportation hub of the nation. We’re home to the largest cargo airline, highways, rail yards, the Mississippi River, but we don’t have high speed rail.

The Cohen Amendment addresses current law which limits who can be designated by a service member to oversee the disposition of remains to a spouse, blood relative, or adoptive parent. Cohen’s language would require the Pentagon to initiate a study to examine the effects of expanding the current statute to allow other people, including foster parents, friends or fellow soldiers to be designated.

H.R. 1478, the Carmelo Rodriguez Military Medical Accountability Act of 2009, would overturn a Supreme Court ruling that excludes service members injured or killed as a result of military medical malpractice from seeking justice. In 1950, the Supreme Court ruled that active duty service members were excluded from the Federal Tort Claims Act, which allows persons to sue the federal government for damages. That decision established what is now known as the “Feres Doctrine.”

This afternoon the House of Representatives passed a joint Senate-House compromise to HR 3183, the Fiscal Year 2010 Energy and Water Appropriations Act. The bill contains $1,369,000 for the Army Corps of Engineers to dredge the mouth of Memphis Harbor (McKellar Lake) and $354,000 for Wolf River Harbor maintenance. The measure also includes $500,000 for the University of Memphis to invest in the use of biofuel micro-refineries that will use biomass and other waste to generate sustainable energy.

The VA announced this afternoon that starting October 2, student-veterans in the Ninth District can apply online, rather than travel to Nashville, to receive an emergency payment up to $3,000 to cover the costs of books and housing.

Grants were also awarded to study health disparities among minorities and fund programs to help women cope with postpartum depression, support drug abuse assessment, intervention, and treatment efforts, and a suicide prevention initiative.