Remembering Speaker Pro Tempore Emeritus Lois DeBerry
On Sunday, Memphis and the United States lost a legend when State Representative Lois DeBerry passed away. Speaker Pro Tempore Emeritus Lois DeBerry was a respected and effective African American legislator as well as a great orator and a go-to leader on everything from civil rights to children's and women's issues and on all things Memphis. Lois DeBerry was fearless, breaking through barriers to become the first African American female to be elected to the General Assembly from Shelby County and the first female as well as the only African American to serve as Speaker Pro Tempore of the House.
I was honored to have had the chance to serve with her in the Tennessee General Assembly, and I paid tribute to her on the House Floor in Washington on Thursday. On the same day that Congress commemorated the 50th anniversary of the historic March on Washington in which she participated as a young woman, I also had a flag flown above the United States Capitol in her honor, which I will present at her funeral tomorrow. She will be sorely missed by all of those she helped. Hers was truly a life well lived.
50th Anniversary of the Great March on Washington
Meeting with President Obama
Bill Introductions
Memphis Named a Top 20 World Travel Destination
War Room Appearance
Grants to Memphis
Sheri Lipman Nominated to the U.S. District Court
Reining in the REINS Act
Grant Announcements
50th Anniversary of the Great March on Washington
On Wednesday, I attended a ceremony held in the Capitol to commemorate the 50thanniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. At the ceremony, Representative John Lewis, who helped plan the March with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Bayard Rustin, gave a moving speech about the continuing quest for human dignity and human rights. Be sure to watch it here.
Another commemoration of the 50thanniversary will be held in Washington on August 24th. It will be open to the public, and if you are planning to be in Washington for the event, please let my office know—there may be additional events you will want attend and I want to make sure you are aware of them. Just call my Washington, DC office at 202.225.3265 or send an email to patrick.cassidy@mail.house.gov.
President Barack Obama spoke with Democrats on Capitol Hill this week about his plan to grow the middle class. While we’ve made some progress, including creating 7.2 million new jobs in the last 40 months, there is still more work to do. I look forward to continuing our efforts to grow the economy and our work to ensure that all Americans who work hard can make a fair wage.
I introduced three important bills this week. The Fresh Start Act will help non-violent federal offenders who have already served their sentence and are now law-abiding, productive members of society get their convictions expunged from their records. Today, even if an offender was non-violent, they could very well face a life sentence—because the stigma of their conviction will follow them for the rest of their life. Employment, education and housing opportunities – the very things necessary to start your life over – can all be denied because of a past conviction. My bill would give non-violent offenders who have turned their lives around a real chance to start over again.
The second bill would help provide healthy foods and fresh fruits and vegetables to urban areas. Too many Americans live in so-called “food deserts,” communities without sufficient access to a wide variety of fresh, healthy foods. Several studies have shown that lack of access to healthy foods is a challenge in many low-income urban and rural communities. The Supermarket Tax Credit for Underserved Areas would provide tax incentives for the establishment of supermarkets in empowerment zones and formerly designated renewal communities and provide a tax credit for purchasing fresh fruits and vegetables from local community gardens and farmer’s markets.
The last of this week’s three bills, the Jobs for Urban Sustainability and Training (JUST) in America Act, is designed to create jobs and provide training for Americans struggling to find work by eliminating tax breaks to major oil companies and putting the funds towards public works and job training programs for unemployed workers. The unemployed and underemployed need immediate assistance and Congress must do everything possible to help those who are suffering in this economy. My bill would support job training and economic development programs that will pull Americans back to their feet at a critical time for our country.
Memphis Named a Top 20 World Travel Destination
This week, MSN named Memphis as one of the top 20 travel destinations in the world. Being selected as one of the best travel destinations shows people around the globe what we in Memphis already know: our city, which has an incredible history and a bright future, is world-class. Whether for the Harahan Bridge pedestrian and bicycle project, which I worked for years to further, or for our great music, food and green spaces, more people deserve the chance to visit Memphis. I am glad that our city has been recognized as one of the best vacation spots in the world.
I sat down with Michael Shure on Current TV’s The War Room on Thursday to discuss how Republican obstruction is preventing Congress from doing its job, as well as several other topics. If you didn’t catch it, you can watch it here.
I announced more than $2 million dollars in federal grant funds to Memphis organizations this week. LeMoyne-Owen College was awarded $1.7 million to help minority students succeed in advanced fields like engineering as well as science and technology. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital also received $450,423 for a research project to study the role played by an important immune cell, the T cell, in a variety of different infections, including the influenza virus.
Sheri Lipman Nominated to the U.S. District Court
Late on Thursday, President Obama nominated Sheri Lipman, Chief of Staff to University of Memphis Interim President R. Brad Martin and former University Counsel, to serve as District Court Judge for the Western District of Tennessee. After convening a diverse, bipartisan screening committee to conduct interviews of nine potential candidates for the position, I recommended her to the President earlier this year. I commend President Obama for taking my recommendation into consideration and nominating such a skilled Memphis attorney to the federal bench. Sheri Lipman has proven herself a stellar attorney and I am confident that she will be a superb judge. Her breadth of experience—which includes serving as Vice President of Comprehensive Services at the Memphis Race Relations & Diversity Institute—her strong work ethic, and her unimpeachable integrity impressed the committee and me, and I’m proud that President Obama agreed. It was my pleasure to call Sheri with the good news yesterday. She will be the only woman on the federal bench in the Western District of Tennessee, and I am confident that she will serve the people of Memphis well and with distinction.
This is the fourth recommendation of mine that President Obama has gone on to nominate. I previously recommended to him three outstanding attorneys to serve in important positions: District Court for the Western District of Tennessee Judge John Fowlkes, Jr., United States Court of Appeals Judge for the Sixth Circuit Bernice Donald, and U.S. Attorney Ed Stanton III. I am glad that each of my recommendations has been confirmed and all have shown themselves to be great choices.
At the request of Congressman John Conyers, I spent several hours last night managing opposition to the REINS Act, which would put at risk the wellbeing of millions of Americans, on the House Floor. The legislation would severely restrict the ability of federal agencies to effectively implement our laws, and would give the Tea Party even more power to obstruct the President and prevent him from getting things done. I don’t want to go on too long here, but you can watch me speak on the House Floor about the many flaws of REINS Act here.
I regularly release a list of grant announcements from federal agencies like the Department of Health and Human Services, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Transportation, and others. These federal funding opportunities are available to faith-based and neighborhood associations, nonprofits and other community organizations in the 9th district. The announcements are updated regularly on my website.
As always, I remain.
Most sincerely,
Steve Cohen
Member of Congress