Dear Friend, This week, I returned to Washington and voted to advance the Protecting Our Kids Act, sensible and popular gun reform legislation, from the Judiciary Committee to the House floor. I also introduced a bill to direct the National Park Service to evaluate the sites of lynchings within 100 miles of Memphis for possible inclusion in our park system; applauded the increase in the HOPE scholarships that are funded by the Tennessee Lottery I worked to get passed when I was a state senator; announced AmeriCorps grants to Bridge Builders and City Year Memphis; and offered a health tip. Keep reading and follow me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to see what I'm doing as it happens. Advancing Protecting Our Kids Act Introducing Lynching Sites Evaluation Bill Applauding Increase in HOPE Scholarship Awards Announcing AmeriCorps Grants to Bridge Builders and City Year Memphis Weekly Health Tip Quote of the Week
Advancing Protecting Our Kids Act 
On Thursday, I returned to Washington to attend the Judiciary Committee markup of the Protecting Our Kids Act and voted to advance the gun-reform bill to the full House of Representatives. This is a commonsense measure whose elements all have wide public support, including raising the age at which people can buy assault weapons, limiting the capacity of ammunition magazines and preventing the straw purchase of guns. This bill is an important step but will not prevent all gun violence. More work needs to be done, and I urge Congress to take up a national assault weapons ban. See my speeches at the committee markup here and here. Introducing Lynching Sites Evaluation Bill
On Tuesday, I introduced the Evaluating Lynching Locations for National Park Sites Act, which directs the National Park Service to evaluate lynching sites within approximately 100 miles of Memphis for potential inclusion in the National Park System. See that release here. It was gratifying to see that the National Endowment for the Humanities, with guidance from the National Trust for Historic Preservation of the United States, this week announced a $25,000 grant to the Lynching Sites Project of Memphis. The funding came from the American Rescue Plan, which I supported that became law in March of 2021. Applauding Increase in HOPE Scholarship Awards
As a state senator, I worked for years to pass the Tennessee Lottery that has now raised more than $6.3 billion and supports education programs, including the HOPE and Tennessee Promise scholarships. I was pleased to see that scholarship awards in the new school year will be increasing. See my statement on the development here. Announcing AmeriCorps Grants to Bridge Builders and City Year Memphis
On Tuesday, I announced that Bridge Builders will receive a grant of $214,981 and City Year Memphis will receive a grant of $1,123,200 supporting their work with students from AmeriCorps, the federal agency that administers AmeriCorps and other national service programs. In addition, Volunteer Tennessee, the state service commission, will also receive $3,272,078 in formula funding, which will be awarded to state organizations to support additional AmeriCorps members in the coming months. See my release here. Weekly Health Tip
So far, 572,649 people have gotten vaccinated, according to Thursday's Shelby County Health Department update and 307 new Covid-19 cases are being reported daily on a seven-day rolling average. All children over five years old can now be vaccinated. I hope everyone will avail themselves of the shots and observe public health guidance, including wearing masks indoors among people whose immunization status is unknown. See other Shelby County Health Department Covid information here. Quote of the Week
"It was Justice Scalia who wrote, and I quote: ‘Like most rights, the rights granted by the Second Amendment are not unlimited.' Not unlimited. It never has been. There have always been limitations on what weapons you can own in America. For example, machine guns have been federally regulated for nearly 90 years, and this is still a free country. This isn't about taking away anyone's rights. It's about protecting children. It's about protecting families. It's about protecting whole communities. It's about protecting our freedoms to go to school, to a grocery store, to a church, without being shot and killed." -- President Biden in his address on gun reform on Thursday night. As always, I remain.
Most sincerely,
Steve Cohen
Member of Congress | 
