Praising President Biden's Choice of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson for the U.S. Supreme Court
Dear Friend, Today, I praised President Biden's historic nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court, who would be the first Black woman and first federal public defender to serve on the highest court in the nation. All week, as Co-Chairman of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, better known as the Helsinki Commission, I led a bipartisan delegation to the meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Parliamentary Assembly in Vienna, Austria. The delegation made a strong joint statement Thursday expressing outrage at the Russian invasion of Ukraine and pledged our strong support of Ukraine's sovereignty and independence. I also introduced a bill to keep eviction records off credit reports; continued to monitor progress on recovery from the February 3 ice storm with local, state and federal emergency management officials; urged leaders to include environmental justice language I drafted into the Water Resources Development Act; introduced a bill to provide permanent residency status to Russian whistleblowers; announced two National Cancer Institute grants to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital; and offered a health tip. Keep reading and follow me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to see what I'm doing as it happens. Praising President Biden's Choice of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson for the U.S. Supreme Court Expressing Outrage at Russia's Invasion of Ukraine Leading Helsinki Commission to OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Meeting in Vienna Introducing the Keeping Evictions Off Credit Reports Act Urging Leaders to Include My Environmental Justice Provisions in the 2022 WRDA Bill Introducing Bill to Offer Permanent Residency Status to Russian Whistleblowers Announcing Two Major Research Grants to St. Jude Praising President Biden's Nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson for the U.S. Supreme Court
Earlier today, I praised President Joe Biden's historic nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court. Judge Jackson, who currently serves on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, would be the first Black woman and first federal public defender to serve on our nation's highest court. See my release on the nomination here. Expressing Outrage at Russia's Invasion of Ukraine
Shortly after Russia began its invasion of Ukraine late Wednesday night , I led a joint statement from the leaders of the Helsinki Commission expressing outrage at the unprovoked and unjustifiable violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and independence and of international law. The statement says in part: "We are outraged that Russia's Vladimir Putin has chosen to dramatically escalate his war against Ukraine. These are not the actions of a powerful leader, but a despot seeking to deny Ukrainians the peace and freedom he has denied his own people." See the entire statement here. Leading Helsinki Commission to OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Meeting in Vienna
All week, I have been leading a bipartisan Congressional delegation on a Helsinki Commission fact-finding and support trip to Vilnius, Lithuania, and Vienna, Austria. In Vilnius, we discussed the brewing tensions over Ukraine with Lithuanian officials, including President Gitanas Nauseda and Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte, who described Putin's rhetoric as "Orwellian." We also met in Vilnius with the leading Belarussian opponents of President Alexander Lukashenko, who has become a supplicant of Putin, and who stole the election in 2020 against opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya whose husband, Sergei, is serving an 18-year prison sentence for his political activity. I also visited U.S. troops near the Belarussian where Russian troops are ensconced and had lunch with a soldier from Union City and met another soldier from Lexington. In Vienna, I participated in the plenary session of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's Parliamentary Assembly and spoke about Russia's use of 20th century propaganda. In those remarks, I urged that "It's time to give peace a chance." See that speech here. Introducing the Keeping Evictions Off Credit Reports Act Earlier today, I introduced the Keep Evictions Off Credit Reports Act, a bill that would prevent evictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic from appearing on credit reports. With this bill, renters who were evicted during the COVID-19 pandemic would not have that held against them when applying for future housing. See my release on the bill here. Urging Leaders to Include My Environmental Justice Provisions in the 2022 WRDA Bill Also today, I sent a letter with several of my colleagues to the leadership of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and its Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee urging them to include my proposed environmental justice language in the upcoming Water Resources Development Act (WRDA). See that letter here. I have been working to strengthen the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' commitment to principles of environmental justice in its review of pipelines and other projects. I was proud to join my voice with the grassroots effort to demand environmental justice when the Byhalia Connection pipeline was proposed for a route through the historic Boxtown neighborhood. I spoke about it at a recent Committee on Natural Resources hearing. Introducing Bill to Offer Permanent Residency Status to Russian Whistleblowers On Tuesday, I introduced a private bill for the relief of Vitaly Stepanov and Yuliya Stepanova to provide them permanent residence status in the United States. Both Vitaly and Yuliya, as well as their infant son, were forced to flee their home nation of Russia in 2014 after exposing Russia's widespread, state-sponsored doping program before the 2016 Summer Olympics. See my release on the bill here. Announcing Two Major Research Grants to St. Jude On Wednesday and Thursday, I announced two grants totaling $1,150,451 to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital from the National Cancer Institute. See my releases on the grants here and here. Although many areas are lifting masking restrictions, it still makes sense to wear masks indoors in public while the COVID-19 transmission rates are still high. Many retail pharmacies and other businesses are making free masks available. I encourage you to keep wearing masks when around others. Free COVID-19 testing kits are arriving in mailboxes after the White House initiative to get tests to every household in the country. Make use of them if you plan to be in a venue where your status could compromise the health of others. For more information on the free tests, see the White House announcement here. "The prayers of the entire world are with the people of Ukraine tonight as they suffer an unprovoked and unjustified attack by Russian military forces. President Putin has chosen a premeditated war that will bring a catastrophic loss of life and human suffering. Russia alone is responsible for the death and destruction this attack will bring, and the United States and its Allies and partners will respond in a united and decisive way. The world will hold Russia accountable." – Statement of President Joe Biden Wednesday night after the invasion of Ukraine got underway. As always, I remain. Steve Cohen |
