Dear Friend, This week, I returned from leading a Congressional delegation to Europe to discuss ongoing international concerns with European lawmakers and others. I also testified, along with Rich Watkins of the Lynching Sites Project of Memphis, in favor my bill to have the National Park Service assess the locations of various lynching sites near Memphis for possible inclusion in its portfolio; questioned witnesses at a Judiciary Committee hearing on the potential erosion of other civil rights following the Supreme Court's reasoning in the disastrous overturning of Roe v. Wade; was recognized for my efforts to prevent impaired driving; admired the phenomenal images being sent back by the James Webb Space Telescope; applauded the ongoing public hearings of the January 6 Committee; announced a research grant to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and funding for Methodist LeBonheur Community Outreach's work with HIV/AIDS patients; and offered a health tip about monkey pox, an emerging threat to public health. Keep reading and follow me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to see what I'm doing as it happens. Representing the United States Overseas Advancing My Historic Lynching Sites Bill Examining Post-Roe Threats to Civil Liberties Working to Make Memphis Safer for Drivers and Pedestrians Admiring James Webb Space Telescope Discoveries Applauding Ongoing Public Hearings of the January 6 Committee Announcing Diabetes Research Grant to St. Jude and HIV/AIDS Treatment Grant to Methodist LeBonheur Weekly Health Tip Quote of the Week
Representing the United States Overseas 
As Co-Chairman of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (the U.S. Helsinki Commission), I spent the July 4 Congressional recess working, leading a delegation representing the United States. Before leading the Helsinki Commission delegation, I was an invited speaker for the German Marshall Fund's Brussels Forum. I then met in London with lawyers and lawmakers on countering the rash of strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPP) filed by oligarchs and kleptocrats in meritless defamation and libel actions against news organizations. After that, I led the delegation to the 29th annual meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's Parliamentary Assembly in Birmingham, England, and spoke with fellow lawmakers about the genocidal invasion of Ukraine by Russian and my fears of further human rights violations elsewhere in Eastern and Central Europe by an avaricious Vladimir Putin. The delegation's efforts advanced our nation's strategic and moral vision, and I was pleased to lead it. Advancing My Historic Lynching Sites Bill
Richard Watkins of the Lynching Sites Project of Memphis testifies remotely at the legislative hearing on the ELL for National Park Sites Act On Thursday, the Committee on Natural Resources on which I serve held a Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands legislative hearing that included my bill, the Evaluating Lynching Locations (ELL) for National Park Sites Act. The measure would direct the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a special resource study to determine the suitability and feasibility of establishing a network of locations associated with lynchings in the vicinity of Memphis, as units of the National Park System to memorialize and provide proper historical context for these tragic and extrajudicial killings. I was proud to introduce to the subcommittee the accomplished Memphis lawyer Richard Watkins, Board President of the Lynching Sites Project of Memphis and my constituent, who testified in favor of the measure. The bill was reported favorably to the full committee and I look forward to its advancement. See my release, including my statements and Watkins's testimony here. Examining Post-Roe Threats to Civil Liberties
Also Thursday, as a senior member of the Judiciary Committee, and Chairman of its Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties, I questioned expert witnesses at a hearing entitled "What's Next: The Threat to Individual Freedoms in a Post-Roe World." See my release and my line of questioning here. Working to Make Memphis Safer for Drivers and Pedestrians
Congressman Cohen receives the Leadership Award from Responsibility.org CEO Chris Swonger Memphis has again this week been recognized as an unsafe place for pedestrians. That's why I have worked hard to advance my Complete Streets Act, providing technical assistance and funding for construction of sidewalks, crosswalks and bus stops aimed at making roads safer for all users, including pedestrians. I also introduced the Multiple Substance Impaired Driving Prevention Act to address an under-reported cause of many serious vehicle accidents. Both of these bills were included the bipartisan infrastructure law that President Biden enacted. For that effort, and others, I was awarded the "Advancing Alcohol Responsibility 2021 Leadership Award" from Responsibility.org in my Washington office on Thursday. See my release here. Admiring James Webb Space Telescope Discoveries
We are seeing the astonishing technical success of the James Webb Space Telescope this week and the phenomenal images are inspiring awe and wonder. See the photos and learn more about them here: https://www.nasa.gov/webbfirstimages Applauding Ongoing Public Hearings of the January 6 Committee
The case the January 6th Committee has made for holding Donald Trump accountable for the three-pronged effort he oversaw in attempting to thwart the will of the people and destroy the democratic process is airtight and damning. I congratulate the Select Committee members and staff for making this compelling evidence public in a persuasive and credible way. I look forward to any upcoming hearings and the final report from the Committee. Announcing Diabetes Research Grant to St. Jude and HIV/AIDS Treatment Grant to Methodist LeBonheur This week I announced a National Cancer Institute grant to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and a Department of Health and Human Services grant for HIV/AIDS treatment for Methodist LeBonheur Community Outreach. See those releases here and here. Weekly Health Tip In addition to its surveillance of Covid variants now surging in some parts of the country, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is closely monitoring cases of monkeypox. See the National Monkeypox Vaccine Strategy, including symptoms and other guidance, here. To date, Tennessee has had only three confirmed cases of monkeypox. If you have symptoms of monkeypox -- which include fever, headache, muscle aches and backache, swollen lymph nodes, chills, exhaustion, or a rash that can look like pimples or blisters -- please see a doctor, as it is critical to limit this outbreak. Quote of the Week
"You might imagine that our founders would have been shocked to learn that an American President would one day come to embrace and excuse political violence against our own institutions, or knowingly send an armed mob to attack the Capitol to usurp the will of the people. But, you know, Mr. Chairman, the founders were pretty wise about certain things. And at the start of the republic, they actually warned everyone about Donald Trump. Not by name, of course, but in the course of advising about the certain prospect that ambitious politicians would try to mobilize violent mobs to tear down our own institutions in service of their insatiable ambitions. In the very first Federalist Paper, Alexander Hamilton observed that history teaches that opportunistic politicians who desire to rule at all costs will begin first as demagogues, pandering to the angry and malignant passions of the crowd, but then end up as tyrants, trampling the freedoms and the rights of the people." – Congressman Jamie Raskin of Maryland, a member of the January 6th Committee, in his closing statement at Tuesday's hearing. As always, I remain.
Most sincerely,
Steve Cohen
Member of Congress | 
