Congressman Cohen Votes for Protecting Our Democracy Act that Includes his Amendment to Prevent Abuse of the Presidential Pardon Power

Statement

Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09) today voted for the Protecting Our Democracy Act, a comprehensive measure aimed at preventing presidential abuses of power and protecting elections from foreign interference. The measure contains his amendment to require Congressional oversight when the President grants self-pardons or pardons family members, administration officials, or paid campaign staffers. During debate on the measure this afternoon, Congressman Cohen, the chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, explained the critical need to address pardon power abuse such as was seen during the Trump presidency.

In those remarks, he said in part:

"My Subcommittee works on issues concerning civil rights and civil liberties. We've had hearings on the pardon power. The pardon power is something I've been interested in since the 1970s when a Democratic governor of Tennessee abused the pardon power, and I stood up against him. I stood up against the previous president -- Trump -- who abused the pardon power even more…No person should have unfettered power and the president tried to use the pardon power to take care of people who took care of him…That's why this bill is so important: To protect democracy and save us from abuses by a future president."

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