This Week In Washington
Statement
This Week In Washington
While the unemployment rate in Tennessee is higher than the national unemployment rate, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has saved and created thousands of jobs in the 9th District. However, as a founding member of the Congressional Jobs NOW! Caucus, I believe we need to be doing more.
http://cohen.congressnewsletter.net/mail/util.cfm?mailaction=clickthru&gpiv=2100051977.77885.22&gen=1&mailing_linkid=8496On Wednesday, I voted to support H.R. 2847, the Jobs for Main Street Act, which redirects $75 billion in Troubled Asset Relief Funding (TARP) to fund infrastructure and job investments that will further stabilize jobs and provide long-term extensions for unemployment insurance, the COBRA health care subsidy, Medicaid relief to the states and expanded eligibility for the Child Tax Credit.
To learn more about this bill, please click here. To watch my floor statement on the need for a jobs bill, please click on the picture above or here.
Local Post Offices To Remain Open
In an effort to save money and reduce a multi-billion dollar operating debt, on November 20, 2009 the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) alerted the public and Congress that the agency was considering 241 Post Offices for consolidation or closure. The list included four branches in the City of Memphis: Peabody Place, Colonial Financial Unit, White Station and Lee Finance Unit.
I have been actively pressing the USPS to keep the Memphis facilities open for business. In letters and conversations with Postal officials, including Postmaster General John Potter, I emphasized that many people in the 9th District, including the elderly and disabled, have limited transportation and often walk to their local post office. No city the size of Memphis is without a downtown post office, and eliminating the Peabody Place Post Office would require businesses and residents to travel across town to receive and deliver their mail.
I am glad to announce that three of our postal facilities have been removed from the list for consolidation: Peabody Place, Colonial Financial Unit, and White Station. While I'm pleased that three stations will remain open, it is my hope that the United States Postal Service will also keep the Lee Finance Station open.
$4 Million in Federal Funding for 9th District
The House of Representatives on Wednesday gave final approval to $4 million in Congressionally-directed funding for the University of Memphis and the UT-Health Science Center contained in H.R. 3326, the Fiscal Year 2010 Defense Appropriations bill. These funds will go to train battlefield nurses, advance cancer research and develop a state-of-the-art battlefield sensor system.
Including this new funding, the 9th District has received $27,762,375 in Congressionally-directed funding for 2010.
The Defense Appropriations Bill also included temporary extensions for a number of programs that are helping constituents make ends meet during this tough economic times. Had we done nothing, million of Americans would have lost their benefits at the end of this month. Because we acted, unemployment assistance and the COBRA subsidy will continue. Medicare beneficiaries won't be turned away from their doctor's office. Food Stamp, Medicaid and child nutrition eligibility won't be reduced. Small business owners will continue to be able to access government loan programs.
Protecting Airline Employees
http://cohen.congressnewsletter.net/mail/util.cfm?mailaction=clickthru&gpiv=2100051977.77885.22&gen=1&mailing_linkid=8496As Chairman of the Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law (CAL), I held a hearing this week on the need to protect airline employees' benefits and pensions as part of the bankruptcy process.
Among the many witnesses for the hearing was US Airways pilot Captain Chesley B. Sullenberger, who rose to fame when he successfully carried out the emergency landing of his plane in the Hudson River -- the so-called "Miracle on the Hudson."
To watch my opening statement before the hearing, click here. To watch Captain Sullenberger's testimony, click here.
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