Week Of March 15-19, 2010 In Congress

Statement

The House is poised to vote as soon as this weekend on health care reform. Momentum is building for passage of historic legislation that will ensure the vast majority of Americans have access to affordable health care. The bill that will be voted on in the House brings to fruition decades of work by Presidents, members of Congress and health care reform advocates. Earlier this week, I spoke twice on the House floor about the need for health care reform.

Late this week, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, which scores legislation for fiscal impact, released its analysis of the health care reform bill. The analysis shows the biggest deficit reduction since 1993--even while covering 95 percent of Americans, reining in wasteful spending, and strengthening Medicare by extending its solvency by nearly a decade. The bill will reduce the deficit by $130 billion over the first 10 years. In the second 10 years -- from 2020 to 2029 -- it will reduce the deficit by $1.2 trillion. The legislation will cover an additional 32 million Americans, resulting in 95 percent of the legal population having health care coverage.

Paradoxically, while having some of the finest medical professionals in the world, the United States has long lagged behind other industrialized nations. I believe access to affordable health care is a human right, not a privilege dependent upon wealth, position, or job status. There is nothing more American than equal access to health care--life itself is dependent upon good health. I will be proud to vote for legislation which will do so much to help our district, our country and my fellow Americans.

National Healthy Start Association Award for Infant Mortality Work

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On Tuesday, I was pleased to be honored by the National Health Start Association for my work to reduce the rate of infant mortality in the United States. Calondra Tibbs, the Project Director for the Healthy Start Program at the Memphis and Shelby County Health Department (pictured with me and Memphis restauranteur John Vergos), presented me the award at the ceremony in the Hart Senate Office Building.

The award recognized my continuous efforts to reduce the rate of infant mortality in the United States, including sponsoring a resolution to raise awareness about infant mortality and authoring the NEWBORN Act. The infant mortality rate in Memphis is the highest in the U.S. and three times the national average of 6.86 deaths per 1,000 live births. That's why I authored the NEWBORN Act, a bill that addresses the growing problem of infant mortality by proposing a national pilot program to promote pre-natal care, community outreach, and the education of youth about the issue.

Jobs Bill Signed by President

This week President Obama signed into law the HIRE Act, a $17.5 billion jobs bill that will spur hiring and help small business owners.

The bill includes $17.5 billion in tax cuts, business credits and subsidies for state and local construction bonds, and moves $20 billion into the highway trust fund for spending on highway and transit programs. It exempts businesses that hire unemployed workers from paying the payroll security tax through December of 2010.

Judiciary Holds Hearing on Democracy Restoration Act

This week the Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the Democracy Restoration Act that would restore voting rights to ex-felons for federal elections. As a member of the House Judiciary Committee, I support this legislation because it is a matter of fairness and it disproportionately affects minorities: 60% of the 2.2 million people imprisoned in the United States are black or Latino. Many of them lost their freedom because they were convicted of nonviolent drug offenses. It is not in our interest as a nation to deny them forever their right to rejoin society as full members. To me, the idea that we should be trapped in a mentality that denies people the right to vote simply because they made a mistake when they were younger is antithetical to the principles on which this nation was founded.

Hilary Shelton of the NAACP testified in favor of the bill. I questioned Roger Clegg, of the questionably-named "Center for Equal Opportunity," a group that opposes the legislation, who also testified. It is my hope that this bill will be voted on soon by the committee.

When I served in the Tennessee State Senate, I passed two bills restoring felons' voting rights. The first bill was in effect from 1986-1996, referred to as the "Cohen period." In 2006, I worked with State Representative Larry Turner to pass another bill which improved the process for felons to restore their voting rights.

Earthquake Preparedness

This week 30 co-sponsors joined me in introducing legislation I authored aimed at ensuring that trauma centers and airports in seismically hazardous regions are capable of withstanding a major earthquake. The Critical Infrastructure Earthquake Preparedness Act directs the Federal Emergency Management Agency to establish a grant program to improve the ability of trauma center hospitals and airports to withstand earthquakes. These grants will be directed towards facilities located in seismically hazardous areas that have the greatest need for seismic retrofitting and will be the most critical structures to have intact following a catastrophic earthquake. If enacted, Memphis would be eligible to obtain grant money to retrofit The MED and/or the Memphis International Airport because of the 9th District's location in the New Madrid Seismic Zone.

Last year, at the request of then Shelby County Mayor Wharton, I secured $325,000 from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for a seismic mitigation study for the 9th District. The destruction caused by the earthquakes in Haiti and Chile are evidence of the vastly different outcomes that can result from catastrophic earthquakes depending upon the level of preparedness.

Honoring Sandra Day O'Connor

This week I served as floor manager on the House floor for a tribute to Sandra Day O'Connor. I've long been an admirer of our first female Supreme Court Justice, a champion of women's rights and personal freedoms, for breaking barriers both as a state Senator and as a Jurist. When I served as a State Senator, I urged the National Conference of State Legislatures to honor former state legislators, such as Justice O'Connor. Some of the House floor tribute can be seen here.

A Rising Star Comes to D.C.

Olivia Lewis shares her experiences at NYLC with Congressman Cohen.

Every week in Washington, I meet with constituents who are in D.C. This week, one Memphian who came to the Capitol was Olivia Lewis (pictured at right), a student at Lausanne Collegiate School participating in the National Young Leaders Conference. Olivia impressed me with her intelligence, poise and education aspirations. It was my pleasure to meet with her in the Rayburn Room in the U.S. Capitol just across the hall from the House Chamber.

Memphis Loses a Legend

With a heavy heart, I spoke on the floor about Memphis musical legend Alex Chilton, who died suddenly this week. I first met Alex at the funeral of his father, jazz pianist Sidney Chilton, who was one of my early mentors, but I had long admired Alex as a musician. Alex and I became friends and I'm deeply saddened by his passing. Alex Chilton was, as I said on the House floor, independent, iconoclastic and innovative. He was the embodiment of Memphis music: hard, different, independent, brilliant and beautiful.

I was scheduled to introduce Alex Chilton and Big Star at the Levitt/Overton Park Shell on May 15. Please keep that date on your calendar. I'm hopeful that the event will be transformed into a tribute to Alex.

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