{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://cohen.house.gov/delta-continues-breaking-its-promises", "Delta Continues Breaking Its Promises", "2013-10-25", "2013", "2013-10", "Democrat", "House", "TN", "Steve Cohen", "C001068", "cohen.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Dear Friend,\u00a0\nThis week, the House passed the Water Resources and Reform\u00a0Development Act, a\u00a0major piece of legislation\u00a0to help boost our economy and grow jobs, Delta continued its long string of broken promises to Memphis, and I introduced legislation to protect your right to vote. Keep reading to learn more about what happened this week.\nDelta Lets Us Down Again  Protecting the Right of All Tennesseans to Vote  Who Is Unwilling to Compromise?  Keeping Memphians Healthy  Medicare Open Enrollment  Improving\u00a0Human Rights\u00a0on the Helsinki Commission  Tribute to Late Congressman Bill Young  Grants to Memphis  Congratulating One of the Nation\u2019s Best Educators  Grant Announcements\nDelta Lets Us Down Again\nDespite Delta's promises, this week they\u00a0let Memphis down once again\u00a0by ending our city\u2019s status as a base for flight attendants, cutting as many as 126 jobs in the city, and further reducing the number of their departing Memphis International Airport flights from 64 to 40.\u00a0\nAs a member of both the Antitrust Task Force of the House Judiciary Committee and the Aviation Subcommittee of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, I have worked to exercise available Congressional oversight authorities over the 2008 merger of Delta and Northwest. When I spoke with representatives from Northwest and Delta, they assured me that Memphis would lose neither jobs nor flights as a result of the merger, two promises that have now been repeatedly broken. I have also reached out to Attorney General Eric Holder to discuss the growing evidence that Delta is violating the assurances made to the Department when seeking antitrust immunity for their merger.\u00a0\nSince they have basically left the Delta region, the airline should change its name to FIDA (\"Formerly Interested in the Delta\" Airlines) or Forked Tongue Air or Wings over Atlanta. While I am both disheartened and disappointed by Delta\u2019s poor decisions, I will continue doing everything I can to bring more flights, routes, and airlines to Memphis International Airport.\nProtecting the Right of All Tennesseans to Vote\nLast week, the Tennessee Supreme Court upheld our state\u2019s restrictive and burdensome voter ID law, which requires Tennesseans to present selected photographic identification\u2014including gun permits and hunting licenses but excluding photographic library cards\u2014in order to vote. The goal of laws like these is\u2014plain and simple\u2014to make it harder for minorities, the elderly, and young people to exercise a Constitutional right that we in this country hold sacred: the right to participate in the democratic process by casting a ballot.\nSupporters of laws like these\u2014which are being implemented by conservatives across the nation\u2014claim they are necessary to prevent fraud, though little evidence of voter fraud exists and the few cases that do pale in comparison to the thousands of voters at risk of being disenfranchised because of the new laws. This \u2018cure\u2019 is worse than the imagined disease.\nOn Wednesday, I introduced the\u00a0Voter ID Accessibility Act, a bill that would help mitigate the harmful and disenfranchising effects of the Tennessee Voter ID law and other laws like it by ensuring that state and federal offices that provide public assistance (which already offer visitors the opportunity to register to vote) notify individuals of their state\u2019s voter ID mandate and offer them the opportunity to obtain suitable identification free of charge.\nThe history of our nation is one of expanding access to voting, not restricting it\u2014and voter ID laws are steps in the wrong direction. My\u00a0Voter ID Accessibility Act would put our country back on the right path and help the citizens of Tennessee\u2014as well as every state with restrictive and burdensome voting laws\u2014exercise their right to vote by providing better access to the information and documentation needed to do so.\nWho Is Unwilling to Compromise?\nOver the weekend, a well-written\u00a0Jane Mansbridge column\u00a0appeared in the Commercial Appeal about the recent government shutdown. Her column made several good points, but one of the strongest addresses a talking point that those on the other side of the aisle have been bludgeoning Democrats and President Obama with for years: that we are unwilling to compromise on the Affordable Care Act, also known as \u201cObamacare.\u201d\nThat accusation is misleading. As Ms. Mansbridge writes, \u201cObamacare is inherently a compromise because it is a health insurance reform law rather than an overhaul of the structure of our nation\u2019s health care system. A significant contingent of Democratic voters and activists has always supported a single-payer health care system, in which the government, not private insurance companies, covers health care costs for all Americans (think Medicare for all)\u2026 The Democrats have compromised over and over again. Now it\u2019s the Republicans\u2019 turn to play fair.\u201d I think that is a very important point to keep in mind. I\u2019d encourage everyone to read her column\u00a0here.\nKeeping Memphians Healthy\nAll Memphians should have quality health coverage. Luckily, many who have been unable to afford quality coverage in the past are now eligible to enroll in\u00a0Tennessee\u2019s Health Insurance Marketplace\u00a0thanks to Obamacare. If you do not have health insurance coverage, you\u00a0may be eligible to save money on your health care premiums\u00a0in the Marketplace.\nIf you are on Medicare or your employer is going to offer qualified health insurance next year, you\u2019re already covered and won\u2019t need to enter the Marketplace for your health coverage. If you aren\u2019t sure whether or not you will need to use the Marketplace to get insurance, call the Marketplace Hotline at 1-800-318-2596 or visit\u00a0www.HealthCare.gov. You can also call my office or the Marketplace Hotline to find out if TennCare (Tennessee\u2019s Medicaid program) is a coverage option for you. If you are one of the millions of Americans who need health insurance, you can\u00a0sign up\u00a0for coverage today that will take effect January 1, 2014. Enrollment in the marketplace will remain open for six months, but you can go online to\u00a0www.healthcare.gov\u00a0 today to check out your options.\nThe Affordable Care Act is already working for families across the Ninth District and the government shutdown didn\u2019t change that. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 147,000 individuals in the district now have health insurance that covers preventive services without co-pays, $3.1 million in insurance premiums have been returned to consumers, and more than 5,000 seniors on Medicare paid a total of $5.9 million less for their prescription medications as we continue to close the \u2018donut hole.\u2019 Young adults up to age 26 can now stay on their parents\u2019 insurance plan and health insurance companies can no longer discriminate against patients with pre-existing conditions.\nIn recent weeks, there have been reports of citizens having difficulty successfully using the Marketplace website. Many of these reported problems have already been resolved and there are people working around the clock to fix the problems that remain on the website. But the Marketplace website is only one tool that you can use to sign up for coverage. If you are having trouble accessing the website, please do not hesitate to call the Marketplace Hotline at 1-800-318-2596 or visit Seedco for in-person help. Seedco is located at 22 North Front Street (Suite 900), and they can be reached by phone at 901-528-8341. You should also feel free to call my office at 901-544-4131 if you have any additional questions.\nMedicare Open Enrollment\nMedicare Part D enrollment for 2014 is now open and will run until December 7th. The Aging Commission of the Mid-South will be sponsoring several enrollment workshops in the 9th district to assist all seniors in enrolling in next year\u2019s plans. All that you have to bring is your Medicare card and prescriptions. Be sure not to miss out on this great opportunity to lower your monthly pharmacy costs. For dates, times, and locations of the remaining workshops in October,\u00a0please click here. Details about November\u2019s workshops\u00a0are available here.\nImproving Human Rights on the Helsinki Commission\nEarlier this week, the Speaker of the House reappointed me to the Commission of Security and Cooperation in Europe, known also as the U.S. Helsinki Commission. The Commission has a long influential history when it comes to international affairs, human rights and promoting democracy. It has been a privilege and an honor to serve on it for the last two years, and I am glad to have the opportunity to keep serving. I look forward to continuing my work of helping the Commission improve relations between countries across the world.\nTribute to Late Congressman Bill Young\nOn Wednesday afternoon,\u00a0I spoke on the House Floor\u00a0to pay tribute to the late Congressman Bill Young of Florida. Representative Young, the longest-serving Republican member of the House, passed away last Friday. He was an advocate for peace in Afghanistan and for NIH funding, which he more than doubled during his time as Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. He also joined with me as a founding member of the Congressional Tourette Syndrome Caucus earlier this year. I was proud to know him, and this country was fortunate to have a leader like him serve in the House.\nGrants to Memphis\nOn Tuesday, I announced that the Department of Health and Human Services awarded more than $500,000 to the University of Tennessee Health Science Center for two different projects that will help continue the important work being done by the school\u2019s skilled researchers. You can read more about the grants\u00a0here.\nCongratulating One of the Nation\u2019s Best Educators\nI want to take a moment to congratulate Sharon McNary, principal of Richland Elementary School in Shelby County,\u00a0on receiving the National Association of Elementary School Principals\u2019 highest honor, the Distinguished Service Award, in Washington today. I am proud of Principal McNary and all of the talented and hardworking educators who spend their days working to improve the lives of our young people.\nGrant Announcements\nI regularly release a list of grant announcements from federal agencies like the Department of Health and Human Services, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Transportation, and others. These federal funding opportunities are available to faith-based and neighborhood associations, nonprofits and other community organizations in the 9th district. The announcements are\u00a0updated regularly on my website.\nAs always, I remain.  Most sincerely,    Steve Cohen  Member of Congress", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://cohen.house.gov/delta-continues-breaking-its-promises"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9866049513220787, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}