{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://cohen.house.gov/honoring-our-veterans-and-building-healthier-memphis", "Honoring our Veterans and Building a Healthier Memphis", "2014-11-14", "2014", "2014-11", "Democrat", "House", "TN", "Steve Cohen", "C001068", "cohen.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Dear Friend,\u00a0\nThis week, I hosted my best-attended annual Veterans Day luncheon for more than 300 Memphis-area veterans, I introduced Ron Walter\u2014who I recommended the President nominate for the TVA Board\u2014at his confirmation hearing before the U.S. Senate\u2019s Environment and Public Works Committee, Congress came back into session and the HealthCare.gov health insurance marketplace opens for 2015 plan shopping tomorrow. Keep reading to learn what else I did this week.\nHonoring our Veterans  Construction Begins on Main to Main at Harahan Bridge  Welcoming TVA Board Nominee and Memphian Ron Walter to Washington  Helping Memphians Get Covered with the Affordable Care Act  Protecting our Environment and Stopping Keystone XL  Stopping Efforts to Rob African-Americans of Their Voting Rights  Memphis New Ballet and Memphian Briana Brown Honored at the White House  Winning an Excellence in Public Service Award  Saving the HOPE Scholarship and Fighting for Tennessee Students\nHonoring our Veterans\n\u00a0\nTuesday was Veterans Day, which we set aside each year to honor those men and women who have served our country in uniform.\u00a0This year, I was proud to host my 6th annual Veterans Day luncheon for more than 300 Memphis-area veterans, breaking attendance records for previous years. I spoke to the veterans about what we are doing in Congress to address recent concerns at the Department of Veterans Affairs, and Memphis VA Medical Center (VAMC) Director Dr. C. Diane Knight, U.S. Navy Commanding Officer\u2014Naval Support Captain Doug Walker, and Alpha Omega Veterans Services Director Cordell Walker addressed the attendees.\nAfter reports of substandard care arose last year, I am pleased that follow-up reports show that the Memphis VA has implemented almost all of the VA Inspector General\u2019s recommendations and is moving in the right direction. I was proud to support the Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act which was signed into law by President Obama and will help VAMCs around the country hire more doctors, reduce wait times, and allow veterans who live far from their closest VAMC to seek care from closer private doctors. I will continue working to ensure that the Memphis VAMC receives needed resources including funding and improvements that will help minimize preventable deaths, eliminate redundancies that can impact patient care, and increase efficiency and veterans\u2019 trust in the system.\nConstruction Begins on Main to Main at Harahan Bridge\nOn Monday, I joined Downtown Memphis Commission President Paul Morris to help highlight the start of construction for the Main to Main project at Harahan Bridge. It will be the longest bike bridge in the country and it's a big federal project for Memphis which will create jobs. I am proud of my work to secure the $15 million federal TIGER grant that is helping fund it.\nWelcoming TVA Board Nominee and Memphian Ron Walter to Washington\nEarlier this year, after I recommended Ron Walter to President Obama to fill a vacancy on the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Board of Directors, the President nominated him for the position. I was pleased to recommend Ron to the President, as I have known him for nearly 40 years and know of no finer citizen of our community. He is diligent in all things and active and loved in the community for his genuine, caring attitude. This week, I was proud to introduce Ron at his confirmation hearing before the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works. I know he will do an outstanding job and serve the TVA constituency with good judgment and rectitude if confirmed. You can watch footage of me introducing Ron here.\nHelping Memphians Get Covered with the Affordable Care Act\nAll Memphians deserve quality health insurance and the President\u2019s Affordable Care Act is making affordable coverage available to people who have not had access to it in the past. Thanks to the landmark healthcare reform law, the uninsured rate for the Ninth District has plummeted by 10%, 15,000 citizens who did not have insurance coverage now do, more than 200,000 Memphis-area residents have insurance that covers preventive care, and no one can be denied coverage because of a pre-existing condition anymore. The Affordable Care Act is already working for Memphis and for the whole country.\nTomorrow, the HealthCare.gov insurance marketplace will re-open for 2015 plan shopping and comparisons. While this year\u2019s shopping period runs into February of next year, December 15th is the deadline to enroll in coverage that will take effect on January 1st, 2015. You can visit this page to see if you qualify for tax credits that will be applied as discounts on your monthly insurance premium. If you already have insurance coverage through the HealthCare.gov marketplace, your plan will be automatically renewed for 2015 but you should still visit the newly-redeveloped, more stable, and easier-to-use HealthCare.gov to update your information, ensure you receive the full tax credit to which you are entitled, and review new options as cheaper insurance plans that better fit your needs may now be available.\nWhile the application process at HealthCare.gov has been streamlined and simplified this year, a one-page guide is available here and Tennessee\u2019s health care navigator Seedco will be hosting several enrollment assistance sessions over the coming weeks if you are interested in receiving in-person assistance. Their Open Enrollment Kick-Off and Health Fair will be held tomorrow from 9am to 1pm at First Baptist Broad Church (2835 Broad Avenue), and they will host additional enrollment sessions at the Ben Hooks Library from 10:30am to 5pm on November 18th, and from 10:30am to 1pm on December 4th, 11th, 16th, and 18th. At each of these sessions, there will be certified health care navigators on site to answer questions you have about the law and assist you in the enrollment process. If you are interested in attending one of the enrollment sessions, please call (901) 405-7895 to RSVP.\nIf you are on Medicare or your employer is offering qualified health insurance that you are enrolled in, 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 should use the Marketplace to get insurance, call the Marketplace Hotline at (800) 318-2596, visit HealthCare.gov, or call Seedco at (901) 255-2955. You can also call my office at (901) 544-4131 or the Marketplace Hotline to find out if TennCare (Tennessee\u2019s Medicaid program) is a coverage option for you.\nHosting Kerry Kennedy, Daughter of Robert F. Kennedy, in Memphis\nOn Saturday, I showed my friend Kerry Kennedy, the daughter of U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and a niece of President John F. Kennedy, around town. We went to St. Jude, the Rendezvous, to see the ducks and roof view at the Peabody, and to the National Civil Rights Museum\u2014sharing the museum\u2019s history with her was special as her family is so inextricably linked to the civil rights movement and played such an outsized role in our nation\u2019s history.\u00a0Kerry was in Memphis to speak at the 2014 Call to Action Conference last weekend.\nProtecting our Environment and Stopping Keystone XL\nHouse Republican leadership this week rushed through an ill-advised plan to approve the Keystone XL Pipeline. This was the first of the many attacks on President Obama and his agenda that will surely come as Republicans take control of both Houses of Congress next year. As the House debated the measure, I spoke on the floor to highlight the damage that the pipeline will do to our environment and, as today\u2019s NPR Morning Edition quoted me saying, point out that almost all of the \u201cpermanent jobs\u201d that Republicans like to claim will be created by Keystone will actually be jobs cleaning up oil spills. Every year, 3.2 million gallons of oil spill out of pipelines in the country. It\u2019s possible that Keystone will create jobs\u2014but jobs cleaning up more oil spills aren\u2019t the kind of jobs Americans want.\nStopping Efforts to Rob African-Americans of Their Voting Rights\nAll Americans hold dear the sacred, constitutionally-protected right to vote. Too often, we take for granted the principle of \u201cone person, one vote.\u201d In recent years, many conservative-led state legislatures in the South have redrawn their legislative districts to minimize the influence held by minority communities, specifically African-American communities, using a practice known as \u201cpacking.\u201d By packing as many minority voters as possible into a single district, these legislatures actually dilute minority voting rights by reducing the number of districts their votes can influence. Last month, I sent Attorney General Eric Holder a letter asking that he do what he can to stop it, and this week the Supreme Court heard arguments regarding the practice.\nWhile it may be done under the pretext of protecting minorities or ensuring they are represented, recent \u201cpacking\u201d efforts actually have the opposite result, materially reducing the impact and influence of African-Americans in our democracy. \u00a0It is no coincidence that the five congressional districts with the most African-Americans are all in the Deep South\u2014and it demonstrates that there is much work to be done to truly emerge from the shadows of slavery and Jim Crow. . The Supreme Court should put a stop to this shameful tactic and fully protect the constitutional rights of every American, regardless of skin color.\nMemphis New Ballet and Memphian Briana Brown Honored at the White House\nI am very proud that the Memphis New Ballet and Memphian Briana Brown were honored by First Lady Michelle Obama at the White House. The First Lady gave the Ballet, represented by Briana Brown, the National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award, which includes a $10,000 grant to support the Ballet. Congratulations to the New Ballet and to Briana!\nWinning an Excellence in Public Service Award\nOn Sunday, Wiley College and the Carver Arts & Education Project awarded me with their Excellence in Public Service Award for \u201ca lifetime of service to the citizens of Shelby County and the State of Tennessee.\u201d I am proud to receive this distinction, to be recognized for my work, and for the honor of representing the citizens of the Ninth District.\u00a0\nSaving the HOPE Scholarship and Fighting for Tennessee Students\nRecently, Governor Haslam defended his \u201cTennessee Promise\u201d plan that raids $300 million this year and millions more annually from the HOPE Scholarship program by arguing that our state hasn\u2019t \u201cincreased the number of Tennesseans who are going to school,\u201d and that he believes his plan is what the state needs to do that. However, a new report shows that the Governor is just plain wrong. Between 2007 and 2012, enrollment in Tennessee\u2019s public colleges actually rose by more than 22%. But while enrollment picked up substantially, state funding per student actually fell by nearly 18%, making it harder for our state\u2019s best and brightest to afford higher education.\nIf the Governor truly wants to increase both enrollment and graduation rates, he should support and fully fund the HOPE Scholarship program instead of crippling it by raiding more than $300 million from lottery revenue to pay for a completely untested program with no standards. The Governor should work with the General Assembly to provide full tuition HOPE Scholarship so that more high-achieving Tennesseans can go to college, earn degrees with less debt, and contribute to our state\u2019s economy.\nAs always, I remain.\u00a0  \n\tMost sincerely,    \n\tSteve Cohen  \n\tMember 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/honoring-our-veterans-and-building-healthier-memphis"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.5053348615765572, "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"}