{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://cohen.house.gov/press-release/cohen-urges-house-help-reduce-infant-mortality", "Cohen Urges House to Help Reduce Infant Mortality", "2013-11-12", "2013", "2013-11", "Democrat", "House", "TN", "Steve Cohen", "C001068", "cohen.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "[WASHINGTON, DC] \u2013 On the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives, Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09) today urged his colleagues in Congress support the PREEMIE Reauthorization Act. Along with the Congressman\u2019s NEWBORN Act and President Obama\u2019s landmark Affordable Care Act, the PREEMIE Act would help achieve the goal of improving our nation\u2019s health outlook and reducing infant mortality rates that remain higher than rates in much of industrialized world. In Memphis, the local infant mortality rate, until recently, even rivaled some third-world countries. Video of the Congressman\u2019s remarks on the House floor is available here.\nThe Congressman\u2019s remarks as prepared for delivery follow:\nI rise in support of the PREEMIE Act reauthorization up for consideration in the House today.\nI am grateful to support my fellow Tennessean, Senator Lamar Alexander, by voting in favor of this legislation and co-sponsoring the House version of the bill.\nI am also the sponsor of the NEWBORN Act, a bill aimed at reducing infant mortality rates that I am set to reintroduce soon.\nMy interest in the issue of reducing infant mortality stems from my representation of Memphis, Tennessee and its local rate of infant mortality that, until recently, rivaled that of some third world countries.\nThe PREEMIE Act\u2019s many provisions aimed at reducing the rate of infant mortality in our country are vital to achieve our goal of bettering the health of our nation\u2019s future.\nLike the PREEMIE Act, the Affordable Care Act has made great strides in advancing this agenda by requiring maternity coverage in all health plans.\nThe United States still has a long way to go in fighting infant mortality\u2014our current rate is 6.1 deaths per thousand while Portugal\u2019s is 2.5 and Japan\u2019s is 2.3 per thousand.\nBut legislation like the PREEMIE Act, the NEWBORN Act, and the Affordable Care Act put the United States on the right track towards lowering our rates of premature births and infant mortality.", 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/press-release/cohen-urges-house-help-reduce-infant-mortality"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.0593771003186703, "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"}