Dear Friend,

This week, the Aviation Committee held a hearing on the 2024 FAA Reauthorization Act, and I noted that its safety and modernization provisions are not suggestions, but mandates. I also took part in the first listening session in our effort to modernize the air traffic control system, reintroduced the Complete Streets Act, congratulated the Idlewild Elementary School Chess Team, expressed dismay at the closing of the Benjamin L. Hooks Job Corps Center in a DOGE-inspired mistake, introduced the Don’t Miss Your Flight Act, and offered a Friday Flashback, a Bill Day cartoon and a health tip. Keep reading and follow me on Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram to see what I am doing as it happens.

Urging Prompt Implementation of FAA Reauthorization Act

Helping Modernize Our Air Traffic Control System

Reintroducing the Complete Streets Act

Congratulating Idlewild Elementary Chess Team

Expressing Dismay at the Closing of Memphis Job Corps Center

Introducing the Don’t Miss Your Flight Act

The Friday Flashback

A Bill Day Cartoon

Weekly Health Tip

Quotes of the Week

Urging Prompt Implementation of FAA Reauthorization Act

On Wednesday, the Aviation Subcommittee on which I serve as the Ranking Member held a hearing on the implementation of last year’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Reauthorization Act. In my opening statement, I referred to the fatal crash over the Potomac River in January and a series of near misses as reminders of the need to modernize the aviation sector. Congress gave the FAA clear directives through the 2024 Reauthorization law to modernize critical infrastructure, expedite deployment of new technologies, and hire and train the next generation of air traffic controllers. That was not a suggestion; it was a mandate. See my release on the hearing here.

Helping Modernize Our Air Traffic Control System

Also, Wednesday, I joined Aviation Subcommittee Chairman Troy E. Nehls of Texas in a joint statement following the first bipartisan Air Traffic Control (ATC)/National Airspace System (NAS) Modernization Working Group listening session. The working group is designed to foster open, candid dialogue with a broad range of stakeholders from across the aviation sector. The statement reads in part: 

“We are proud to announce that the first listening session of the bipartisan ATC/NAS Modernization Working Group was a success. Today’s roundtable discussion included numerous stakeholders from the aviation industry. The discussions we had provided helpful insight into the pressing issues facing America’s aviation industry.” 

Reintroducing the Complete Streets Act

In 2019, I joined Senator Edward Markey of Massachusetts in introducing the Complete Streets Act and elements of the bill were incorporated into the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act which was signed into law in 2021. On Wednesday, we reintroduced an updated measure to transform America’s public roads. The bill would require states to direct a portion of their federal highway funding toward the creation of a Complete Streets Program. A “Complete Street” provides safe and accessible transportation options for children, seniors, and people with disabilities by prioritizing infrastructure for pedestrians, bicyclists, and public transit users. See our release here.

Congratulating Idlewild Elementary Chess Team

I was delighted to read about the success of the Idlewild Elementary School chess team which recently traveled to Florida to participate in a national chess tournament. As a proud 1961 graduate of Idlewild, I placed a statement in the Congressional Record congratulating the team and its coach, Mark Beatty. See that statement here.

Expressing Dismay at the Closing of Memphis Job Corps Center

Last Friday, I learned that the Department of Labor had summarily closed the Benjamin L. Hooks Job Corps Center on McAlister, and Job Corps Centers across the country, victims of another Elon Musk’s DOGE assault. This harmful decision will upend the ambition of talented students hoping to join the local workforce with useful skills and it makes no sense. See my release on the harmful action here.

Introducing the Don’t Miss Your Flight Act

On Thursday, I joined congressional colleagues in introducing the Don’t Miss Your Flight Act to help improve ground transportation in and out of our nation’s busy airports. The Don’t Miss Your Flight Act would use existing federal funding to create an incentive for surface transportation projects on or within five miles of a public airport that improve access, reduce congestion or rehabilitate roads, rail or transit, making catching a flight or coming home from the airport easier and faster for Americans across the country. See our release here.

The Friday Flashback

This is me with the late country musician and actor Glen Campbell at a Library of Congress reception on May 16, 2012, honoring Campbell and raising awareness of Alzheimer’s disease. Campbell and his daughter Ashley gave a memorable performance. Campbell passed in 2017.

A Bill Day Cartoon – “Musk Leaving”

Weekly Health Tip

The Trump Administration is doing real harm to our acclaimed National Institutes of Health (NIH) and medical research, and I am doing what I can to reverse the trend. In the meanwhile, the NIH continues to provide useful public health information. See its tips on being “Your Healthiest Self” here.

Quotes of the Week

“Donald Trump has continually shown himself to have authoritarian tendencies and this is just another worrisome example. For someone who just declared that it was ‘treasonous’ to not applaud him, and for someone who has, in the past, admired the tactics of everyone from Saddam Hussein to Vladimir Putin, it is clear that a military parade isn’t about saluting the military — it is about making a display of the military saluting him.” – Retired U.S. Army Major General Paul Eaton, a senior advisor to VoteVets, on the planned military parade scheduled for Trump’s birthday

“In sum, what you are seeing from this Trump II administration, and its bended-knee Congress, is a dangerous, undisciplined, intellectually inconsistent farce that we will pay dearly for in the future. Major geoeconomic moves are being made by one man who has done no homework…” – New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman on Wednesday

As always, I remain

Sincerely,

Steve Cohen
Member of Congress