Rep. Steve Cohen
Representative for Tennessee’s 9th District
pronounced steev // KOW-un
![Photo of Rep. Steve Cohen [D-TN9]](/static/legislator-photos/412236-200px.jpeg)
Earmarks
Cohen proposed $48 million in earmarks for fiscal year 2024, including:
- $20 million to Memphis Area Transit Authority for “Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) Operations & Maintenance Facility Project, Memphis, TN, TN-09”
- $7 million to Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority for “Snow Removal Equipment (SRE) Building at Memphis International Airport”
- $3.8 million to Shelby County Health Department for “Shelby County Health Department Emergency Operations Center and Safe Room”
View all requests and justifications on Cohen’s website »
View analysis and download spreadsheet from Demand Progress Education Fund »
These are earmark requests which may or may not survive the legislative process to becoming law. Most representatives from both parties requested earmarks for fiscal year 2024. Across representatives who requested earmarks, the median total amount requested for this fiscal year was $39 million.
Earmarks are federal expenditures, tax benefits, or tariff benefits requested by a legislator for a specific entity. Rather than being distributed through a formula or competitive process administered by the executive branch, earmarks may direct spending where it is most needed for the legislator's district. All earmark requests in the House of Representatives are published online for the public to review. We don’t have earmark requests for senators. The fiscal year begins on October 1 of the prior calendar year. Source: Appropriations.house.gov. Background: Earmark Disclosure Rules in the House
Analysis
Legislative Metrics
Read our 2022 Report Card for Cohen.
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Cohen is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot is a member of the House of Representatives positioned according to our ideology score (left to right) and our leadership score (leaders are toward the top).
The chart is based on the bills Cohen has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2019 to Jun 1, 2023. See full analysis methodology.
Committee Membership
Steve Cohen sits on the following committees:
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House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
- Aviation subcommittee Ranking Member
- House Committee on the Judiciary
Enacted Legislation
Cohen was the primary sponsor of 13 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:
- H.R. 6863 (117th): To designate the medical center of the Department of Veterans Affairs in Memphis, Tennessee, as the “Lt. Col. Luke Weathers, Jr. VA Medical Center”.
- H.R. 6822 (117th): For the relief of Vitaly Stepanov and Yuliya Stepanova.
- H.R. 390 (117th): To redesignate the Federal building located at 167 North Main Street in Memphis, Tennessee as the “Odell Horton Federal Building”.
- H.R. 4806 (117th): TRAP Act of 2021
- H.R. 7800 (116th): AIR Act of 2020
- H.R. 3304 (116th): National Guard and Reservists Debt Relief Extension Act of 2019
- H.R. 767 (115th): SOAR to Health and Wellness Act of 2018
Does 13 not sound like a lot? Very few bills are ever enacted — most legislators sponsor only a handful that are signed into law. But there are other legislative activities that we don’t track that are also important, including offering amendments, committee work and oversight of the other branches, and constituent services.
We consider a bill enacted if one of the following is true: a) it is enacted itself, b) it has a companion bill in the other chamber (as identified by Congress) which was enacted, or c) if at least about half of its provisions were incorporated into bills that were enacted (as determined by an automated text analysis, applicable beginning with bills in the 110th Congress).
Bills Sponsored
Issue Areas
Cohen sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:
Transportation and Public Works (23%) International Affairs (18%) Crime and Law Enforcement (18%) Government Operations and Politics (10%) Finance and Financial Sector (10%) Health (8%) Taxation (7%) Education (5%)
Recently Introduced Bills
Cohen recently introduced the following legislation:
- H.R. 3762: To require the Federal Aviation Administration to establish evacuation standards for transport category …
- H.R. 3683: To amend the National Trails System Act to designate the Benton MacKaye National …
- H.R. 3634: To direct the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration to issue regulations to …
- H.R. 3479: To amend the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 to …
- H.R. 3315: National Guard and Reservists Debt Relief Extension Act of 2023
- H.R. 3221: John Tanner and Jim Cooper Fairness and Independence in Redistricting Act
- H.R. 3082: MOBILE Act
View All » | View Cosponsors »
Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 2007 to May 2023, Cohen missed 267 of 11,072 roll call votes, which is 2.4%. This is worse than the median of 1.6% among the lifetime records of representatives currently serving. The chart below reports missed votes over time.
We don’t track why legislators miss votes, but it’s often due to medical absenses, major life events, and running for higher office.
Primary Sources
The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including:
- unitedstates/congress-legislators, a community project gathering congressional information
- The House and Senate websites, for committee membership and voting records
- GPO Member Guide for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills
