Steve Cohen (politician) Biography, Age, Height, Wife, Net Worth and Family

Age, Biography and Wiki

Steve Cohen (politician) (Stephen Ira Cohen) was born on 24 May, 1949 in Memphis, Tennessee, U.S., is a politician. Discover Steve Cohen (politician)'s Biography, Age, Height, Physical Stats, Dating/Affairs, Family and career updates. Learn How rich is He in this year and how He spends money? Also learn how He earned most of networth at the age of 74 years old?

We recommend you to check the complete list of Famous People born on 24 May. He is a member of famous politician with the age 74 years old group.

Steve Cohen (politician) Height, Weight & Measurements

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Dating & Relationship status

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Steve Cohen (politician) Net Worth

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Timeline

In January 2022, when the board of trustees of McMinn County Schools in Tennessee, in a 10-0 decision, removed the Pulitzer Prize-winning Holocaust graphic novel Maus from its curriculum for 8th grade English classes, overriding a state curriculum decision, Cohen was critical of the decision and said he hoped to see it reversed.

On December 13, 2021, Cohen voted for the article of impeachment in the second impeachment of Donald Trump.

On June 30, 2020, Cohen and 35 cosponsors introduced a resolution (H.Res.1032) on the House floor calling for the impeachment of Attorney General William Barr for many instances of alleged malfeasance.

On October 31, 2019, Cohen voted for the resolution to establish procedures for public hearings in the then-ongoing impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump. On December 18, 2019, Cohen voted for both articles of impeachment against Trump in Trump's first impeachment.

On April 25, 2018, 57 members of the House of Representatives, including Cohen, released a condemnation of Holocaust distortion in Ukraine and Poland. They criticized Poland's new Holocaust law, which would criminalize accusing Poles of complicity in the Holocaust, and Ukraine's 2015 memory laws glorifying Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) and its pro-Nazi leaders, such as Roman Shukhevych.

In July 2018, Cohen said that Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections amounted to "an act of war", which the U.S. needed to counter with "cyber attacks against the Kremlin". Speaking to Hill.TV's Buck Sexton and Krystal Ball, he argued that Russia "invaded our country" by attacking free elections, and thus should be "crippled" by a retributory cyber attack that would have "made Russian society valueless".

During a 2018 open congressional hearing of FBI agent Peter Strzok, Cohen said, "If I could give you a Purple Heart, I would... This has been an attack on you and a way to attack Mr. Mueller and the investigation that is to get at Russian collusion involved in our election." Veteran groups criticized his comment, as the Purple Heart is given to wounded soldiers. Cohen apologized for his comments, saying "I regret mentioning the Purple Heart medal at yesterday's hearing. My intent was to speak metaphorically to make a broader point about attacks against the FBI and Special Counsel Mueller's investigation into a Russian attack on our country."

In October 2017, Aram Hamparian, executive director of the Armenian National Committee of America, said, "Reps. Stivers, Cohen, and Sessions—in stripping out language about the Armenian Genocide from a bill about Turkish-Armenian relations—are, effectively, carrying Turkish President Erdogan’s water in Washington, advancing his shameful denial campaign even as he’s doubling down on his government’s anti-American actions and attitudes."

On August 17, 2017, Cohen announced that he planned to bring forward articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump owing to Trump's series of comments about a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, five days earlier. Cohen stated on his website:

In March 2015, Cohen boycotted the speech of the Prime Minister of Israel to Congress, writing: "While Americans and members of Congress may disagree on anything, even foreign policy, providing a forum of such immense prestige and power to the leader of another country who is opposing our nation's foreign policy is beyond the pale. It endangers the negotiations, insults the good faith of the other nations involved in the negotiations and emboldens Iran who may well view this schism in our government as an opportunity for advantage. While we can disagree with our President, we as a nation should be as one on our foreign policy and any disagreements should be presented in a respectful, appropriate and time-honored manner."

Cohen became the subject of media attention when during the 2013 State of the Union address he accidentally publicly tweeted at model Victoria Brink, "pleased u r watching. ilu," and then deleted the tweet. He later explained to reporters that Brink was his daughter and that he had only learned of her three years prior. In July 2013, CNN facilitated a DNA test with Cohen, Brink, and the man who raised her, John Brink. The test revealed that John Brink was in fact the father of Victoria. Cohen said in a statement, "I was stunned and dismayed."

Cohen was challenged in the Democratic Primary by Tomeka Hart, an African-American member of the Memphis School Board and Memphis Urban League President who was undefeated in elections up to that point. Cohen won the primary with 89.2% of the vote on August 2, 2012—the highest vote total in the district in recent history and the highest percentage vote for a white candidate running for office in a majority African-American district in history.

Obama endorsed Cohen on April 5, 2012, saying, "Congressman Steve Cohen has worked with me on jobs bills, health care, and other issues of importance to the middle class. He also never fails to pitch me on the city of Memphis, whether it's Booker T. Washington High School, Memphis basketball, or barbecue. I urge you to vote for Steve Cohen, a tireless advocate for the 9th district". In the general election, Cohen defeated Republican businessman George Flinn, winning 75% of the vote.

On May 10, 2012, at a House subcommittee hearing on asbestos trust transparency legislation, Cohen described plaintiff's attorneys who contacted him about the illness of his friend Warren Zevon as "parasites." He said that Zevon—who died from asbestos-related cancer—did not seek a lawyer and did not want damages. In spite of Cohen's feelings, he spoke against the bill.

In 2012, Cohen sponsored the Cohen Amendment reducing infrastructure funding to Afghanistan. The Afghan Infrastructure Fund has been plagued with problems, with millions of taxpayer dollars disappearing. When another member of the House said the funding was essential to bringing our troops home, Cohen replied, "The truth of the matter is that it has nothing to do with whether we can bring our troops home or not. The truth is that we cannot account for where this money is going, and it is likely going into the pockets of the top one-half of one percent in Afghanistan. The infrastructure holds up well enough there to deploy and redeploy our troops, so it's good enough to bring them home permanently." The amendment passed 228–191 and is the first piece of legislation reducing funding to Afghanistan.

Cohen announced in 2012 that Memphis is to be awarded a $15 million TIGER IV Grant for the Main Street to Main Street Multi-Modal Connector Project. The project will add a dedicated sidewalk to the Harahan Bridge connecting Tennessee to Arkansas, allowing people to walk, run, or bicycle over the Mississippi River. The project has drawn praise from many in the business community, including FedEx founder Fred Smith.

Cohen has supported a number of efforts to legalize cannabis in Congress. He cosponsored the Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act when it was first introduced in 2011 and every year that it has subsequently been introduced. Other legislation he has cosponsored includes the Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act, Marijuana Justice Act, Marijuana Freedom and Opportunity Act, and the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act. Cohen has also introduced the CARERS Act in multiple years (2015, 2017, and 2019) to legalize the medical use of cannabis. He was the headline speaker at Marijuana Policy Project's annual gala in January 2010.

Cohen sponsored and co-authored, along with J. Randy Forbes, Dana Rohrabacher, Jan Schakowsky, and Jerrold Nadler, The National Guard & Reservist Debt Relief Extension Act, which allows qualifying members of the National Guard and reservists to bypass the often onerous means testing required under current bankruptcy law if their financial hardships were caused by deployment. President Obama signed the bill into law in December 2011.

Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi appointed Cohen to the Helsinki Commission in 2011. "Congressman Steve Cohen is a leader in promoting civil rights and opportunity of all Americans, and he brings this same passion to the promotion of human rights and democracy around the world", she said. "The Helsinki Commission is a focal point for security and cooperation among nations and leaders, and Congressman Cohen's voice is sure to strengthen and advance the commission's work."

In a speech on the House floor on January 18, 2011, Cohen said of the Republican effort to repeal the Obama administration's health care reform law:

Former Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton announced that he would challenge Cohen in the 2010 Democratic primary. In a guest column in the Memphis Commercial Appeal, Herenton wrote that while he hoped the campaign would focus on issues rather than race or religion, "it remains a fact that the 9th congressional district provides the only real opportunity to elect a qualified African-American to the all-white 11-member delegation representing Tennessee in Washington." Herenton also denied having supported Cohen in his 2006 bid against Jake Ford, writing, "I did not support Steve Cohen the individual for the 9th congressional district. I supported an idea that was bigger than him as an individual. I supported the principle of fairness." During the 2006 campaign, Herenton endorsed Cohen, saying, "Steve Cohen is the best-qualified candidate for this leadership role". While Cohen's commanding win in the 2008 primary suggested that he had strong support among the district's African-American community, Herenton was easily his highest-profile opponent to date.

Cohen sponsored the SPEECH Act banning the practice of libel tourism, rendering libel lawsuits unenforceable if the judgments were issued in a nation where the legal standard for libel is set lower than our own. The Senate Sponsor was Senator Patrick Leahy. The bill passed both houses of Congress in July 2010 and was signed into law by President Barack Obama the following month.

Cohen recommended Ed Stanton III to President Obama as U.S. Attorney for Tennessee's Western District. Stanton was confirmed in August 2010.

In September 2009, Herenton drew controversy when he said in a radio interview that Cohen "really does not think very much of African-Americans" and that "[Cohen]'s played the black community well." In addition, Herenton's campaign manager Sidney Chism told The New York Times that Cohen's Memphis-area seat "was set aside for people who look like me. It wasn't set aside for a Jew or a Christian. It was set aside so that blacks could have representation." The National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC) criticized Herenton for these remarks, calling them "unacceptable in a Democratic primary or anywhere in our political discourse."

Cohen voted against prioritizing spending in the event the debt limit was reached. He voted to create an $825 billion economic recovery package as well as an additional $192 billion anti-recession stimulus in 2009. He supported additional stimulus packages and bailouts, such as the GM and Chrysler bailout.

In 2009, Cohen was in the unanimous majority voting to adopt all four articles of impeachment against Judge Samuel B. Kent. All House members participating in the vote voted in favor of each article, with the exception of one member who voted "present" on the fourth article. In 2010, he was also in the unanimous majority that approved all four articles of impeachment against Judge Thomas Porteous. He was also appointed and served as an impeachment manager for Porteous's impeachment trial.

At a June 2008 campaign event, then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi called Cohen "the conscience of the freshman class", adding, "He is a progressive and an important member of the Transportation Committee, which provides the infrastructure for jobs that will make America more competitive in the global economy."

The primary had been marred by antisemitic rhetoric for months before the August vote. In February 2008, Rev. George Brooks, a Tinker supporter, distributed literature in the district that stated that "Cohen and the Jews HATE Jesus" and urged the defeat of an "opponent of Christ and Christianity." Another minister, Robert Poindexter of Mt. Moriah Baptist Church, said he was supporting Tinker because Cohen was "not black, and he can't represent me. That's just the bottom line."

Cohen endorsed Barack Obama in the 2008 Democratic presidential primary on February 4, 2008, the day before the Super Tuesday primaries. On September 10, 2008, while speaking on the House floor, Cohen compared Obama's work as a community organizer to Jesus' work.

On August 6, 2008, one day before the Democratic Congressional Primary, a confrontation between California-based documentary filmmaker Peter Musurlian and Cohen erupted. During a press conference at Cohen's home, Musurlian was asked to leave by Cohen's staff and Cohen himself. Cohen then put both hands on Musurlian's arms and forced him out of the home after Musurlian refused to leave.

On February 27, 2007, Cohen introduced a resolution in the House that apologizes for African-American slavery and the system of Jim Crow laws that persisted for 100 years after the abolition of slavery. He noted that no president has officially apologized for allowing slavery. The bill had 36 cosponsors. The resolution passed on July 29, 2008, marking the first time a branch of the federal government had officially apologized for the institution of slavery and its aftermath. Cohen was honored with the D. Emelio Castelar Work Recognition Award by the Vida Foundation in Madrid, Spain for his work on the slavery apology bill and served as the keynote speaker for their international symposium on the abolition of slavery and the slave trade.

Cohen made a trip to Iraq from October 4 to 7, 2007, as part of a congressional fact-finding delegation. He said that his impression was that Iraq was "not in very good shape" and that its economy has been "ravaged." Cohen met with soldiers who complained that long deployments are causing divorces. When he raised this concern with General David Petraeus, Petraeus told him that the claims were being exaggerated. After meeting with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, Cohen described him as "overly optimistic", noting his "bizarre" statement that sectarian war in Iraq was over.

Cohen has sponsored 16 bills since January 4, 2007, of which 13 died in committee and two were enacted. He has co-sponsored 762 bills during the same period.

In early April 2006, Cohen announced that he was again running for the 9th district seat; Ford was not running for reelection. Cohen was the first candidate in the race with significant name recognition outside the Memphis area, but had 14 opponents in the primary. The Commercial Appeal, Memphis's daily newspaper, endorsed Cohen in the race. The crowded primary was largely due to the district's demographics. The 9th is a heavily Democratic, black-majority district, and it was considered very likely that whoever won the primary would be the district's next representative.

On October 8, 2006, Cohen, Ford, and White participated in a televised debate in Memphis. Issues discussed included Iraq, medical marijuana, education, and the Tennessee Marriage Protection Amendment. Ford attacked Cohen's record in the State Senate, including his opposition to the Marriage Protection Amendment, support for medical marijuana, and his voting attendance record. Cohen responded by standing by his public record, pointing out Ford's lack of experience in public office, and indicating that Ford had been to jail and had dropped out of high school.

Cohen faced four challengers in the August 7 primary. His major opponent was Nikki Tinker, a lawyer who had finished second to Cohen in the 2006 primary and a former aide to Harold Ford, Jr. Tinker received the endorsement of the city's Black Ministerial Association.

In 2006, he opposed Republican policy regarding the War in Iraq.

In March 2005, Cohen was one of three members of the Tennessee Senate to vote against the Tennessee Marriage Protection Amendment, which prohibited same-sex marriage statewide and was approved by Tennessee voters via a referendum in November 2006. During debate on the amendment, he offered several amendments to it, all of which failed, including the proposed addition of an "adultery clause," which said, "Adultery is deemed to be a threat to the institution of marriage and contrary to public policy in Tennessee." Cohen won the Political Leadership Award from the Human Rights Campaign.

For 18 years, Cohen strove to repeal the ban on lotteries in the Tennessee State Constitution. His efforts were successful in 2002, and a state lottery program designed to provide college scholarships for Tennessee students was adopted the following year. The lottery program is the best-known accomplishment of Cohen's Senate career, having raised over $2 billion for scholarships, afterschool programs, pre-K, technical center grants, and energy-saving capital programs in K-12 schools as of 2012. Cohen also sponsored legislation relating to expansion of community access to healthcare, protection of animal rights, reinstatement of voting rights, graduated driver licenses, and funding for the arts. He sponsored the T-Bo law, the nation's first-ever statute providing for damages up to $5,000 in cases of intentional or negligent acts resulting in the death of a companion dog or cat. He has won six awards from the Humane Society as of 2011.

Cohen returned to the State Senate after the election. Tennessee state senators serve staggered four-year terms, and Cohen did not have to run for reelection to the Senate until 1998.

Cohen ran for the United States House of Representatives seat for the 9th district in 1996, when 22-year incumbent Harold Ford, Sr. announced his retirement. The then 26-year-old Harold Ford, Jr., the incumbent's son, was his opponent in the Democratic primary. Reflecting on the race, Cohen said, "I'd spent 14 years in the [state] Senate, had the experience, and didn't like the idea of [the seat] being handed down like an heirloom."

In 1994, Cohen ran for governor of Tennessee, but finished fifth in the Democratic primary with 4.95% of the vote. The nominee, Phil Bredesen, lost the general election to U.S. Representative Don Sundquist, but succeeded Sundquist in 2003.

Cohen sponsored and passed legislation providing funding for the construction of the Autozone Park baseball stadium, creating the Holocaust Commission, and providing permanent funding for the arts with Tennesseans for the Arts license plates. He was awarded the Bill of Rights Award from the American Civil Liberties Union and the Bird Dog Award for Ethics from Tennessee Common Cause in 1992.

Cohen was elected to the Tennessee Senate in 1982, representing the 30th district, which includes parts of Memphis. He held that position for 24 years.

When elected in 1982, Cohen was the first Jewish member to serve in the Tennessee Senate since 1958.

From 1978 to 2006, Cohen was the sole practitioner of his own law firm, practicing civil and criminal law.

While serving for three years as legal advisor for the Memphis Police Department, Cohen rose to political prominence when he was elected vice president of the Tennessee Constitutional Convention of 1977 at age 27. Cohen was then elected to serve as a commissioner on the Shelby County Commission, serving from 1978 to 1980. During his time at the commission, he was instrumental in the creation of The Med, a community-funded regional hospital. In 1980, Cohen served as an interim Shelby County General Sessions Court judge. He has also served as a delegate to the 1980, 1992, and 2004 through 2016 Democratic National Conventions.

Cohen graduated from Vanderbilt University in 1971 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. At Vanderbilt, he was a member of the Alpha Gamma chapter of the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity. In 1973, he graduated from the University of Memphis School of Law of Memphis State University (now the University of Memphis) with a Juris Doctor. Cohen is unmarried and lives in a Midtown neighborhood.

He is the first Jew to represent Tennessee in Congress, the first white Democrat to represent a significant portion of Memphis since freshman George W. Grider was defeated by Republican Dan Kuykendall in 1966, the first Jew to represent a majority black district, and one of the few white congressmen to have represented a black-majority district. Before being elected, Cohen told reporters that he would seek to become the first white member of the Congressional Black Caucus, but later decided against joining after members of the CBC (influenced by co-founder Bill Clay) indicated that they would not allow a non-black to join.

In 1961, Cohen's family moved to Coral Gables, Florida, where his father took a residency in psychiatry at the University of Miami. From 1964 to 1966, the Cohens lived in Pasadena, California, where Dr. Cohen completed a fellowship in pediatric psychiatry at the University of Southern California. Cohen, who had been attending Polytechnic School in Pasadena, returned to Florida in 1966 to graduate from Coral Gables Senior High School before returning to Memphis where his father had established his private psychiatry practice.

Stephen Ira Cohen (born May 24, 1949) is an American attorney and politician who has served as the U.S. representative from Tennessee's 9th congressional district since 2007. He is a member of the Democratic Party. The district includes the western three-fourths of Memphis. Cohen is Tennessee's first Jewish congressman.

Cohen was born in Memphis, Tennessee, on May 24, 1949, the son of Genevieve (née Goldsand) and pediatrician Morris David Cohen. He has two older brothers, Michael Corey and Martin D. Cohen. He is a fourth-generation Memphian and a grandson of Jewish immigrants from Lithuania and Poland. His immigrant grandfather owned a newsstand. Cohen contracted polio when he was five, and the disease caused him to shift his attention from sports to politics at an early age. When he was 11, John F. Kennedy made a campaign stop in Memphis, and Cohen took a picture of Kennedy sitting on a convertible. Cohen describes Kennedy as his political hero; the picture still hangs in his office.