Tennessee U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen Wants the Federal Government to Fix Childhood Obesity

U.S. Representative Steve Cohen (D-TN-09) on Tuesday paired up with U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) to file companion bills that would, if enacted into law, create a government program to combat childhood obesity. “The Reducing Obesity in Youth Act would create a grant program to assist in the development of healthier early care and education environments to improve healthy eating and physical activity among children from birth through 5 years of age,” according to a press release that members of Cohen’s staff published on the congressman’s website this week.

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Five Democratic Senators Kneel at George Floyd Memorial

Five Democrat senators knelt during a moment of silence for George Floyd in a caucus meeting on Capitol Hill Thursday afternoon.

Sens. Tim Kaine (D-VA), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Martin Heinrich (D-NM) and Michael Bennet (D-CO) knelt, which lasted for eight minutes and 46 seconds, The Hill reported. That was the length of time fired Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee on Floyd’s neck before he died. Chauvin faces a second-degree murder charge over the incident.

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Cory Booker’s New Immigration Plan Would Sidestep Congress

by Evie Fordham   Democratic New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker’s immigration plan announced Tuesday would sidestep Congress and drastically change U.S. immigration policy through executive orders. “But we can’t wait for Congress to act, which is why, as president, Cory will start on Day One to end the abuses of the Trump Administration and use his executive authority to reform our immigration system,” a statement on Booker’s presidential campaign website reads. NEW: I’m introducing a plan to fix our broken immigration system—without Congress. https://t.co/PFCuvn4yOg pic.twitter.com/d8hyHlZjYG — Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) July 2, 2019 Booker’s plan isn’t wildly different from those of other 2020 candidates, but it is one of the most detailed, according to The Associated Press. Tenets of Booker’s plan include steps to: “Virtually eliminate our nation’s reliance on immigration incarceration, including ending the use of for-profit detention facilities.” “Stop treating immigrants as criminals [because] criminal prosecution of improper entry has been used by the Trump Administration as a basis for the separation of thousands of families.” End the Trump administration’s travel ban of several Muslim-majority countries. Booker’s plan would also squash a Trump administration proposal to make it easier to deport immigrants who are deemed “public charges” because they…

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Rep. Steve Cohen of Memphis Holds Formal Hearing on Slavery Reparations

  U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN-09) is pressing forward with his platform demanding the federal government use taxpayer money to give reparations to African-Americans because of slavery, which ended more than 150 years ago. Cohen this week chaired a hearing on H.R. 40, the Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans Act. Cohen said he chose Wednesday, June 19, to hold the hearing because it is Emancipation Day — or the date in history that Union troops freed the last enslaved Americans. “H.R. 40 isn’t about advancing any one agenda on if and how reparations should be provided; it’s about suspending our personal policy preferences and making way for a commission that can seriously consider the issue and draft appropriate proposals,” Cohen said in an article on CNN.com According to The Associated Press, witnesses at the hearing included actor and activist Danny Glover, writer Ta-Nehisi Coates and Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, a Democratic presidential candidate. Booker, who testified first, said the U.S has “yet to truly acknowledge and grapple with the racism and white supremacy that tainted this country’s founding and continues to cause persistent and deep racial disparities and inequality.” Rep. Mike Johnson of…

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Booker Says The Hyde Amendment Is ‘an Assault on African-American Women’

by Mary Margaret Olohan   Democratic New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker said Thursday that the Hyde Amendment is an “assault on African American women.” The Democratic 2020 presidential hopeful spoke at the Democratic National Committee African-American Leadership Summit in Atlanta, Georgia against the Hyde Amendment, which bans the use of federal funding for abortions except in cases of rape, incest or if the mother’s life is in danger. Left-wing activists claim the amendment disproportionately affects low-income women and women of color. “This assault on women’s reproductive rights is an assault on women, but it’s particularly an assault on African-American women,” Booker said, according to a tweet from CNN’s DJ Judd. “And the Hyde Amendment, to deny people through Medicaid and Medicare abortion rights, that is an assault on African American women too.” Speaking at the DNC African American Leadership Summit in Atlanta, Senator Cory Booker calls the Hyde Amendment “an assault on African American women.” Booker goes on to pledge to “create in the White House an office of reproductive rights.” pic.twitter.com/PtXy0sr0fX — DJ Judd (@DJJudd) June 6, 2019 Booker also tweeted his support of the amendment on Wednesday. “The Hyde Amendment is a threat to reproductive rights that punishes…

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Tim Ryan Leads the Pack in Missed Votes, Third Most Absent Member in the House

  Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH-13) has missed 70 votes since the start of the 116th Congress, putting him near the top of the pack in this category among his fellow 2020 Democratic contenders. According to a project from ProPublica, Ryan missed 31.6 percent of all votes in the House as of last week, making him the third most absent member of the House. For comparison, Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA-15) has missed 48 votes, or 22.1 percent, while Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI-02) has missed 18.9 percent at 41 votes skipped. According to The San Francisco Chronicle, Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) leads the field among 2020 Democrats in the Senate. The New Jersey senator has missed 37 votes, which is 31.9 percent of all votes. Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) has missed 27 votes, or 23.3 percent of all votes in the Senate. ProPublica points out that Ryan has cast zero votes against party lines during this Congress. Out of the 433 members of Congress, Ryan ranks at 373 in bipartisanship. “It’s no secret that Ryan has long been angling to leave his constituents behind with musings for higher office,” Mandi Merritt, Ohio spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee, told The Ohio Star.…

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Cory Booker Pledges to Legalize Abortion Nationwide Despite Supreme Court Decisions

by Molly Prince   Democratic New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker pledged on Wednesday to override any possible Supreme Court decision and pass a law legalizing abortion nationwide if he wins the presidency in 2020. “The injustices we’re seeing in Alabama right now with this legislation — it’s important that all of us understand that this is a threat to women’s freedoms and women’s rights all over our country, not just there,” Booker told BuzzFeed News shortly after Republican Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed H.B. 314 into law, virtually banning abortions in the Yellowhammer state. Following in the footsteps of fellow presidential hopeful and Democratic New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, Booker vowed that if he is elected president, he will not nominate any judge to the Supreme Court that would not uphold Roe v. Wade. However, Booker further stated that he would also sign legislation that would make Roe v. Wade national law regardless of how the Supreme Court rules on it. “Right now I am calling for [codifying Roe v. Wade],” Booker said. “Even though obviously with [Senate Majority Leader] Mitch McConnell and a [majority Republican] Senate, we would not see a vote.” Booker also maintained that as president he…

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Trio of Democratic Senators Introduce Environmental Justice Caucus to Fight ‘Systemic Racism’

by Molly Prince   Three Democratic senators revealed on Earth Day that they are launching the Environmental Justice Caucus in the Senate to raise awareness and address environmental justice issue such as “systemic racism” and “discrimination.” “We cannot achieve economic justice or social justice in this country without also addressing environmental justice,” New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker said in a statement released Monday. “The fact that communities of color, low income communities, and indigenous communities across the country disproportionately face environmental hazards and harmful pollutants on a daily basis has been ignored for far too long.” “Every American has the right to breathe safe air, drunk clean water and live on uncontaminated land regardless of their zip code, the size of their wallet and the color of their skin. However, too often that is not the case, especially for low income communities and people of color,” Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth continued. Booker, Duckworth and Democratic Delaware Sen. Tom Carper announced that the caucus will work in conjunction with the House Environmental Justice Task Force, which is comprised of members from the Congressional Black Caucus, Congressional Hispanic Caucus and the Asian Pacific American Caucus. “The caucus will raise awareness of the…

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Klobuchar Hauls in $5.2 Million in First Quarter, But Trails High-Profile Candidates

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) revealed Monday that her presidential campaign raised $5.2 million in the first fundraising quarter of 2019, which ended Friday. The Minnesota senator currently has $7 million in cash on hand after transferring some funds from her Senate campaign account. Klobuchar announced her candidacy on February 11, meaning she was able to raise the $5.2 million in roughly seven weeks, but the figure pales in comparison to some of her more high-profile competitors. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), for instance, raised $6 million in just the first 24 hours of his campaign. Former Texas Congressman Beto O’Rourke, meanwhile, raised $9.4 million in the 18 days between announcing candidacy and the close of the quarter, according to Business Insider, which reports that O’Rourke raised $6.1 million in the first 24 hours. Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), who declared candidacy in January, raised a total of $12 million, while Sanders led the pack with $18.2 million in total donations. Klobuchar does have a slight lead over Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), who raised $5 million since launching his campaign. Dark-horse candidate Pete Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, Indiana, raised $7 million in the first quarter of 2019. Klobuchar’s campaign said it had nearly…

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Presidential Hopeful Cory Booker Promises He Will Pick Woman For Veep

by Whitney Tipton   New Jersey Democratic Sen. Cory Booker told reporters Friday that he will definitely select a woman as his vice president. He stated unequivocally, “there will be a woman on the ticket.” This is not the first time Booker has signaled he would select a female, according to The Hill. During an interview with Rachel Maddow on MSNBC last month, Booker said that when it came to picking his running-mate, he would prioritize women candidates above men, adding “you will rarely see a Democratic ticket anymore without gender diversity, race diversity.” Booker added mystery to his comments Friday, saying “I don’t know if it’s in the vice president’s position or in the president’s position.” Previously, Booker has spoken only of running for the top spot. The 2020 Democratic field of oval office hopefuls already includes several accomplished Democratic legislators such as Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren, New York Democratic Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand, and California Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris, Booker has not indicated if he has a preference for one in particular, should he get the nomination. Overall, the 2020 field is very competitive and includes 18 notable candidates. Realistic about his prospects in the crowded pool of contenders, Booker conceded “if I have my way, there…

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Booker Focuses on Race Relations in Initial 2020 White House Swing

Reuters   U.S. Senator Cory Booker made the nation’s complicated history with race relations and racial disparities a focal point at events in the key state of Iowa during his first 2020 presidential campaign swing over the weekend. Booker, 49, a former Democratic mayor of Newark, New Jersey, frequently discussed incarceration and employment disparities, while also telling his parents’ story of trying to buy a house in an unintegrated New Jersey suburb in the late 1960s with the help of a volunteer civil rights lawyer. Booker’s focus was an overture to the coalition of young, diverse voters that twice elected former Democratic President Barack Obama, while also differentiating his style from that of the first black U.S. president, who rarely discussed race during his campaign. Booker’s emphasis on his personal and mayoral past, as well as his work as a senator on criminal justice issues, may also set him apart in a crowded field of Democratic candidates aiming to take on Republican President Donald Trump in what could be an historic election. There are already four Democratic candidates vying to be the country’s first woman president, including U.S. Senator Kamala Harris, a former top prosecutor in the city of San…

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Cory Booker Compares Green New Deal to Fighting Nazi Germany

by Chris White   Democratic Sen. Cory Booker appeared to compare adopting the so-called Green New Deal with fighting the Nazi regime. “Our planet is in peril, and we need to be bold,” Booker said at a Friday campaign event in Iowa. There are a lot of people who are critical of the deal. Critics claim “it’s too impractical, and it’s too expensive.” “And when the planet has been in peril in the past, who came forward to save Earth … from the scourge of Nazis and totalitarian regimes?” Booker asked rhetorically. “We came forward.” “We came forward with the Marshal Plan,” he added, referring to a U.S. program concocted during the 1940s to rebuild parts of German and other European countries bombed out during World War II. The GND, which was introduced Thursday by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, calls for a “10-year national mobilizations” toward a series of goals aimed at fighting global warming. A separate fact sheet published online claims the plan would “mobilize every aspect of American society on a scale not seen since World War 2.” Ocasio-Cortez’s original concept received support from Booker and other potential presidential candidates. The updated version, however, which was rolled out Thursday…

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Trump’s 2020 Democratic Rivals Pounce to Criticize State of the Union

Democrats vying to challenge U.S. President Donald Trump in the 2020 election moved quickly to attack his State of the Union address on Tuesday night, saying it lacked substance and did nothing to unite the country. About 10 Democrats have already launched campaigns to challenge Trump, and a dozen more could enter the race for their party’s nomination. U.S. Senator Cory Booker, who announced his own bid last Friday, said Trump’s call for unity on Tuesday was hollow. “It takes more than a nod to unity at the top of a speech to bring our country together. Our president has spent the last 2 years trying to drive us apart,” he wrote on Twitter. “Actions speak louder than words.” Stacey Abrams, who fell just short in her bid last year to become the first African-American and first woman governor of Georgia, delivered the official Democratic response to Trump’s speech. Sponsored But many of the party’s presidential hopefuls chimed in afterward with their own critiques. “He wasn’t moving us forward and rising to the challenges of the day,” Senator Amy Klobuchar said on MSNBC. She also hinted at a likely run for president, saying she would hold a rally in Minnesota…

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Commentary: The Rise of People Who Actually Say Things

by Karl Notturno   Over the past two weeks, Senators Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) have both announced they will run for president in 2020. These announcements and the media’s reaction to them were as predictable as the well written but vapid speeches and well produced but fluffy videos that accompanied them. We knew that Harris and Booker would jump into the race together from the moment we watched them trying to out-president each other in the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing room last fall. And we knew they would give impassioned sermons on progressive values, filled with empty platitudes and tired rhetorical devices. We also knew the media would hang on their every word and cover them in continuous (if manufactured) glory. Predictable narratives are predictable. So, it also shouldn’t have come as a surprise that Mika Brzezinski and the other clowns at “Morning Joe” would interrogate potential independent candidate Howard Schultz on the price of a box of Cheerios. It’s possible that they were still upset that Starbucks stopped sponsoring their show in 2013, but it’s more likely that they were trying to produce another “What is Aleppo?” moment. Even though Schultz handled himself much better than Gary…

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Iowans Prepare for Surge in Visits from Democratic Party Presidential Hopefuls

The race to challenge President Donald Trump in November 2020 kicked off in earnest Saturday, when the first major Democratic Party hopeful to announce her candidacy visited with voters across Iowa. A larger-than-usual deluge of candidates — possibly up to two dozen — are expected to hit the state within the coming year, including an unprecedented number of women and minorities. Top contenders include Senators Cory Booker, Kamala Harris — both of whom visited last fall — Kirsten Gillibrand and Amy Klobuchar. Former U.S. Representative and businessman John Delaney announced in mid-2017 and has been actively working to raise his name recognition in the state. “It’s definitely much sooner this time,” Pat Rynard said of candidates who have already declared their intention to run. Rynard is a former Democratic campaign staffer who runs the political news site Iowa Starting Line. During the run-up to the 2016 election, for example, the first Republican and Democrat hopefuls formally announced their bids in March and April of 2015. “I think it’s a reflection of how big the field is, and the fact that there aren’t any front-runners,” Rynard said. He expects recent poll results indicating voter preferences for former Vice President Joe Biden…

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Bredesen Campaign Worker Says Bredesen Will Serve Only One Term if Elected to Senate, Campaign Has No Comment

Phil Bredesen, Democrat

According to Project Veritas videos, staffers for Democratic U.S. senatorial candidate Phil Bredesen said he will likely serve only one term if elected. Bredesen will turn 75 next month. As a one-termer, Bredesen would have more flexibility to push for leftist causes that would surely repulse most Tennesseans. The staff members’ thinking seems to suggest that if Bredesen doesn’t have to worry about re-election then he doesn’t have to worry about infuriating red state constituents. He can do whatever he pleases. He can, for instance, ally himself with Democratic U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York or former New York mayor and anti-gun advocate Michael Bloomberg. The Tennessee Star could find no evidence of Bredesen or any of his staffers publicly saying he would serve only one term if elected — not in any known media reports, at least. Will Bredesen serve only one term? No one in Bredesen’s communications staff returned The Star’s request for comment Friday. Field Organizer Will Stewart told the undercover Project Veritas journalist that Bredesen will serve one term and thus “can get in and do the right thing.” Voter Protection staffer James Miller said the same thing in another portion of the video. Stewart…

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Commentary: The Democrats’ Idea of Civility

by CHQ Staff   Democrats, such as CNN’s Don Lemon, have been labeling President Trump as “the divider-in-chief” practically since the day he defeated Hillary Clinton and won the presidency. Yet, it is Democrats who seem to revel in calls for more violence, more mob action and less civility. And we’re not talking about the usual college-age radicals in their fatigues, berets and Che Guevara shirts or the Soros-funded community organizers pulling down six figures while chanting “power to the people.” And we’re not talking about whack job Democrat Rep. Maxine Waters and her calls for Left wing mobs to “get in the face” of Republicans and Trump supporters. “Let’s make sure we show up wherever we have to show up. And if you see anybody from that Cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd. And you push back on them. And you tell them they’re not welcome anymore, anywhere. We’ve got to get the children connected to their parents,” Waters said during a rally outside LA’s Wilshire Federal Building. We’re talking about the leading elected officials and present and former Democratic presidential candidates. No one is…

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Nowville: Senators, Governors and Celebrities Set to Flock to Tennessee in Upcoming Months for Election Support

On Thursday’s Gill Report –broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 1510 WLAC weekdays at 7:30 am– Star News Digital Media National Political Editor Steve Gill discussed the upcoming onslaught of Senators, Governors, and Celebrities slated to hit Tennessee soil in the upcoming weeks to support their chosen candidates and the motivation behind each parties voters in the November election. Gill went on to assure that Trump voters will turn out to defend and support their President if the Democrats make this election all about him. He continued: And you know that you’re going to see a lot of outside folks coming in to Tennessee to try to help things along for Phil Bredesen and Marsha Blackburn in the Senate race. And a lot of these out of town Senators, and Governors, and Celebrities already coming in, you’re going to see a lot more of it over the next fifty, sixty days or so. Now the latest for Marsha Blackburn is Mike Pence. The Vice President is going to headline a fundraiser in Knoxville for her Senate bid on September 21st. Now the cost is going to be a $1,000.00 per person, $5,400.00 per couple with a photo, or $25,000.00 per couple…

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A Vote For Bredesen is a Vote for Obstructionists Like Schumer, TN GOP Says

Phil Bredesen, Chuck Schumer

The Tennessee Republican Party has released a new ad, highlighting Phil Bredesen’s support for the most ardent Democratic obstructionists in the Senate. The ad will run on digital platforms statewide and is available here. “While Phil Bredesen claims he wants to end ‘partisan squabbling’ in Washington, the fact is that the worst offenders are in his own party,”  said Tennessee Republican Party Chairman Scott Golden. “President Trump is fulfilling his promise to the American people to nominate constitutionalist judges and justices, but Senate Democrats are throwing up partisan roadblocks at every turn. A vote for Phil Bredesen is a direct vote for these obstructionists.” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is leading the charge, telling CBS This Morning he’d oppose the President with “everything I’ve got.” His interview is available to watch here. In an off-the-cuff moment caught on video during a Labor Day parade in Brooklyn, Senate Minority Leader Schumer told a bystander who asked when President Trump would be impeached, “The sooner the better,” The Tennessee Star reported, citing Fox News. In an exclusive interview with Tennessee Star Political Editor Steve Gill, U.S. Senate hopeful Representative Marsha Blackburn (R-TN-07) called Bredesen out over one of his greatest vulnerabilities.…

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First You Will See Him, Then You Will Not, as Democratic Senator Cory Booker Abruptly Cancels Memphis Rally

Phil Bredesen, Cory Booker

Hours after the Tennessee Republican Party called attention to the planned appearance of #Resistance leader Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.) at an election rally for Tennessee Democrats in Memphis, he abruptly decided to pull out of the event. You can view the Facebook page for the now defunct Shelby County Democratic Party Blue Wave Rally here. The Commercial Appeal said, “According to the event invitation page, the possible 2020 presidential candidate aimed to generate buzz in the Memphis area for the upcoming Nov. 6 election.” Shelby County Democratic Party (SCDP) chairman Corey Strong said that Booker is unable to attend because of a scheduling conflict. “We are disappointed that we are forced to cancel the event, but a suitable replacement lineup could not be found in time,” said Bryan McBride, communications co-chairman for the SCDP. McBride said the rally was called off due to Booker’s cancellation. Booker was one of three senators called out for being the most disruptive of Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court hearings. U.S. Senators Kamala Harris (D-CA) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) were among the most disruptive as well. They and other Democrats tried their best to shut the hearing down. Things got so bad U.S. Senator John Cornyn…

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Democratic Senator Cory Booker Asks New Jersey to Keep Data from Trump Voter Fraud Commission

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Cory Booker asked state officials to reject any request from President Donald Trump’s voter fraud commission for information about New Jersey voter rolls. He said comments by Robert Giles, director of New Jersey’s division of elections, didn’t go far enough. “I am alarmed by the purpose of this commission: to look into…

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