WASHINGTON – A new Morning Consult survey reports that Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) is one of the 10 most popular U.S. Senators. The survey represents “the industry’s only comprehensive look at the popularity of America’s top statewide federal officials in all 50 states.”

“Our latest definitive ranking of America’s most popular senators, where Wyoming’s John Barrasso remains No. 1 for the fourth quarter in a row. He is joined by three new faces—Jack Reed of Rhode Island, Chris Murphy of Connecticut and John Kennedy of Louisiana,” says Morning Consult.

The survey looks to each senator’s own constituents to understand how well the people of each state feel they are being served by their senators.

According to the report, it ranks policymakers by prioritizing the highest approval rating and breaking ties with net approval, the share of constituents who approve minus the share of those who disapprove.

WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Banking Committee, joined Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) in introducing a resolution of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act (CRA) for the Biden administration’s Security and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) climate disclosure rule. The rule would require companies to make public disclosures about certain climate-related risks such as their greenhouse gas emissions and the financial impact of natural disasters like hurricanes, floods and tornadoes.

“At every opportunity, the Biden administration abuses its rulemaking power to force a radical climate agenda down Americans’ throats. The Senate should move quickly to correct the SEC’s misguided regulation, which will cost companies billions of dollars to comply with and will force investors to prioritize politics in their decision making,” said Kennedy. 

In March, the SEC finalized its rule titled, The Enhancement and Standardization of Climate-Related Disclosures for Investors. If Congress does not block it, the rule will soon require more than 7,000 American companies to make climate disclosures. The move will cost companies across the U.S. economy billions of dollars in compliance efforts.  

“The SEC’s final climate disclosure rule threatens economic opportunity across the country, and it must be overturned. Over and over again, SEC Chair Gensler has disregarded the real-world impacts of his aggressive regulatory agenda in his dogged pursuit of left-wing political priorities. This rule is no exception. The SEC’s mission is to regulate our capital markets and ensure all Americans can safely share in their economic success—not to force a partisan climate agenda on American businesses. This rule is federal overreach at its worst, and the SEC should stay in its lane,” said Scott. 

Background:

• Under Chairman Gary Gensler, the SEC is implementing an aggressive regulatory agenda and has proposed more than 60 rules that are on track to be finalized. 

• In Sept. 2022, Kennedy questioned Gensler about the cost of compliance of the SEC’s climate disclosure rule in the Senate Banking Committee. Gensler admitted that the rule would cost billions of dollars across the economy to implement. 

Sens. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), Katie Britt (R-Ala.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), John Cornyn (R-Texas), John Thune (R-S.D.), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), John Boozman (R-Ark.), John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), Ted Budd (R-N.C.) and Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.) also signed onto the resolution of disapproval.

Full text of the bill is available here.

WASHINGTON – Senate Democrats today blocked Sen. John Kennedy’s (R-La.) attempts today to stop them from effectively dismissing two impeachment articles against Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas without a full Senate trial. 

In order to dismiss the impeachment articles, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) claimed that no high crime or misdemeanor had been charged, meaning that the matter didn’t deserve a trial. 

Kennedy pointed out, however, that the House of Representatives impeached Mayorkas for lying to Congress, which is a federal felony and, therefore, a crime. Explained Kennedy, “even though lying to the United States Congress is a felony, under the precedent that the majority leader and our Democratic colleagues established, it’s not a high crime [or] misdemeanor” in the eyes of Senate Democrats.

Democrats’ actions have established a new loophole for excusing officials for impeachable offenses.

“I'm trying to follow the Senate majority leader’s logic: What do you have to do to get impeached now? I mean, a felony is not sufficient [according to Democrats]. What’s above a felony?” added Kennedy.

Kennedy made three motions that would have prevented Senate Democrats from shutting down the impeachment proceedings without giving House impeachment managers the opportunity to present their evidence to Senators or Mayorkas the opportunity to defend himself against the impeachment charges.

“I predicted that Sen. Schumer—for the first time in Senate history—was going to bury the articles of impeachment against a sitting official without a full trial, and he did. Democrats are destroying the Senate to keep Americans from seeing the evidence of how royally the Biden administration has screwed up our southern border—but the American people know a whitewash when they see it. 

“Americans can’t escape the evidence of the crime, drugs, human trafficking and suffering surging through the open border and into their neighborhoods and families,” said Kennedy. 

Kennedy also spoke about impeachment at a press conference yesterday, April 16. Watch those remarks here.

WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today introduced the Consensus in Sentencing Act to require the U.S. Sentencing Commission to achieve bipartisan agreement to make major policy changes.

The legislation would amend 28 U.S.C. § 994(a) to require that amendments to the Sentencing Guidelines receive five votes from the Commission’s seven voting members. 

“The Sentencing Commission for decades strove to achieve bipartisan agreement when adopting amendments to the Sentencing Guidelines. In recent years, the Commission has lost its way and begun forcing through amendments on party-line votes. My bill would help the Sentencing Commission revive its consensus-building culture,” said Kennedy. 

Background: 

• The Sentencing Commission is made up of seven voting members. No more than four members can belong to the same political party. 

• In a sharp break from its traditional bipartisan practices, the Commission’s current leadership has forced through several major policy changes to federal sentencing law on a party-line basis.

• The Commission is currently considering several other major proposed changes.

Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) cosponsored the legislation.

Full text of the Consensus in Sentencing Act is available here.