Kennedy introduces bill to protect patients, bring transparency to prescription pricing program
Apr 18 2023
WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) today introduced the 340B Reporting and Accountability Act to prevent fraud and bring transparency to the 340B Drug Pricing Program.
“The 340B Drug Pricing Program is supposed to help low-income and uninsured Americans afford their medicine, but some are taking advantage of the program at the expense of vulnerable patients. My bill would protect Louisianians and all Americans from being taken advantage of by ensuring that organizations are transparent about how they use resources from this program,” said Kennedy.
The 340B Drug Pricing Program is intended to expand the access that low-income and uninsured patients have to their prescriptions by providing them at a discounted rate. Recent reports show that certain hospitals that receive 340B funding are buying discounted drugs and selling them at a higher rate to patients.
The legislation would not cut the program’s funding or restrict eligibility, but instead ensure that individuals who need this program are the ones who benefit from it by requiring hospitals to pass 340B savings to their patients.
The 340B Reporting and Accountability Act would also require participating organizations to report the following to the Department of Health and Human Services:
- The total amount of money an organization received from the 340B Drug Pricing Program.
- The total amount the covered entity paid for outpatient drugs.
- How any excess revenue from the program is spent.
Full text of the legislation is available here.
Kennedy, Van Hollen introduce bill to block foreign executives from insider trading at Americans’ expense
Apr 17 2023
WASHINGTON – Sens. John Kennedy (R-La.) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), members of the Senate Banking Committee, today introduced the Holding Foreign Insiders Accountable Act to hold executives of foreign companies that are traded on U.S. stock exchanges to the same disclosure requirements that U.S.-based firms are required to follow.
“Insiders at companies in Beijing and Moscow have been able to avoid billions in losses on the U.S. stock exchange by playing by a different set of rules than Americans do. This insider trading comes at a cost to American investors. The Holding Foreign Insiders Accountable Act will help stop opportunistic insider trading by requiring foreign executives to disclose trades immediately,” said Kennedy.
“All companies operating on U.S. markets should have to play by the same rules. And when corporate insiders sell their stocks, investors and the American public have a right to know. It’s time to require foreign executives to disclose these trades and provide this information to the public,” said Van Hollen.
Currently, executives of U.S. publicly-traded companies must disclose any trades they make of their own company’s stocks to the SEC within two business days. Meanwhile, executives of foreign firms are not required to make such timely disclosures and are required to file by paper. The lag this system creates means that foreign executives can keep trades private for a longer period of time, which promotes insider trading at the expense of everyday American investors.
The legislation would amend Section 16 (a) of the Securities Exchange Act to require executives of public companies based outside the U.S. to make electronic disclosures of trades in their company’s stocks to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) within two business days. The SEC would then make that information available to public, as they currently do with U.S.-based firms.
Background:
- Kennedy and Van Hollen recently outlined their bill in the Wall Street Journal.
- In August of last year, reports uncovered that Chinese investors of corporations listed on U.S. exchanges avoided billions of dollars in losses by making seemingly informed sock sales ahead of declines.
- In May of last year, Kennedy first introduced the Holding Foreign Insiders Accountable Act.
Text of the Holding Foreign Insiders Accountable Act is available here.
ICYMI: Kennedy, Van Hollen in WSJ: Foreign Companies Should Have to Play by the Same Rules
Apr 17 2023
Kennedy, Boozman introduce bill to protect Louisiana’s small businesses’ access to capital
Apr 11 2023
MADISONVILLE, La. – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Small Business Committee, joined Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.) in introducing the Small LENDER Act to ensure that small businesses can access capital from lenders. The legislation would block the Biden administration’s Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) from requiring community banks and lenders to collect and report social data—such as race, gender and ethnicity—from borrowers.
“The White House’s misguided woke policies put Louisiana’s small business owners at risk. Already struggling under historic inflation, these job creators can’t afford to lose access to capital. Congress must stop the Biden administration’s virtue signaling from penalizing small businesses that serve our communities and local economies—and that is what this bill would do,” said Kennedy.
The CFPB finalized its rule requiring lenders to gather information regarding the immutable characteristics of small business owners and prioritize them over financial factors, such as credit, last month. If left unchecked, the CFPB’s rule will make it more difficult for business owners to take out a loan for capital that they need to run their operations.
“The Biden administration created hurdles for small businesses that would prevent growth and predictability in the initial proposal, and unfortunately didn’t fix those mistakes in the final rule. The CFPB’s rule adds yet another burden by driving up the cost of capital and politicizing small business lending on the basis of social factors. The Small LENDER Act encourages investment and ensures access to financing by preventing the agency from imposing an unfunded mandate on many community banks and small lenders that invest in the backbones of our economy,” said Boozman.
The Small LENDER Act would:
- Exempt the smallest lenders by establishing a 500-covered small business credit transaction threshold.
- Provide small business relief by codifying a small business as one with $1 million or less in revenue.
- Give lenders and small businesses more time to comply by establishing a three-year implementation schedule plus a two-year grace period.
Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) and Steve Daines (R-Mont.) are also cosponsors.
Rep. French Hill (R-Ark) is leading companion legislation in the House of Representatives.
“I was proud to see the Small LENDER Act reintroduced by Senator Boozman and I thank him for working to ensure small banks are not subjected to the same compliance criteria as large businesses,” said Hill.
MADISONVILLE, La. – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, today announced $8,089,681 in a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grant for flood mitigation in Livingston Parish.
“Livingston Parish has weathered many storms, and I’m grateful this $8 million will support efforts to protect these properties from flood damage,” said Kennedy.
The FEMA aid will fund the following:
- $8,089,681 to Livingston Parish to elevate 29 storm-damaged properties and turn six others into open spaces.
MADISONVILLE, La. – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, today announced $13,213,995 in Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grants for Louisiana disaster aid.
“Hurricanes Laura and Ida devastated our state and took a toll on Louisianians in Beauregard and Lafourche Parishes. I’m thankful this $13.2 million will support ongoing recovery efforts throughout the state and these parishes,” said Kennedy.
The FEMA aid will fund the following:
- $7,145,047 to Beauregard Parish for debris removal related to Hurricane Laura.
- $3,569,282 to the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness for emergency protective measures related to Hurricane Laura.
- $2,499,666 to the Lafourche Parish School Board for management costs related to Hurricane Ida.
WASHINGTON – Sens. John Kennedy (R-La.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, introduced the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA). This bipartisan legislation would support small, local, independent and conservative news publications by giving them a level playing field in negotiations with Big Tech platforms that often prevent them from making a profit from their work online.
“Local papers—especially the independent papers in Louisiana—are the heart and soul of journalism, and they break the news that millions of Americans rely on every day. However, tech giants like Facebook and Google are hammering local publications by keeping them from making a profit on Big Tech platforms—and it’s killing local journalism. This bill supports the little guy by allowing local news providers to better negotiate with tech companies for the earnings they deserve,” said Kennedy.
“As the daughter of a newspaperman, I understand firsthand the vital role that a free press plays in strengthening our democracy. But local news is facing an existential crisis, from ad revenues plummeting and newsrooms across the country closing to artificial intelligence tools taking content. To preserve strong, independent journalism, news organizations must be able to negotiate on a level playing field with the online platforms that dominate news distribution and digital advertising. Our bipartisan legislation ensures that media outlets can band together and negotiate for fair compensation from the Big Tech companies that profit from their news content, allowing journalists to continue their critical work,” said Klobuchar.
The JCPA would remove legal obstacles in order to allow small and mid-sized news organizations to negotiate jointly for compensation from digital platforms, including Facebook and Google, that access their content without allowing them to profit from their journalism. The legislation also allows news publishers to demand arbitration if they reach an impasse in negotiations with digital platforms.
Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) cosponsored the bill.
The JCPA would:
- Protect small or independent publications, including those that express conservative viewpoints, from being discriminated against by digital platforms. The bill would also provide a private right of action for violations of this rule.
- Prohibit covered platforms from discussing ways to “display, rank, distribute, suppress, promote, throttle, label, filter, or curate” content as means of preventing content moderation from influencing the commercial agreement.
- Not apply to large publishers, including large mainstream outlets such as The New York Times and The Washington Post.
- Block retaliation against eligible digital journalism providers for participating in joint negotiations or arbitration and provide a private right of action for violations of this prohibition.
- Help independent, local or conservative online news publishers with less than 1,500 full-time employees and non-network news broadcasters to negotiate jointly with a covered digital outlet over the terms and conditions of the outlet’s access to digital news content.
- Require covered platforms to include those that have at least 50 million U.S.-based users or subscribers and are owned or controlled by a person that has either net annual sales or market capitalization greater than $550 billion or at least 1 billion worldwide monthly active users to negotiate in good faith with the eligible news organizations.
- Enable digital news publications to demand final-offer arbitration if a joint negotiation with a covered platform does not result in an agreement after six months.
- Create a limited safe harbor from federal and state antitrust laws for eligible digital journalism providers that allows them to participate in joint negotiations and arbitration and, as part of those negotiations, to jointly withhold their content from a covered platform.
- Sunset within eight years.
The bill text is available here.
WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) and dozens of other Republican senators introduced the Death Tax Repeal Act of 2023 to permanently repeal the federal estate tax, commonly known as the “death tax.” The Death Tax Repeal Act would amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to finally end a punitive tax that has the potential to cripple family-run farms, ranches and businesses with its tax burden upon the owner’s death.
“The death tax is lethal to many of America’s family-run businesses and farms. Louisianians—especially those in rural communities—shouldn’t lose a legacy of family work to a punishing, illogical tax burden. By ending the death tax, we can make it easier for families to pass their farms and businesses on to the next generation,” said Kennedy.
“Agriculture is the backbone of South Dakota’s economy. For years I have fought to protect farm and ranch families from the onerous and unfair death tax. Family-owned farms and ranches often bear the brunt of this tax, which makes it difficult and costly to pass these businesses down to future generations. I will continue to do everything in my power to remove these roadblocks for family businesses and repeal the death tax once and for all,” said Thune.
This legislation is supported by the American Farm Bureau Federation, National Cattleman’s Beef Association, National Federation of Independent Business, National Association of Manufacturers, Family Business Coalition, Family Business Estate Tax Coalition, Policy and Taxation Group, Associated General Contractors of America and National Taxpayers Union, among others.
Kennedy and Thune previously introduced the Death Tax Repeal Act of 2021 last Congress.
Full bill text is available here.
MADISONVILLE, La. – Sen. John Kennedy’s (R-La.) plan for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to transfer the National Marine Fisheries Services (NMFS) building to the University of Louisiana at Lafayette is completed, following approval in the House and Senate. Kennedy is a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, which first adopted the plan.
The building space will be a part of a laboratory school initiative within the College of Education and Human Development, known as the Learning Lab.
“The completion of the building transfer plan is a big win for the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. The laboratory school will benefit countless people in years to come, and I am proud that our work on the Appropriations Committee helped make this happen,” said Kennedy.
“The acquisition of the NOAA building enables the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and its College of Education & Human Development to provide, through the creation of a laboratory school, a space for high-quality teaching that will foster within our youngest minds a lifelong love of learning. The Learning Lab will be a place that will inspire creativity, embolden curiosity, and promote an environment where aspiring educators can immerse themselves in a living model of best educational practices. The hard work and dedication of Senator Kennedy has set all this in motion, and we’re very grateful for his leadership and support,” said Dr. Joseph Savoie, University of Louisiana at Lafayette president.
Background:
• In 1993, the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and NOAA agreed that, if NOAA ceased operations, the building would return to the university.
• Following NOAA’s announcement that or would discontinue operations in the building, Congress received a three-part plan, which includes returning the building to the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, consolidating the NMFS into one suite in the building and leasing the space to NMFS from the University.
• The university relocated federal partners housed in the NOAA building in order not to disturb their scientific work.
WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) applauded the Senate’s passage of the Congressional Review Act (CRA) joint resolution of disapproval to prevent the Biden administration’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from expanding federal regulation over certain bodies of water by a vote of 53-43. Kennedy cosponsored the resolution, which Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) introduced in February 2023.
“I’m proud to join my colleagues on both sides of the aisle and in both chambers of Congress to protect Louisianians from this bureaucratic power grab. I hope that President Biden will do the right thing for America’s farmers, energy producers and land owners and stop the EPA’s abusive rule,” said Kennedy.
“By voting to overturn President Biden’s waters rule, we are sending a clear, bipartisan message that Congress, even a divided one, will defend working Americans in the face of executive overreach. I’m proud to lead my colleagues in standing up for farmers and ranchers, landowners and builders, and energy and infrastructure workers across the United States. I urge President Biden not to overrule the will of a bipartisan majority in Congress, and instead draft a new rule that doesn’t unfairly penalize millions of Americans and jeopardize future growth in our country,” said Capito.
The House of Representatives passed the resolution earlier this month, where Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.) led the effort.
Background:
- In 2015, the Obama-Biden administration finalized a rule expanding the definition of WOTUS. This change created burdensome regulations that impact Louisiana farmers, energy producers and other industry.
- In 2020, the Trump administration finalized a rule undoing the previous administration’s red-tape.
- In December 2022, the Biden EPA and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced a final rule on WOTUS that would expand the regulatory power of the federal government.
The resolution is available here.
