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Watch Kennedy’s full remarks here.

WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Banking and Appropriation Committees, joined Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) in introducing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Accountability Act to bring fiscal accountability to the CFPB.

Currently, the Federal Reserve is responsible for funding the CFPB. This unusual arrangement allows the CFPB to avoid fiscal accountability to the American people through their elected officials in Congress.

“The bureaucratic state is always trying to grab more power and minimize its accountability. CFPB bureaucrats don’t rely on Congress for funding—which means the bureau isn’t accountable to American taxpayers in key ways. That needs to change,” said Kennedy.

The senator also questioned CFPB Director Rohit Chopra during a Senate Banking Committee hearing about the CFPB’s funding structure in light of the Supreme Court’s decision in Consumer Financial Protection Bureau v. Community Financial Services Association of America. In that case, the Supreme Court held that CFBP’s funding scheme, which allows it to draw from the Federal Reserve’s combined earnings, satisfies the Constitution’s Appropriations Clause.

“Now, for the longest time, the Federal Reserve was earning money, but that stopped in what, September of 2022? Now, they are losing money. They don't have any earnings. . . . And the Supreme Court based its decision on saying that this funding scheme is constitutional under the Appropriations Clause by saying that these earnings would go to the general fund from the Federal Reserve, so getting them directly from the general fund is no big deal. How are you entitled to any money right now? The Federal Reserve doesn't have any earnings,” Kennedy asked.

“Well, we’ve heard of this theory. I think it’s one of the latest,” said Chopra.

“It’s not a theory. It’s a congressional statute,” said Kennedy. 

The CFPB Accountability Act would ensure that the CFPB is accountable to taxpayers by requiring Congress, not the Federal Reserve, to fund the Bureau’s budget through the appropriations process. 

“The CFPB must be required to go through the regular congressional appropriations process to ensure public accountability. As a lifelong businessman, protecting consumers in the financial marketplace is important, but handing vast government regulatory power to an agency that is not accountable to the American people’s elected representatives is unacceptable. Americans deserve to have far greater input in this agency,” said Hagerty.

Sens. Katie Britt (R-Ala.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) also cosponsored the legislation.

Kennedy’s full exchange with Chopra is here.

 

Watch Kennedy’s comments here.

WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) spoke on the Senate floor to explain how persistent inflation has depleted personal savings accounts and driven many Louisianians into credit card debt. Kennedy noted that inflation has cost the average Louisiana family $22,166 since President Biden took office.

Key comments from Kennedy’s remarks include:

“I realize there is a yawning disconnect between what President Biden says and what my people in Louisiana are experiencing. There is. President Biden says that the economy is just fine. He says the economy is just wonderful. And I’ll tell you what my people say. My people say, ‘With respect, Mr. President, you need to put down the bong because, in our state, we are paying more to live worse. And we're not going to be able to retire because of you, Mr. President, until four years after we’re dead.’” 

. . .

“Our median household income is about $58,000. That's mom and dad both working. Two children. $58,000. It's about $4,800 a month. President Biden's inflation is costing my people an extra $900 a month. That's not a year. $900 a month. $11,000 a year. My average family's making, once again, $58,000 a year. They've got to find, all of a sudden, an extra $11,000 a year. Since President Biden has been president, his inflation has cost the average family in Louisiana an extra $22,000.”

. . .

“The prices of consumer goods and in my state, on average, are up 20% since President Biden took office. Some are up a lot more, some are up a little less, but the average is 20%. 

“Credit card debt is up 46%. The average credit card balance in Louisiana is now $5,800. When you're making $58,000 a year for a family of four, $5,800 is a lot. Delinquent credit card debt is up 11%, the highest in 12 years. We have had a record number of people who have had to take early withdrawals from their retirement accounts.”

. . .

“The average electricity bill in Louisiana is up 28% since President Biden took office. Gasoline in Louisiana: up 53%. Eggs: 69%. Bread: 28%. Coffee: 28%. Rice: 29%. Flour: 30%. Milk: 15%. Ice cream: 22%. Chicken per pound: 27%. If you're a mom and dad, and you’re both working, and you have maybe two car notes—certainly one car note—and a mortgage and two children, how can you afford this? You can’t!”

. . .

“It hurts, and it hurts deeply. President Biden’s inflation in my state is a cancer on the American dream. And it didn't have to be this way. We tried to tell him. We tried to tell him. Not only we—when I say many of my Republican colleagues—many of my Democratic friends did as well. Jason Furman, Economic Advisor to President Obama, I remember clearly, Dr. Furman—now at Harvard—said, ‘With all due respect, Mr. President, you spend this kind of money, you’re going to have inflation.’ And we did. And the worst part of this is that President Biden has no plan to get it down. None.”

Watch Kennedy’s full speech here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Watch Kennedy’s comments here.

WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) helped block the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency Act of 2023, a Democrat bill that would erode the Supreme Court’s independence, threaten the constitutionally mandated balance of powers and surrender the power of the judicial branch to bureaucrats. 

Kennedy’s remarks are below:

“I do not believe most of my colleagues think this bill is about ethics. This bill is about abortion. In June of 2022, the United States Supreme Court decided the Dobbs case. It returned the issue of abortion to the American people through their states. 

“While the Supreme Court was deliberating that case, my colleague and my friend, Senator Schumer went over to the Supreme Court, and, on the steps of the Supreme Court building—I was there; I remember it like it was yesterday—this is what Senator Schumer said, I quote, ‘I want to tell you, Gorsuch, I want to tell you, Kavanaugh’—not ‘Justice Gorsuch,’ not ‘Justice Kavanaugh’—‘I want to tell you, Gorsuch, I want to tell you, Kavanaugh, you have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price. You won’t know what hit you,’ Senator Schumer said, ‘if you go forward with these awful decisions,’ close quote.

“What we’re seeing today with this legislation, in my opinion—but most senators agree with me—is part of the promised whirlwind, and I do not believe that we should try to undermine the integrity of the institution of the Supreme Court of the United States because we’re unhappy with one of its opinions.”

Watch Kennedy’s full remarks here.

WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, today announced $5,940,149 in Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grants for Louisiana disaster aid.

“Hurricanes Laura and Ida left behind destruction and debris in south Louisiana. This $5.9 million will help Louisianians clear debris and repair damage to their bridges and schools,” said Kennedy.

The FEMA aid will fund the following:

  • $2,683,859 to St. John the Baptist Parish for debris removal resulting from Hurricane Ida.
  • $1,639,110 to the South Louisiana Electric Cooperative Association to repair damages to the Combon Bridge’s electrical infrastructure resulting from Hurricane Ida.
  • $1,617,180 to the Calcasieu Parish School Board for repairs to the Vincent Settlement School in Sulphur, La. resulting from Hurricane Laura.

Watch Kennedy’s full remarks here.

WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) today joined Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) in introducing a joint resolution of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act to prevent the Biden administration’s Department of Education from implementing its Omnibus Title IX Rule on August 1, 2024. 

On April 19, 2024, the Biden administration released its rule, which amends Title IX to expand the definition of sex discrimination to include “sex stereotypes, sex characteristics, pregnancy or related conditions, sexual orientation and gender identity.”

“For 50 years, Title IX has protected women and girls. With its new rule, the Biden administration wants to throw safeguards for females out the window by giving biological men access to their legal protections and private spaces. Congress should immediately block this attempt to appease radical gender activists at the expense of women and girls,” said Kennedy.

“President Biden’s Title IX regulation stretches the law beyond reason, ignores basic biological facts, and infringes on the rights of parents and teachers. It is a backward rule that only hurts women and girls, by stripping away opportunities and rights they have enjoyed for decades. We must save Title IX by stopping this radical rule,” said Hyde-Smith.

Kennedy also outlined the problem with Biden’s Title IX rule during a press conference today, saying, The debate that President Biden's rule has provoked [could] profit—it seems to me—from some facts: It begins in a mother's womb. Even before birth, it is a biological fact that baby boys begin developing different hormones and different skeletal structures in the mother’s womb that help them outperform girls athletically. That’s just a biological fact.”

That’s why we have had women’s sports and men’s sports, and that’s why Congress passed Title IX to try to provide equality for both,” he explained.

In May, Kennedy examined the realities that the Biden rule ignores in a Newsweek op-ed titled, “President Biden Has Jumped the Title IX Shark.”

View Kennedy’s full remarks here.

The full resolution is available here.

 

 

Watch Kennedy’s full remarks here. 

WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), ranking member of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Federal Courts, Oversight, Agency Action and Federal Rights, today defended America’s unborn children at a hearing Democrats held to advocate for expanding abortion access.

Some of Kennedy’s key remarks include:

“For the first time in decades, pro-abortion and anti-abortion Americans are now able to meet on equal terms, without judicial interference, to determine the laws as they see them being best for them, governing the issue of abortion. No longer will Americans have to live under a court-imposed definition. The American people get to decide. Now, that has upset some of my colleagues here in Washington.

“It was and is the genesis of a very organized effort that you see playing out today to undermine [the] United States Supreme Court as an institution. I remember it like it was yesterday. . . . My colleague and my friend, Senator Schumer, stood on the steps of the United States Supreme Court. And this is what he said. I quote, ‘I want to tell you, Gorsuch. I want to tell you, Kavanaugh . . . . You have released the whirlwind . . . and you will pay the price. You won't know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions.’”

. . . 

“Some of my colleagues have endorsed a bill. It's S.701. It's called the Women's Health Protection Act. This would allow the right to terminate a pregnancy after viability—basically terminate a pregnancy at any time, for any reason. The day before a baby is born, a mother could decide to terminate that pregnancy for whatever reason. She doesn't have to give a reason. Maybe she’s changed her mind about having a baby. Maybe she’s not happy with the baby’s gender. But it would be legal. 

“I think every one of my Democratic colleagues on the Judiciary Committee has co-sponsored that legislation. I respectfully disagree with them.” 

. . . 

“Some of my colleagues want to tell the American people from on high exactly what the rules ought to be about abortion in America—and they're so angry. They're so angry at the United States Supreme Court for returning this issue to the American people that they're willing to destroy that court.”

Kennedy also asked Democrats’ witnesses why they refused to agree to limits on late-term abortions after they claimed that such abortions are rare. Those witnesses dodged the question. In reality, there are 10,000 late-term abortions in the U.S. each year.  

View Kennedy’s opening remarks here.  

Watch Kennedy’s exchange with witnesses here.

 

 

WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, today announced $1,265,307 in a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grant for Louisiana disaster aid.

“Hurricane Ida struck Southeastern Louisiana University, leaving behind bad damage. This $1.3 million will help restore students’ music center,” said Kennedy.

The FEMA aid will fund the following: 

  • $1,265,307 in federal funding to the Office of Risk Management for permanent repairs to the Ralph R. Pottle Music Building at the Southeastern Louisiana University as a result of Hurricane Ida. 

 

MADISONVILLE, La. – Sens. John Kennedy (R-La.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and 44 other Republican senators introduced a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution to prevent the Biden administration’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) from enforcing a rule that would allow unaccompanied children at the border to be placed in the custody of unvetted sponsors.

“Pres. Biden’s failed policies led to a record number of unaccompanied children at the border, and now, his HHS has decided to make the problem worse. Congress should vote to throw out this rule and block the Biden administration’s unsafe open borders agenda,” said Kennedy.

The rule, titled the “Unaccompanied Children Program Foundational Rule,” would allow the HHS’s Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) to place unaccompanied children in a sponsor’s custody without properly scrutinizing a sponsor’s claims. The Biden administration’s ORR does not consider a sponsor’s criminal record, illegal drug use or history of abuse or neglect in determining whether migrant children will be safe in a particular sponsor’s care. 

“The Biden administration ignored warnings from Congress and the Inspector General that its policies put children at risk and instead moved to finalize its current rule. Biden’s Health and Human Services Department has lost tens of thousands of vulnerable kids and handed over many others to abusers and criminals. This exploitation is one of the most heartbreaking tragedies the Biden Border Crisis has created. Since the Biden administration has refused to lift a finger to fix this problem, it’s now up to Congress to put a stop to it,” said Grassley. 

Background 

  • In Feb. 2022, Kennedy introduced legislation to stop the federal government from funding groups that engage in human trafficking and smuggling illegal aliens.
  • In March 2024, Kennedy joined Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.) in introducing the Laken Riley Act to require the Biden administration’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to detain illegal immigrants who commit theft, burglary, larceny or shoplifting offenses. 
  • In Dec. 2023, Kennedy joined Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and 37 Republican colleagues in urging ORR Director Robin Dunn Marcos and Acting Assistant Secretary for the Administration of Children and Families Jeff Hild to overhaul the HHS rule.

Full text of the resolution is available here.

MADISONVILLE, La. – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) joined Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and 42 other colleagues in introducing a Congressional Review Act (CRA) joint resolution of disapproval to block the Biden administration’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from enforcing its plan to regulate emissions from power plants that run on coal and natural gas.

On April 25, the Biden administration’s EPA finalized its Clean Power Plan 2.0 rules, which would require existing coal-fired and new gas-fired plants to install carbon capture equipment. The Biden administration proposed its rules with the unrealistic goal of reducing coal-fired and gas-fired plant emissions by 90% by 2032.

 “The Biden administration’s Clean Power Plan 2.0 is yet another attempt to force a radical climate agenda on Louisianians and Americans. The plan is not only an overreach by the EPA, but it also will drive up costs at a time when inflation is sky-high. Congress should block it immediately,” said Kennedy.

In 2022, the Supreme Court determined in West Virginia v. EPA that the EPA lacked authority to regulate emissions through the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan. 

“With this Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval, every member of Congress will have the opportunity to protect America’s energy future, heed the warnings of our nation’s electric grid operators, and adhere to the precedent set by the Supreme Court. This vote is an important one because the Biden administration’s Clean Power Plan 2.0 makes it clear it will stand with climate activists, regardless of the harm that is sure to be done to families, workers, and communities across West Virginia and the rest of the country. I appreciate so many of my Senate and House colleagues for joining this bipartisan effort to reject another unrealistic, overreaching regulation, and I look forward to the vote,” said Capito. 

Sens. Joe Manchin (I-W.Va.), Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), John Thune (R-S.D.), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), John Boozman (R-Ark.), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Katie Britt (R-Ala.), Ted Budd (R-N.C.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.), Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Tim Scott (R-S.C.), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), Thom Tillis (R-N.C), Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Todd Young (R-Ind.) also cosponsored the resolution.

Rep. Troy Balderson (R-Ohio) introduced the resolution in the House of Representatives.

The full resolution is available here

Watch Kennedy’s full remarks here.

WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) today joined colleagues to explain the why the Biden administration’s new executive order will not secure the southern border.

Key remarks from Kennedy are below.

“President Biden is in trouble politically. He's polling right up there with fungal infections. Part of the reason for that is that he gave in to the loon wing of his party, and he dissolved the southern border. Now—five months before an election—he has to appear to be willing to do something about it. Hence, this executive order.”

. . . 

“For three years, we have watched President Biden push on a door that has been clearly marked ‘pull.’ He’s mismanaged Congress, Covid, the national debt, the economy, inflation, crime, Afghanistan, Iran, the war in Gaza, the war in Ukraine and now, of course, the border. And every time I think the president has hit rock bottom, he has managed to find a shovel and continue to dig. Hence, this executive order. And I think that's what the American people see.” 

. . .

“The president's border policies have allowed 8 million people to come into our country illegally. . . . For three years, President Biden told us all, ‘There is no crisis at the southern border,’ for reasons clearly stated on the teleprompter. And his plan to deal with the crisis at the border was to pretend that there wasn't a crisis at the border.”

. . .

“When the American people figured that out . . . the Biden administration shifted strategy. It then said, ‘Well, we know there’s a crisis at the border, but we don't have any authority to fix it.’ 

“That didn’t work either, because the American people aren’t cell-deep stupid. So now, he has decided to tell you that he has been born again. He has had an epiphany. He is now a border hawk, and that’s what he wants you to report. Look, you can cut the hypocrisy with a knife.”

. . .

“This is one of the most cynical things that I have ever seen. . . . an attempt to do [this] five months before an election. It is insulting. It is cheap. It is contemptuous. The American people see that.”

View Kennedy’s full remarks here.