WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) penned this op-ed in The Advocate explaining how the 21^st Century ROAD to Housing Act, which included his Build Now Act, will help address the affordable housing crisis in America by increasing the supply of new homes. 

Key excerpts of the op-ed are below: 

“When moms and dads lie down to sleep at night and can’t, it’s primarily because they are worried about the cost of living in America. And the largest expense most Americans face each month is housing.”

. . . 

“While it is painful to watch the incompetence in Los Angeles, Congress does not control local regulations or zoning policies—and that’s a good thing. A housing policy that works well in New Orleans may not work in New York City, and that’s okay. Washington’s one-size-fits-all policies have a long history of making matters worse.

“But Congress should not reward cities and local governments that are making life unaffordable for American families. The federal government has many tools at its disposal to incentivize good policies and punish the bad.”

. . .

“This idea turned into my Build Now Act, and it just became law as part of the larger 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act. 

“Here’s how it will work: Cities that fall below the national median rate of home building will lose 10% of their CBDG funding. The funding we take away from cities that fail to build will then go into a big pot that we will proportionally distribute to the cities that outpace the national median rate of home building. Cities that face natural disasters or other hardships will receive an exemption, and their CBDG funding won’t change at all. 

“It’s both a reward to cities that increase their supplies of homes and a penalty for those who enjoy burdensome regulations more than affordable housing. It’s a carrot and a stick—and it could unlock the American dream of homeownership for the families that have struggled to afford a place of their own.

“The only way to bring down the cost of a new home is to increase our housing supply. I don’t care how cities do it, but they better get serious about cutting red tape if they want to keep the federal funding they have grown to love. The days of rewarding bad policies that make life too expensive for American families are over.”

Read Kennedy’s op-ed here.   

MADISONVILLE, La. – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, announced $38,624,232 in Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funding to help Louisiana communities continue recovering from Hurricanes Laura, Ida and Francine.

“Louisianians do not quit when a storm passes. We roll up our sleeves and help our neighbors rebuild because that is who we are. This $38.6 million will help our communities repair the damage caused by Hurricanes Laura, Ida and Francine and come back stronger,” said Kennedy.

The FEMA aid will fund the following:

• $11,664,178 to the Office of Risk Management for management costs as a result of Hurricane Laura.
  
  
• $8,385,855 to Terrebonne Parish for management costs as a result of Hurricane Ida.
  
  
• $3,687,586 to Terrebonne Parish Transmission and Distribution System for permanent repairs as a result of Hurricane Francine.
  
  
• $2,318,261 to Ochsner Clinic Foundation for permanent repairs as a result of Hurricane Francine.
  
  
• $1,973,212 to Terrebonne Parish Recreation District #7, Little Caillou Complex, for permanent repairs as a result of Hurricane Ida.
  
  
• $1,892,179 to the Lafourche Parish School Board, Bayou Blue Elementary School, for permanent repairs as a result of Hurricane Ida.
  
  
• $1,356,241 to Terrebonne Parish Emergency Support for emergency protective measures as a result of Hurricane Francine.
  
  
• $1,104,305 to the Morgan City Drainage Channel Banks for permanent repairs as a result of Hurricane Francine.
  
  
• $967,075 to the Community Center and Playground District Number 4 of Ward 1 to fund building exterior, building interior and other related repair or replacement as a result of Hurricane Laura.
  
  
• $875,371 to Jefferson Parish to fund water meter boxes and other components repair or replacement as a result of Hurricane Ida.
  
  
• $837,685 to Washington-St. Tammany Electric Coop to fund costs related to the management of Public Assistance grants as a result of Hurricane Ida.
  
  
• $665,508 to Shiloh Baptist Church of Lake Charles to fund building exterior and building interior repair or replacement as a result of Hurricane Laura.
  
  
• $555,765 to First New Life Missionary Baptist Church of Lake Charles to fund building exterior and building interior repair or replacement as a result of Hurricane Laura.
  
  
• $502,685 to St. Bernard Parish for parish-wide emergency generators as a result of Hurricane Ida.
  
  
• $456,486 to Jefferson Parish to fund pipes, valves, fire hydrants and other related repairs or replacements as a result of Hurricane Ida.
  
  
• $360,331 to Mount Moriah Baptist Church to fund building exterior and building interior repair or replacement as a result of Hurricane Laura.
  
  
• $204,876 to the Office of Risk Management to fund emergency protective measures to lessen immediate threat to public health, safety and property as a result of Hurricane Laura.
  
  
• $188,627 to the Office of Risk Management to fund equipment repair or replacement as a result of Hurricane Laura.
  
  
• $136,946 to Cameron Parish School Board to fund fencing and other related repair or replacement as a result of Hurricane Laura.
  
  
• $135,902 to Bienville Parish NDA Courthouse for a safe room as a result of Hurricane Ida.
  
  
• $133,702 to Wax Lake East Drainage District (St. Mary Wax Lake East Drainage) to fund jurisdiction-wide debris removal operations as a result of Hurricane Francine.
  
  
• $114,657 to Washington Parish to fund jurisdiction-wide debris removal operations as a result of Hurricane Ida.
  
  
• $106,800 to Natchitoches Regional Medical Center for generators and emergency power as a result of Hurricane Laura.

WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, introduced the Monitor Accountability Act, legislation to set clear rules for federal court-appointed monitors that oversee state and local government agencies.

Federal courts often appoint monitors to track compliance with consent decrees or court orders involving state and local governments, including police departments. These monitors can review major policy changes, shape what compliance means, and influence how long local governments can remain under federal supervision.

Despite that power, court-appointed monitors operate with few statutory limits on their fees, tenure, or public accountability. The Monitor Accountability Act would add basic guardrails to help prevent monitorships from becoming expensive, indefinite arrangements that drain taxpayer dollars or undermine local control.

“Federal court monitors can serve an important purpose, but taxpayers should not have to fund open-ended monitorships that drag on for years without basic accountability. We basically let government contractors decide whether their own government contract keeps going. The Monitor Accountability Act would cap fees, limit terms and bring transparency to a system operating for far too long on autopilot,” said Kennedy.

In Louisiana, New Orleans spent more than a decade under a federal consent decree governing the New Orleans Police Department. In 2013, the Eastern District of Louisiana appointed Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP as the monitor after the Obama Justice Department and the City of New Orleans disagreed over which monitor to appoint. Shepard Mullin also happened to be the preferred choice of the Obama Administration.

The monitor’s initial contract was structured as a four-year arrangement capped at $8.9 million. But the monitor repeatedly argued that New Orleans required longer supervision and the contract ultimately lasted roughly 12 years and cost taxpayers approximately $20 million. In 2022, New Orleans moved to terminate the consent decree, but the Biden Justice Department opposed the city’s request. In 2025, the Trump Justice Department joined New Orleans in seeking to end the decree. 

Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) introduced companion legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives. The House passed H.R. 8365, the Monitor Accountability Act, on May 14, 2026. 

Background: 

The Monitor Accountability Act would apply to court orders affecting state and local governments to:

• Limit the amount of fees that court-appointed monitors collect.

• Prohibit the same monitor from serving for more than five years.

• Require a notice-and-comment period before a court appoints a monitor.

• Require annual public accounting of monitor costs and activities.

• Add transparency and accountability to federal monitorships.

Full text of the Monitor Accountability Act is available here.

WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Banking Committee, joined Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) in introducing the Export Control Reform Act of 2018 (ECRA) Penalty Increase Act, bipartisan legislation to strengthen penalties for individuals and companies that violate U.S. export control laws.

The bill would increase civil penalties for unlawfully exporting, re-exporting or transferring sensitive American technology to foreign adversaries and other bad actors. The legislation would help ensure that penalties are strong enough to deter violations involving technology that could threaten U.S. national security.

“America’s enemies are not stealing our technology so they can build better toasters. They want our chips, software and sensitive technology to strengthen their militaries, spy on Americans and undercut our national security. If a company or individual illegally hands over American technology to our adversaries, a slap on the wrist will not cut it. This bill ensures the punishment fits the threat,” said Kennedy.

“To successfully deter export control violations, we need penalties that truly recognize the gravity of their threat to our national security. The legislation would take a long-overdue step to modernize enforcement authorities and put us in a much stronger position to stop the transfer of sensitive technologies to America’s adversaries,” said Kim.

Background:

The Export Control Reform Act of 2018 gave the federal government important tools to control the export, re-export and transfer of sensitive U.S. technologies. These controls help prevent American technology from falling into the hands of America’s enemies, hostile regimes and other entities that could threaten our national security. 

As the strategic importance and the commercial value of American technology have grown, ECRA’s civil penalty structure has not kept pace. The ECRA Penalty Increase Act would modernize those penalties so violations carry real consequences.

The ECRA Penalty Increase Act would:

• Increase the statutory maximum civil penalty from $300,000 to $1.2 million per violation.

• Increase the transaction-based penalty from twice the value of the unlawful transaction to four times the value.
• Ensure individuals and companies that illegally transfer sensitive American technology face consequences that match the seriousness of the violation.

• Strengthen enforcement tools to deter unlawful transfers of critical technologies to foreign adversaries and bad actors.

Full text of the ECRA Penalty Increase Act is available here.