WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Thursday, the U.S. Senate passed Sens. John Kennedy (R-La.) and Cory Booker’s (D-N.J.) bill, the Rebuilding Small Businesses After Disasters Act.  This legislation would help ensure families continue to have access to certain Small Business Administration (SBA) loans soon after a disaster. 

This legislation would prevent specific SBA disaster loans from decreasing from $25,000 to $14,000.  In 2015, a provision in the Recovery Improvements for Small Entities After Disaster Act temporarily increased loan limits for physical disaster loans.  This legislation will extend the provision for another three years.

“Disasters like Hurricane Katrina leave properties in ruin,” said Sen. Kennedy.  “Extending this provision will provide families with the resources they need to rebuild their businesses and their homes immediately after a disaster.  It puts the appropriate financial resources into the pockets of our homeowners and business owners.”

“Even though nearly a decade has passed since Superstorm Sandy ravaged New Jersey and much of the East Coast, New Jersey families and communities remember all too well the massive devastation it caused,” said Sen. Booker.  “This bipartisan bill ensures that disaster victims in New Jersey and across the country will continue to have access to the assistance they need as they rebuild their homes, small businesses and local economies.”

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WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) filed the Jurists United to Stop Trafficking Imitation Child Exploitation Act of 2019 (the JUSTICE Act of 2019) Thursday to prohibit the importation of child sex dolls that appeal to sexual predators. Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.) is filing a companion bill in the House.

Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry worked with Sen. Kennedy on the legislation after receiving reports of law enforcement officials finding the dolls during their investigations involving the sexual abuse of children.  Some dolls can be programmed to mimic the reactions of rape victims, allowing predators to practice sick behavior.  Last year, Amazon discovered the dolls for sale by third party vendors on its website.

Under the JUSTICE Act of 2019, violators will face up to five years in prison for a first offense.  Repeat offenders could be imprisoned for up to 10 years.

“As sick as it is, these anatomically correct dolls are made to look like young children.  They’re disgusting.  They are clearly a training kit for pedophiles,” said Sen. Kennedy.  “The United Kingdom has banned the importation of these dolls, but the United States currently has no law prohibiting them.  We need to act swiftly to ban them.”

“I want to applaud Senator Kennedy for introducing this important, common-sense legislation,” said Rep. Duncan.  “The JUSTICE Act will provide an important tool for law enforcement as they crack down on sex traffickers. I look forward to working with Senator Kennedy, my friend Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry, and hopefully House Democrats as we push this common-sense bill through to the President’s desk.”

“Protecting children is critical to a successful society. As someone on the front lines in the battle against child predators, I appreciate this legislation and know it will help make our communities safer. I hope Congress swiftly passes this much-needed public safety measure by Senator Kennedy and Representative Duncan,” said Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) filed the Unclaimed Savings Bond Act (USB Act) today that will give states access to records on billions of dollars in matured, unredeemed savings bonds sitting in the U.S. Treasury. The records will allow states to reunite the bonds with bondholders by putting names and addresses into their Unclaimed Property databases.  More than $25 billion in matured, unredeemed savings bonds are in the U.S. Treasury.

The legislation builds upon Sen. Kennedy’s work involving unredeemed savings bonds.  As state treasurer, he fought to get bonds dating from the 1940s and 1950s redeemed to the state so heirs could claim them.  Cosponsors include U.S. Sens. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) and Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-La.).

“A lot of savings bonds were purchased over the years and lost.  That doesn’t mean they can’t be redeemed.  The federal government has the names, addresses and serial numbers for the bonds.  The federal government just would rather use that money than release the information needed to redeem the bonds,” said Sen. Kennedy.  “Your grandmother didn’t want the money to sit in the Treasury when she bought that savings bond for you.  By allowing states access to the records, we can make it easy for people to search for unredeemed savings bonds.”

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WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sens. John Kennedy (R-La.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) today urged the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to use their new authorities to lower the pharmaceutical industries’ excessive production of opioids. 

Kennedy and Durbin’s bill, the Opioid Quota Reform Act of 2018, was signed into law as part of the SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act.  This legislation granted the DEA new authority over opioid production by requiring opioid quotas to be adjusted to reflect diversion, overdose deaths and public health. 

Between 1993 and 2015, the DEA allowed production quotas on various painkillers to increase at a startling rate. Since then, billions of opioids have been prescribed and sold around the nation fueling the current opioid epidemic.

“Recent reporting from the Washington Post revealed that the pharmaceutical industry flooded every corner of the country with 76 billion oxycodone and hydrocodone pills between 2006 and 2012 — egregious volumes of painkiller production that was undertaken with DEA approval and awareness,” the Senators wrote.  “While we appreciate the initial steps taken in recent years to reduce the aggregate production quotas for schedule II opioids, we remain concerned that they are still far too high.  Approximately thirteen billion opioid doses were put on the market in 2017 — enough for every adult American to have at least a three-week prescription of painkillers.” 

The full text of the letter is available here and below:

Dear Acting Administrator Dhillon:

As our nation confronts the worst drug overdose epidemic in its history, we write to urge the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to tackle the opioid crisis by utilizing new authorities that Congress provided to establish more sensible opioid production quotas for 2020.  Section 3282 of the SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act (P.L. 115-271) strengthened DEA’s statutory quota-setting authority by enhancing transparency and requiring opioid quotas to be adjusted to reflect diversion, overdose deaths, and public health.  As the bipartisan authors of that section, we strongly encourage you to use this new authority to rein in the pharmaceutical industry’s incessant demand for excessive levels of opioid production. 

 We have previously shared our deep concern that, between 1993 and 2015, DEA allowed aggregate production quotas for oxycodone to increase 39-fold, hydrocodone to increase 12-fold, hydromorphone to increase 23-fold, and fentanyl to increase 25-fold.  Recent reporting from the Washington Post revealed that the pharmaceutical industry flooded every corner of the country with 76 billion oxycodone and hydrocodone pills between 2006 and 2012—egregious volumes of painkiller production that was undertaken with DEA approval and awareness. 

While we appreciate the initial steps taken in recent years to reduce the aggregate production quotas for schedule II opioids, we remain concerned that they are still far too high.  Approximately thirteen billion opioid doses were put on the market in 2017—enough for every adult American to have at least a three-week prescription of painkillers.  As powerful painkillers are aggressively marketed and prescribed at high rates, this sheer volume of available opioids heightens the risk for illicit diversion and abuse.  For example, four in five new heroin users first began their addiction with prescription painkillers.

We have written on several occasions urging DEA to exercise its statutory quota authority to serve as the gatekeeper for how many opioids are allowed to be sold legally each year in the United States.  As DEA proposes and finalizes the schedule II opioid production quotas for 2020, we urge you to apply DEA’s new authorities to prevent and limit opioid diversion due to excessively high production levels.  Thank you for your commitment to addressing the opioid epidemic.  We look forward to our continued engagement on this issue.

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