Watch Kennedy’s comments here.

WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) urged the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to review its decision to allow a company backed in part by foreign money and billionaire Democratic donor George Soros to obtain licenses for more than 200 American radio stations. The requested review by the FCC would include making certain that all required steps were followed according to FCC procedures and taking a closer look at the national security ramifications of the sale.

Key excerpts of the speech are below:

“Mr. George Soros is buying WWL AM radio in New Orleans. WWL AM radio is practically an institution in my state.”

. . .

“Any time a broadcast license—as is the case with Audacy—is transferred, the FCC has to approve it. So, Mr. Soros’s purchase of WWL Radio and the 219 other radio stations had to go before the FCC, and it did. And it went—the approval for Mr. Soros—went through the FCC like green grass through a goose. It was a party-line vote. It was last September. All three Democrats—there are five people on the FCC—all three Democrats said let it go, and [it has been alleged that] they short-circuited the normal process. . . . What happened was what some members of the media have called the ‘Soros shortcut.’ They just got together and rammed it through.”

. . .

“Mr. Soros—both George and [his son] Alex—believe that America would be better off if we had open borders. They believe that America would be better off, in my opinion—this is how I read their writings—if we ended jails and if we ran our government like the Communist Party of China. I don’t agree with that, but Mr. Soros—both of them—are entitled to their opinion. But my people in Louisiana are entitled to know whose opinion they are hearing on the radio.”

. . .

“I hope the new FCC revisits this issue. These licenses and these airwaves do not belong to me or to the FCC or to Audacy or to WWL. They belong to you and you and you—the American people. We are supposed to make sure through our FCC—that is why God created the FCC—that these licenses are not just given to anybody.”

Background: 

• Audacy is the second-largest owner of radio stations in the U.S. In total, Audacy owns roughly 220 stations in more than 45 media markets throughout the country.

• In Jan. 2024, Audacy filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and offered to trade shares of the company to lenders who would take on debt. George Soros took on $400 million in Audacy’s debt for 50 cents on the dollar and became the largest shareholder in the restructured company. Several foreign entities also took on some of Audacy’s debt, leaving the company with more than 20% foreign ownership.

• The FCC restricts the ability of companies with significant foreign ownership to obtain radio licenses. The agency is supposed to investigate foreign-backed companies to make sure they would operate in the American people’s interests before approving the transfer of any radio licenses.

• According to FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, the Democrat-led FCC rushed the approval process to allow the transfer of licenses to the Soros-backed Audacy without conducting the standard investigations. Carr said the FCC had never previously used the “Soros-shortcut” procedure to approve licenses to a firm with significant foreign ownership.

• Carr—who is now chairman of the FCC—has said he would take “a very hard look” at a petition to reconsider the license transfer to the Soros-backed company.

• Soros has donated billions of dollars to leftist causes in recent years. Soros has called the U.S. “the main obstacle to a stable and just world,” and claimed that China has a “better functioning government than the United States.”

• Shortly before leaving office, President Biden gave Soros the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.

Watch Kennedy’s full speech here.

WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, announced $75,123,091 in Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grants for flood mitigation, debris removal and permanent repair projects. 

“Hurricanes Ida and Laura devastated south Louisiana. This $75.1 million will help our communities rebuild and prepare for future storms by supporting flood mitigation, debris removal and permanent repair projects,” said Kennedy.

The FEMA aid will fund the following:

• $23,362,422 to the Washington-St. Tammany Electric Cooperative for permanent repairs as a result of Hurricane Ida.

• $19,913,860 to the Terrebonne Parish School Board for permanent repairs as a direct result of Hurricane Ida.

• $7,330,271 to Terrebonne Parish for debris removal operations as a result of Hurricane Ida. 

• $4,844,147 to the Society of the Roman Catholic Church of the Diocese of Lake Charles for permanent repairs as a result of Hurricane Laura.

• $4,397,467 to the Grand Isle Independent Levee District for permanent repairs as a result of Hurricane Ida.

• $2,715,104 to the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office for emergency protective measures as a direct result of Hurricane Laura. 

• $1,943,643 to Livingston Parish for management costs as a result of Hurricane Ida. 

• $1,628,521 to the Grand Isle Independent Levee District for permanent repairs as a direct result of Hurricane Ida.

• $1,599,783 to the Office of Risk Management for permanent repairs as a result of Hurricane Ida. 

• $1,433,322 to the Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans for permanent repairs as a result Hurricane Ida.

• 1,261,153 to Jefferson Davis Electric Cooperative, Inc., for emergency protective measures as a result of Hurricane Laura.

• $1,247,038 to the Westwego Housing Authority for permanent repairs as a result of Hurricane Ida.

• $1,239,840 to Jefferson Parish for emergency protective measures as a direct result Hurricane Ida.

• $1,201,968 to the Louisiana Children's Medical Center DBA LCMC Health (Children's Hospital) for management costs as a result of Hurricane Ida.

• $1,004,552 to the Ochsner Clinic Foundation for emergency protective measures as a direct result of Hurricane Ida.

WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) joined Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and colleagues in reintroducing the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act. The bill would permanently stop the flow of federal funding for abortion by establishing a single, government-wide standard that bars federal tax dollars from financing abortions.

“Big government is funneling Americans’ hard-earned money to the radical abortion agenda. The No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act would take federal dollars out of abortion procedures, respect taxpayers and help protect more unborn children,” said Kennedy.

“Millions of Americans share my belief that unborn life should be protected in the womb. Using taxpayer dollars to fund abortions is wrong. My Senate Republican colleagues and I will continue fighting to preserve life,” said Wicker.

Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) introduced the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act in the House of Representatives.

For decades, a haphazard set of policies like the Hyde Amendment have regulated federal funding for abortion. The No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act would permanently restrict federal funding for elective abortion and elective abortion coverage. The bill would also clarify that federal health insurance plans that cover abortion services are not eligible for subsidies or inclusion on the Affordable Care Act exchange.

Full text of the bill is here. 

WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today introduced the Prosecutors Need to Prosecute Act, which would require district attorneys (DAs) in many large jurisdictions to annually report information on their handling of certain serious crimes to the U.S. Attorney General. Under the bill, DA’s offices that do not report this data risk losing priority funding for their districts.

The bill would specifically require DAs in jurisdictions with more than 360,000 people to submit an annual report disclosing data on, among other things, the number of cases referred to them for crimes including murder, forcible rape, robbery, aggravated assault and burglary, and the number of these cases that the DA’s office dropped.

“American families deserve good prosecutors to keep them safe by enforcing the law, but too many district attorneys cater to far-left activists. The Prosecutors Need to Prosecute Act would hold rogue prosecutors accountable for refusing to punish criminals and protect innocent Americans,” said Kennedy.

The bill would help correct a nationwide trend of DAs who decline to prosecute serious crimes. In recent years, a multimillion-dollar project has worked to hamstring effective policing in major cities by empowering soft-on-crime prosecutors.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) cosponsored the bill.

“With crime on the rise in Democrat-led cities across the nation, it is imperative that these Soros-backed prosecutors work, do their jobs and get these violent offenders off our streets, instead of allowing career criminals to run rampant in our community. Catch-and-release is enough of a disaster on the Texas-Mexico border. The last thing we need is to institute it in our courts. I’m proud to stand with Sen. Kennedy and our colleagues to demand transparency about this abdication of professional responsibility,” said Cruz.

Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.) introduced the legislation in the House of Representatives.

“Over the last few years, we've seen a disturbing trend in big-city district attorneys working to keep dangerous criminals on our streets rather than behind bars. Look no further than my city of New York where Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg released a 'Day One' memo initially directing his staff to not prosecute certain crimes, downgrade other felony charges filed by police, and no longer seek sentences of life without parole. The same type of woke policies have been enacted by progressive DAs in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia, and voters have had enough. With prosecutors refusing to prosecute and governors only enabling their leniency, Congress has a responsibility to step in and arm the public with the information they need to make informed decisions at the ballot box,” said Malliotakis. 

The bill’s text is available here.

Kennedy first introduced the bill in the 118th Congress in Feb. 2024.