Kennedy announces $5.5 million in Hurricanes Laura, Ida, saltwater intrusion aid for Louisiana
Dec 09 2024
WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, today announced $5,494,688 in Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grants for Louisiana disaster aid.
“Hurricane damage and saltwater intrusion pose major threats to Louisianians’ safety and property. This $5.5 million will help Lake Charles and other parts of our state recover from Hurricanes Laura and Ida, and cover the costs Plaquemines Parish faced because of saltwater intrusion,” said Kennedy.
The FEMA aid will fund the following:
- $1,656,558 to the Office of Risk Management for repairs to 14 state agency buildings due to Hurricane Ida damage.
- $1,309,318 to Lake Charles, La. for the demolition of residential buildings in danger of collapse due to Hurricane Laura damage.
- $1,282,648 to Plaquemines Parish for emergency protective measures at the Boothville Water Treatment Plant due to saltwater intrusion.
- $1,246,164 to Plaquemines Parish for emergency protective measures at the Port Sulphur Water Treatment Plant due to saltwater intrusion.
Kennedy raises concerns with Biden admin over delay in implementing Iranian oil sanctions
Dec 06 2024
MADISONVILLE, La. – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Banking Committee, today joined Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and colleagues in raising concerns to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen regarding the Biden administration’s delay in implementing and enforcing sanctions on Iranian oil.
President Biden signed the senators’ Stop Harboring Iranian Petroleum (SHIP) Act into law in April. However, the administration has not implemented the bill, which includes imposing sanctions on foreign ports and refineries that knowingly accept and refine petroleum products from Iran.
“We are writing to express ongoing concerns regarding the implementation and enforcement of sanctions on Iran’s oil sector, particularly as they relate to mandates established under the Stop Harboring Iranian Petroleum (SHIP) Act, which was signed into law in April of this year. Congress has consistently identified Iran's oil sector as a critical area for sanctions due to its significant role in financing destabilizing regional terrorism and nuclear development. Unfortunately, delays in fully implementing the SHIP Act remain a concern, as does the need for increased sanctions enforcement,” the senators wrote.
“Lax sanctions enforcement has enabled certain nations, particularly in Southeast Asia, to openly disregard U.S. sanctions and sell Iranian crude to China. For example, trade data show that Malaysia is exporting oil to China in excess of its own production capacity, a clear indication of involvement in Iranian oil trade. To address these deficiencies, it is critical that Treasury deploys all available enforcement tools and fully engages in monitoring and sanctioning illicit oil transactions involving Iran,” they continued.
“Iran’s illicit oil exporting tactics are well known. For example, United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) provides valuable public data, such as through its tanker tracker and ‘Ghost Armada’ analysis, monitoring vessels moving Iranian oil, especially to and from Kharg Island. Given the capabilities of the United States Government, we are confident that Treasury has access to additional intelligence sources to further these efforts,” they concluded.
The senators are demanding that the Treasury Department provide comprehensive assessments of all foreign financial institutions facilitating Iranian oil exports and of all vessels listed by UANI in its Tanker Tracker and its Ghost Armada to determine whether they meet the criteria for sanctions.
In addition, the lawmakers are requesting briefings from Treasury to improve sanctions as well as an up-to-date Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) advisory to financial institutions regarding recent tactics and trends in sanctions evasion by Iran by Dec. 20, 2024.
Sens. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Katie Britt (R-Ala.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) and Steve Daines (R-Mont.) also signed the letter.
The full letter is available here.
MADISONVILLE, La. – The House of Representatives today passed companion legislation to Sen. John Kennedy’s (R-La.) Crucial Communism Teaching Act. The bill would help educate students about the history and dangers of communism, and it now moves to the Senate for consideration.
More than 100 million people have died throughout history as a result of communist rule. Today, 1.5 billion people still suffer under communism.
“Communist leaders have taken the liberties and stolen the lives of millions of people around the world. The Senate should follow our colleagues in the House by passing the Crucial Communism Teaching Act so that young Americans really understand the threat that Marxist leadership poses to freedom,” said Kennedy.
Rep. Maria Salazar (R-Fla.) introduced the Crucial Communism Teaching Act in the House.
“By passing my Crucial Communism Teaching Act, the House of Representatives will ensure future generations will remember the pain and suffering caused by the brutal communist ideology. My community in Miami is no stranger to the evils of communism, and we must ensure all Americans are aware of the death and misery it has caused. Their stories and memories will now live on in the minds of our youth,” said Salazar.
A poll by the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation shows that most young adults lack understanding of the significance and history of communism. The same poll showed that one in five Millennials, as well as one in three members of Gen Z, views communism favorably.
The Crucial Communism Teaching Act would make educational materials available through the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation to teach high school students about the dangers of communism and totalitarianism. The bill would also require high schools to teach students the history of communism and how this ideology undermines America’s founding principles of freedom and democracy.
Text of the Crucial Communism Teaching Act is available here.
Kennedy details effort to help Louisianians collect missing money through unclaimed savings bonds
Dec 05 2024
Watch Kennedy’s comments here.
WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) spoke on the Senate floor about his effort to ensure that more Americans can find the money that the federal government may owe them through mature, unclaimed savings bonds. In a letter to the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators, Kennedy also announced that the U.S. Department of Treasury will begin sharing data about unclaimed savings bonds with state officials in Summer 2025.
Key excerpts from the speech are below:
“Now, government waste takes many forms, but I'll tell you one form—it’s the purest form. It's when the federal government has taxpayer money, and it doesn't belong to the federal government, but the federal government refuses to give it back. And that's the case we have at the Department of Treasury.”
. . .
“For a long time, the Department of Treasury has had the names of these 95 million people or their heirs, and it totals $38 billion. So, naive as I was, I went to the Department of Treasury and said, you know, we need to give this money back to people. What's the problem? You got names, you got addresses. After a while, you didn't have to be Einstein’s cousin to figure out they weren't going to cooperate with me.”
. . .
“So, I finally just went and passed a bill. I passed the Unclaimed Savings Bond Act. . . . . And then Treasury said, ‘You know, it's not really our job to go look for people. We can put up a toll-free number.’ I said, ‘Here's what we'll do: I want you to cooperate with the states.’ Every state has an unclaimed property program.”
. . .
“And my purpose of being here today is to try to tell folks, after eight years, we are going—in this summer, in about six months—we’re going to take all those digital records, names and addresses, and they're going to be sent to the state treasurer in every state. And the state treasurers are anxious to put their names and addresses on their websites.”
Background:
- As of May 2024, the U.S. Treasury had more than 95 million mature, unclaimed savings bonds. Those had a combined value of roughly $38 billion. Kennedy authored the Unclaimed Savings Bond Act of 2021, which was signed into law as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023.
- This law requires the U.S. Treasury to share information about the owners of unclaimed savings bonds with officials in every state. This will allow state treasurers to add information about mature, unredeemed savings bonds to the state’s unclaimed property program. That will enable more Americans to locate and claim their missing investments.
- Kennedy managed Louisiana’s unclaimed property program for 17 years while serving as state treasurer. During this time, Kennedy reunited Louisianians with roughly $400 million in their unclaimed property.
Watch Kennedy’s full speech here.
Kennedy’s letter to the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators is available here.
Kennedy introduces No Propaganda Act to end taxpayer funding of partisan government broadcasting network
Dec 05 2024
WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, introduced the Senate companion to the No Propaganda Act to defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). The bill would block federal funding for the CPB because of the organization’s chronically biased content.
“The Corporation for Public Broadcasting refuses to provide Louisianians and Americans with fair, unbiased content. It wastes taxpayer dollars on slanted coverage to advance a leftist political agenda. The No Propaganda Act would save taxpayer money by putting an end to Big Brother’s propaganda outlet,” said Kennedy.
Congress has appropriated more than $15 billion to fund the CPB, which it allocates to National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). CPB states that its goal is to, “educate, inform, foster curiosity, and promote civil discourse essential to American society.” However, in April, a whistleblower exposed NPR’s decision to not broadcast the Hunter Biden laptop scandal because NPR believed covering the story would help presidential candidate Donald Trump during the 2020 election cycle.
In 2020, reports also revealed that PBS used taxpayer dollars to partner with a Chinese Communist Party-controlled media outlet, CGTN, to produce a pro-Beijing film.
Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) introduced the bill in the House of Representatives.
“The American Taxpayer is footing the bill for a woke media corporation that pretends to be impartial while pushing Chinese propaganda. CPB cannot be allowed to keep using your hard-earned tax dollars to push a biased and political agenda that goes against what’s best for Americans,” said Perry.
The full bill text is available here.
Senate passes Kennedy-backed bill to bring transparency to Louisianians about grants process
Dec 04 2024
WASHINGTON – The Senate passed the Grant Transparency Act, a bill that Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) cosponsored. It now moves to the president’s desk for consideration.
The Grant Transparency Act would require government agencies to give Americans who apply for competitive grant applications more information about the selection process.
“Louisianians deserve to know how the government chooses competitive grant recipients. The president should move quickly to sign the Grant Transparency Act into law so that applicants can better understand how organizations can access this crucial funding,” said Kennedy.
“Grant applicants often don’t have enough information to know why they are not awarded a competitive grant despite meeting all of the criteria. The Grant Transparency Act would require government agencies to shine a light on how they decide between applicants behind closed doors, and I urge the President to swiftly sign it into law,” said Cornyn, who introduced the bill.
The legislation would require a Notice of Funding Opportunities for competitive grants to include a description of selection criteria, a statement from the agency about whether it used a weighted scoring method for the competitive grant and any other approach the agency used to evaluate the applicants.
Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) and Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) also cosponsored the bill.
The full bill text is available here.
Kennedy introduces bill to keep administrative state in check, ensure agency regulation oversight
Dec 04 2024
WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, today introduced the Bureaucratic Limitation and Overreach Control (BLOCK) Act to establish guardrails for executive agencies’ major rulemaking.
The bill would lower the economic impact requirements of the Congressional Review Act (CRA) for major rules from $100 million to $50 million per year. Rules that the Comptroller General predicts meet or exceed the threshold would require a joint resolution of approval by Congress before the they could go into effect.
“For too long, unelected bureaucrats have tried to take on the job of lawmakers by enforcing regulations that burden millions of people’s lives. My BLOCK Act gives Congress the authority to exercise checks and balances over agencies on behalf of Americans and keeps the administrative state at bay,” said Kennedy.
- The BLOCK Act would permit a major rule to go into effect if the president determined that it is necessary for national security or disaster response but would still require Congressional approval within 15 session days. The rule would become invalid if a joint resolution of approval had not passed within the timeframe.
- Six months after the bill becomes law, every federal agency would have to submit 20% of the major rules that it currently had in effect to Congress for approval. Following that six-month period, those agencies would have to submit another 20% of their major rules for congressional approval annually. Within five years of the bill’s enactment, Congress would have had the opportunity to approve or disapprove all major rules that were in effect when the BLOCK Act became law.
- The BLOCK Act would allow minor rules, which include those that the Comptroller General predicts will have an economic impact of less than $50 million, to go into effect upon publication in the Federal Register. Congress would still have the authority to pass a joint resolution of disapproval under the CRA to reverse minor rules that an agency had published.
The full bill text is available here.
WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Budget Committee, today introduced the Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account Expansion Act to increase the annual contribution limit for Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA) so that Americans can afford child or dependent care while they work.
Between 2018 and 2022, child care costs in Louisiana rose more than 11%.
“Louisianians work tirelessly, but many still struggle to afford the rising cost of caring for a child or loved one. The Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account Expansion Act would help Americans save more money so that they can continue to provide for their families while managing caretaking expenses,” said Kennedy.
A Dependent Care FSA is a pre-tax benefit account that allows Americans to save for dependent care expenses such as preschool, daycare for children or adults, babysitting or elder care.
Under current law, the maximum contribution limit for a Dependent Care FSA is $5,000 per year if the filer is married and filing a joint tax return or if the filer is single. The annual limit is $2,500 if the filer is married and filing a separate tax return.
Kennedy’s legislation would amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to increase the amount of Americans’ income that can be tax-exempt by expanding the Dependent Care FSA annual contribution limit to $7,500 per household, per year for a married person making a joint filing or to $3,750 for a person who is married but filing separately.
The full bill text is available here.
Kennedy announces $3.7 million in disaster aid for Tangipahoa, Jefferson, Tensas Parishes
Dec 02 2024
WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, announced $3,732,973 in Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grants for Louisiana disaster aid.
“Louisianians depend on back-up power when harsh weather hits. This $3.7 million will fund the purchase of emergency generators for Tangipahoa, Jefferson and Tensas Parishes,” said Kennedy.
The FEMA aid will fund the following:
- $1,285,560 for the purchase and installation of 15 portable generators in Jefferson Parish.
- $1,250,940 for the purchase and installation of eight permanent and two portable generators in Tangipahoa Parish.
- $1,000,000 for the purchase and installation of 12 permanent industrial generators, switches, the associated foundation pads and security fencing in Tensas Parish.
- $71,420 to Jefferson Parish for management costs associated with the purchase of 15 emergency generators.
- $69,497 to Tangipahoa Parish for management costs associated with the purchase of 10 emergency generators.
- $55,556 to Tensas Parish for management costs associated with the purchase of 10 emergency generators.
WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, today announced $13,491,124 in Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grants for Louisiana disaster aid.
“Hurricanes Laura and Ida left south Louisiana with bad damage. This $13.5 million will help our communities rebuild and recover,” said Kennedy.
The FEMA aid will fund the following:
- $6,509,261 to the Louisiana Children’s Medical Center to repair Hurricane Ida damage to East Jefferson General Hospital buildings.
- $3,262,494 to the Calcasieu Parish Police Jury for office building repairs resulting from Hurricane Laura.
- $1,312,837 to Office of Risk Management to repair Hurricane Ida damage to the Barataria Landbridge Shoreline Protection Project.
- $1,270,732 to Lafourche Parish Fire District 3 to repair Hurricane Ida damage to the Central Fire Station headquarters building.
- $1,135,800 to the Office of Risk Management to repair Hurricane Ida damage to marsh habitat.
