MADISONVILLE, La. – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) joined Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and colleagues in a letter to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan urging the agency to reject a California request that would impose high costs on the rest of the country.

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) is seeking a waiver from the EPA because the agency is attempting to enforce a ban on the use of diesel-electric trains and require zero-emission trains by 2030 or 2035, depending on the type of train. The high costs and underdeveloped technology of zero-emission trains make this extreme rule unrealistic.

“We write to express our strong opposition to a pending request by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to authorize enforcement of its rule to ban proven and efficient diesel-electric locomotives,” the senators began.

“The California rule is plainly unworkable. . . . [N]o economically-viable technology for full zero-emission operation on long haul service exists, short of the immense expense and infeasible logistics of running overhead electric wires across an entire network, which even CARB does not anticipate in its economic impact analysis,” they added.

“The costs of the California rule would be staggering: CARB acknowledges an impact on . . . roughly half of the domestic Class I locomotive fleet, with compliance costs of nearly $16 billion through 2050,” the senators wrote.

The senators explained that those costs would increase the financial burdens on everyday Americans.

“We urge you to protect interstate commerce with a complete denial of CARB’s request,” they concluded.

Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), John Cornyn (R-Texas), John Thune (R-S.D.), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Tim Scott (R-S.C.), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Todd Young (R-Ind.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), Ted Budd (R-N.C.), Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) and Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.) also signed the letter.

The full letter is available here.

MADISONVILLE, La. – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, today announced $1,223,795 in Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grants for Louisiana disaster aid.

“St. Mary Parish is still recovering after bad flooding. I’m thankful for this $1.2 million, which will support Louisianians’ efforts to rebuild their community,” said Kennedy.

The FEMA aid will fund the following:

• $1,165,525 for St. Mary Parish for the elevation of two existing structures that are either wood frame slab-on-grade or elevated residential structures that have experienced repetitive flood damage from previous storm events. 

• $58,270 for management costs associated with the elevation project in St. Mary Parish.

MADISONVILLE, La. – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Banking Committee, joined Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) and all other Banking Committee Republicans in urging the Biden administration’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to withdraw its proposal to prohibit volume-based transaction pricing for National Market System (NMS) stocks. 

Volume-based pricing is a pricing method that decreases price per share of stock as the quantity of shares purchased increases. Volume-based pricing helps reduce costs for investors and promotes competition.

“Volume-based pricing is a long-standing practice that encourages a vibrant, competitive marketplace, benefiting a broad spectrum of market participants. Volume-based pricing is commonplace across various industries, promoting competition and rewarding entities for their contributions to the market. This practice has played a critical role in enhancing market liquidity, facilitating efficient price discovery, and maintaining the stability of financial markets,” the senators wrote.

“Despite these facts and without sufficient justification, the Proposal would explicitly prohibit volume-based pricing, suggesting it creates barriers for smaller brokers. However, these assumptions are inconsistent with the realities of existing market operations and competition. In fact, the Proposal’s adverse impact on smaller brokers and the broader broker-dealer ecosystem is likely to be significant. The Proposal would likely stifle smaller brokers’ competitive capabilities and result in market consolidation, reduced choice, and potentially increased costs for investors,” they continued.

“The Proposal’s overly simplified view fails to acknowledge the full extent of benefits that volume-based pricing brings to market dynamics and investors and ignores the superiority of market-based pricing mechanisms over central planning. Therefore, we request the Commission withdraw the rulemaking in order to preserve market liquidity and efficiency,” the senators concluded.

Sens. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), 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. – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) joined Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) in urging the Biden administration’s Health and Human Services Department (HHS) to withdraw its Increasing Organ Transplant Access (IOTA) model because it prioritizes diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) goals over medical necessity in the organ transplant process.

“Under the proposed model, released through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, hospitals are given payments based on an annual score determined by three factors: number of transplants, organ acceptance rates, and post-transplant outcomes. A successful kidney transplant counts as one point. A transplant given to a ‘low-income’ patient, however, counts as 1.2 points,” the senators wrote.

“This ‘health equity adjustment’ creates a perverse incentive to prioritize transplants, not by clinical necessity, but by arbitrary income levels. Allocating organs should adhere to the principle of equal treatment for all patients, ensuring that no individual is prioritized over another based on non-medical criteria. Further, public trust in the transplant system will be eroded if people believe allocation decisions are being made based on socio-political factors rather than medical necessity,” they continued.

The senators also expressed concerns that the Department’s claim of alleged racial bias lacks clear evidence. They noted that using income level as a stand-in for race in the transplant process is a violation of medical ethics.  

“Proposals such as the IOTA models do little to help real patients and instead satisfy the desires of political activists. We need a health care system that provides high-quality, affordable health care for families and individuals. Rather than address the systemic issues making healthcare unaffordable for millions of Americans, this Administration seems hellbent on virtue-signaling ‘equity’ over the real needs of patients,” the senators concluded.

Sens. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) also signed the letter.

The full letter is available here.