“Children are uniquely vulnerable to wicked people who hide in the internet’s shadows. Law enforcement needs modern resources to stop and punish child predators, and this bill delivers a critical tool for the good guys.”

WASHINGTON – Sens. John Kennedy (R-La.), John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) today introduced the Targeting Child Predators Act of 2020 to help stop children from being exploited online. Current law gives suspected predators opportunity to evade prosecution when Internet Service Providers alert them to potential law enforcement investigations.

“Children are uniquely vulnerable to wicked people who hide in the internet’s shadows. Law enforcement needs modern resources to stop and punish child predators, and this bill delivers a critical tool for the good guys,” said Kennedy.

“Internet Service Providers can be invaluable partners to law enforcement in tracking down child sexual predators, but ISPs often alert the predator to inquiries about their identity, making it easier for them to evade prosecution. This bill would forbid ISPs from telling these criminals that their information has been requested by law enforcement until their actions can be properly investigated,” said Cornyn.

“Child exploitation is particularly awful, and every second counts when it comes to putting these types of criminals behind bars. This bill will give law enforcement another tool to respond swiftly to these crimes, find predators, and bring them to justice,” said Cotton.

“I thank Senators Kennedy, Cornyn and Cotton for standing up for vulnerable children by introducing the Targeting Child Predators Act which I sponsored in the House of Representatives when I was a congressman. It passed in the House and the Senate should act similarly to ensure online predators are swiftly prosecuted and our children are protected,” said Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

When investigating the exploitation of children online, law enforcement can typically match an IP address to a suspected predator. Officials may then use this evidence to obtain a subpoena to collect the name of the person attached to the IP address from an Internet Service Provider.

Internet Service Providers routinely comply with such subpoenas, but often immediately inform the users—in these cases, suspected child predators—of the request. Suspects who discover that law enforcement is investigating them regularly erase their internet footprints, which can make prosecuting online child predators nearly impossible.

The Targeting Child Predators Act would allow law enforcement to obtain a subpoena that forbids the Internet Service Provider from notifying the targeted user that his or her information has been requested. This prohibition would be valid for 180 days to give law enforcement sufficient time to determine whether to prosecute the individual in question.

The legislation applies only in cases of suspected child exploitation. In addition, law enforcement must certify that, if the Internet Service Provider disclosed the information request to the targeted suspect, that disclosure could enable suspects to:

• endanger the life or physical safety of an individual,
• flee from prosecution,
• destroy or tamper with evidence,
• intimidate a potential witness, or
• otherwise seriously jeopardize an investigation.

The Targeting Child Predators Act does not expand what type of evidence law enforcement can collect. The bill allows for judicial review of the subpoenas.

This bill passed the House in the 115^th Congress by a voice vote, and its text is available here.

“FEMA and Louisiana took unprecedented steps to respond to this pandemic, and this funding will help pay for vital resources needed to combat the virus.”

MADISONVILLE, La. – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, today announced $15,285,718 in FEMA grants to reimburse hospitals around Louisiana for the cost of services and equipment used to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

“FEMA and Louisiana took unprecedented steps to respond to this pandemic, and this funding will help pay for vital resources needed to combat the virus,” said Kennedy.

Louisiana’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness is receiving $6,126,612 for helping Baton Rouge General Hospital accommodate additional coronavirus patients and acquire equipment for its intensive care unit. 

Louisiana Children’s Medical Center is receiving $9,159,106 for its emergency medical care response and distributing personal protective equipment to its staff. 

This funding is authorized by the Robert T. Stafford Act.

“The Chinese Communist Party has made nests for its propaganda on college campuses all over our country. . . . It’s time to end Communist China’s deceitful attacks on democratic freedoms by giving power back to American students and educators.”

WASHINGTON – Today the Senate passed the Concerns Over Nations Funding University Campus Institutes in the United States (CONFUCIUS) Act by unanimous consent. Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) introduced the legislation in March 2019 to address concerns about Confucius Institutes’ suppressing free speech on American college campuses. Sens. Doug Jones (D-Ala.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) cosponsored the legislation.

“The Chinese Communist Party has made nests for its propaganda on college campuses all over our country. Confucius Institutes are threatening academic liberty and free speech without shame, and too many American schools have fallen victim to the political con. It’s time to end Communist China’s deceitful attacks on democratic freedoms by giving power back to American students and educators,” said Kennedy.

At universities across the U.S., the Chinese government is waging an influence war through its Confucius Institutes. Though ostensibly designed to promote cultural studies on college campuses, Confucius Institutes receive direct funding from the Chinese government.

The CONFUCIUS Act reduces the Chinese Communist Party’s influence on U.S. colleges and universities by granting full managerial authority of Confucius Institutes to the universities that host them. 

Specifically, the CONFUCIUS Act provides that Confucius Institutes must:

• Protect academic freedom on the campus where the Confucius Institute is located,
• Prohibit the application of any foreign law on any campus of the institution, and
• Grant full control over what a Confucius Institute teaches, the activities it carries out, the research grants it gives, and the individuals it employs to the college or university on which it is located.

This bill would prohibit federal government funding to colleges and universities that host Confucius Institutes and are not in compliance with the above provisions. The funding prohibition would only apply to funding directed to the college or university and would not include funding disbursed to students, such as Pell Grants.

Video of Kennedy’s unanimous consent request is available here.

Background:

• According to the nonpartisan National Association of Scholars, there are at least 72 Confucius Institutes at colleges and universities in the U.S.
• This May, the College Republican National Committee and the College Democrats of America wrote a joint letter calling for the “immediate and permanent closure of all Confucius Institutes in the United States” due to their “concerns over the present state of academic freedom” and “the continued exploitation of liberal, democratic academic institutions by authoritarians.”
• These institutes can threaten universities by withholding funding in order to achieve their objectives, such as regulating speech the Chinese government opposes. Universities forced to choose between losing funding or upholding free speech are often tempted to yield to an institution funded by a foreign government over the interests of free speech. This allows foreign governments like China’s Communist Party to exert influence (such as prohibiting the Dalai Lama from speaking on a campus) and even apply Chinese Communist laws on U.S. soil.

“The existing cap arbitrarily siphons money away from conservation in oil-producing states. This cap isn’t smart, sustainable or fair. The commonsense solution here is eliminating the cap on oil revenues for Gulf states.”

WASHINGTON—Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), has introduced the Offshore Cap Parity Act to eliminate the arbitrary, misguided cap on the amount of revenue Gulf states can receive from oil and gas drilling off their coasts.

The states direct much of this revenue to coastal conservation and restoration efforts. Currently, the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act (GOMESA) limits the dollar amount of revenue that Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi and Alabama can collectively receive to $375 million per year, though total revenues for the Gulf topped $5 billion in 2019.

“Louisianians have tirelessly supported America’s path to energy independence, and we depend on GOMESA funds to conserve and restore our storm-battered coastline.

“The existing cap arbitrarily siphons money away from conservation in oil-producing states. This cap isn’t smart, sustainable or fair. The commonsense solution here is eliminating the cap on oil revenues for Gulf states,” said Kennedy.

Text of the Offshore Cap Parity Act is available here.

Background:

Under GOMESA, federal revenues from the offshore energy production of Gulf states are divided into three portions. The federal government returns 37.5 percent of this revenue to Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi and Alabama. The Land and Water Conservation Fund receives 12.5 percent of offshore revenue and directs most of that money to landlocked states. The final 50 percent of Gulf oil and gas revenue goes to the U.S. Treasury.

The GOMESA cap limits the dollar value of Gulf states’ 37.5 percent revenue share to $375 million, meaning the states receive no benefit when the energy sector peaks and revenues surpass the cap. Conversely, the Mineral Leasing Act ensures that states with onshore drilling operations receive 50 percent of their revenues, while there is no cap on how much money that share includes.

States with onshore energy production typically aren’t required to spend that money on environmental priorities. Louisiana constitutionally dedicates revenues from offshore energy production to pay for its coastal conservation and restoration projects.