WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, penned this op-ed in Newsweek explaining how soft-on-crime policies are driving gun violence in American cities. Kennedy argued that Americans would be safer if local officials supported the police and enforced the laws on the books, rather than passing new gun control measures that only restrict law-abiding citizens.
Key excerpts from Kennedy’s op-ed include:
“Opponents of the Second Amendment seem to have painted themselves into a corner. They want to reduce gun violence, but they think cops are worse than criminals. They want more gun laws, but they don’t want to punish people who break those laws. Instead of reconciling those opposing views, anti-gun activists have taken to blaming conservative governors for the crime that happens in liberal cities.”
. . .
“Either side of the gun debate can cherry-pick numbers that look best for their side. I’m confident that conservative leadership is more effective for one simple reason: Conservatives believe in enforcing the law.
. . .
“Unless you peaked in high school, you understand that more cops will result in less crime. One study on policing found that each officer added to the police force resulted in four fewer violent crimes and 15 fewer property crimes. Another study found that a 10% increase in the police force resulted in a 13% drop in violent crime.”
. . .
“Guns aren’t the problem; criminals who use guns are the problem. Anti-gun activists need to own up to the fact that their policies have left many innocent families defenseless in high-crime areas by demonizing and demoralizing police forces throughout the country. If they want to address gun violence, supporting law enforcement is the first step.”
Read Kennedy’s full op-ed here.
Kennedy, Scott, Banking Republicans renew push for regulators to abandon Basel III Endgame proposal
Jan 17 2024
MADISONVILLE, La. – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Banking Committee, joined Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and all Senate Banking Republicans in urging regulators to withdraw the Basel III Endgame Proposal, which would raise bank capital requirements.
Kennedy joined colleagues in urging regulators to discard the proposal in November. In the initial letter, senators raised concerns that the proposal would affect affordable housing, mortgage lending, small business lending and consumer lending; limit the availability of access to credit cards and home equity lines of credit; and put U.S. companies at disadvantage to foreign competitors.
“As we noted in our November 12, 2023, letter to each of you, your agencies have still yet to justify the need for this proposal with any sufficient economic analysis or proof that the banking system is currently under capitalized. Since we last wrote to you, our concerns have not been mitigated, and testimony from the November 14 and December 6, 2023, Senate Banking Committee hearings has only deepened our resolve that this proposal is flawed and must be withdrawn,” the senators wrote.
“Following the November 14 hearing, on December 6, 2023, we heard testimony from the CEOs of the eight largest banks in this nation, which largely discussed how the proposal would hinder economic growth and reduce lending to households and businesses . . . During that hearing and since, we continue to hear particularly concerning testimonies about the outsized negative impacts the proposal would have on minority communities, especially LMI and minority borrowers,” they continued.
“As backdrop to all of this, the Federal Reserve seemingly acknowledged that it did not appropriately consider the impacts of the proposal when it began an additional data collection in October 2023 . . . How can we as legislators, or any of the American public, be asked to weigh in on a proposal, the effects of which the proposal’s authors do not yet fully comprehend?” the senators concluded.
Background:
- In July, the Federal Reserve, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation issued a joint notice of proposed rulemaking for revising bank capital requirements, known as Basel III Endgame.
- Revisions to capital requirements in the proposal come from changes to international capital standards, which the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision in Switzerland issued in response to the 2007-2009 financial crisis.
- Regulators intend to apply their rule to banks with over $100 billion in assets, which would impact the largest banks in the U.S. and change how they conduct lending and trading.
Sens. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), 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.
WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, today announced $1,181,827 in a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grant for Louisiana disaster aid.
“Hurricane Ida hit southeast Louisiana hard. I’m thankful to see this $1.2 million allow the people of Jefferson Parish to continue to care for their senior citizens after Hurricane Ida damaged their facilities,” said Kennedy.
The FEMA aid will fund the following:
- $1,181,827 to Jefferson Parish to replace the Jefferson Golden Age facility due to damages from Hurricane Ida.
Kennedy in New York Post: We can’t let our broken border continue to be a magnet for terrorists
Jan 12 2024
MADISONVILLE, La. – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, penned this op-ed in The New York Post warning that the crisis at our southern border has become a tool for the cartels and other groups that wish the American people harm to enter the country. Kennedy urged President Biden to give the Border Patrol and other federal agencies the resources they need to secure the border.
Key excerpts from Kennedy’s op-ed include:
“I don’t know if cartel thugs or terrorists make New Year’s resolutions, but I have to imagine that they’re struggling to dream up ways they could have a better year than they did while exploiting President Biden’s broken border policies in 2023.
“The Biden administration’s willful incompetence at the border not only created a human rights disaster, but it also provided the perfect cover for terrorist sympathizers, child sex offenders, and cartel associates to enter the United States illegally. These terrorists will have an even better year if Congress doesn’t step up with real legislative solutions.
“The numbers are horrifying. Border Patrol apprehended 169 members of the FBI’s terrorist watchlist attempting to cross the southern border illegally in fiscal year 2023 alone. That’s more than ten times as many potential terrorists than Border Patrol detained in the four years before President Biden took office.
“Individuals land on the FBI’s watchlist by associating with groups that hate America, our values, and our people. These terrorist sympathizers may be evil, but they’re not stupid. They know they can blend into the masses at the border unnoticed.”
. . .
“The Biden administration has made our southern border a magnet for terrorists . . . . It’s both a national embarrassment and the biggest national security threat our country faces, yet President Biden continues to ignore the problem.
“My fellow Republicans and I are doing all we can to bring President Biden to the table. Democrats must agree to enforce the law and provide Border Patrol and other law enforcement organizations the tools they need to secure the border. So far, President Biden has denied the American people both.
“His own FBI Director recently warned that the southern border poses a major threat to homeland security. He’s right, and I hope that admission is a sign that President Biden will start treating our border as the serious threat it is.”
Read Kennedy’s full op-ed here.
Kennedy, Rubio, Casey urge Panama officials to investigate possible Iranian oil sanction violations
Jan 11 2024
WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) today joined Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Bob Casey (D-Pa.) in urging the Panama Maritime Authority (AMP) to investigate potential instances of Iranian oil sanction violations.
According to open-source data, Iran and buyers, such as China, use vessels known as “ghost fleets” to conceal illegal Iranian oil exports. These vessels use tactics to evade detection including disabling GPS trackers, transferring oil between tankers mid-journey and “flag hopping” between different national registries.
“As you know, it has been bipartisan U.S. policy for decades to deprive Iran of the financing and resources it uses to fund international terrorism. In addition to threatening regional security in the Middle East, Iran has been credibly linked to transnational criminal activity and terrorism in our own hemisphere. We therefore request that you cooperate with the United States and conduct investigations into a significant number of ships registered in Panama which are alleged to transport Iranian oil in violation of U.S. sanctions,” the senators wrote.
“As of December 2023, the nonprofit United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) has identified 383 vessels suspected as belonging to the ‘ghost fleet,’ of which 189 (49 percent) are flagged in Panama. The specific ships are listed in the appendix to this letter. AMP has so far de-flagged just 28 of 217 vessels of concern,” they continued.
The senators also raised concerns that AMP is not exercising its due diligence when it comes to flagging potential ghost vessels, and that such practices could potentially be used to evade U.S. sanctions on Russian oil.
“We respectfully ask that you thoroughly investigate the alleged involvement of these 189 ships in transporting sanctioned Iranian oil and follow your established procedures to de-flag ships whose involvement is corroborated by available evidence, decline to flag such vessels again in the future, and extend similar scrutiny to vessels under suspicion of evading sanctions on other countries,” they concluded.
The full letter is available here.
Watch Kennedy’s comments here.
WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) today explained on the Senate floor how Washington’s out-of-control spending under President Joe Biden has left Americans with lower real wages, soaring credit card debt and shrinking savings accounts.
“As a result of Bidenomics and inflation, in my state, the average family making $80,000 a year is going to have to pay an extra $800 a month because of inflation. That’s an extra $10,000 a year. . . . That’s happening right now to millions of Louisianians and millions of Americans. What are you going to do?”
. . .
“A pay raise doesn't work. It’s great to have, but inflation eats it up and then some. Well, ok, that family’s still got to find $10,000. What do you do? Well, you go borrow the money, and that’s what’s happening: Credit card debt. Buy now, pay later. Or other types of loans. Don’t just take my word for it. On the last numbers we have in the third quarter of this year, credit card spending was up 9% at Chase Bank. It was up 15% at Wells Fargo.”
. . .
“People are using credit cards. They are charging more and more, and they’re paying less and less on those credit cards. They’re getting deeper, deeper into the hole.
“What else are people doing in my state and every other state? They’re raiding their savings. If you look at the numbers, personal deposits are down 3% year-over-year at Chase Bank. What does that mean? It means people are raiding their savings accounts to deal with this inflation.”
. . .
“My point, Madam President, is that these actions that are taken in Washington, D.C. have real-life consequences for average, everyday American families on fixed incomes. . . . People are having to borrow, and people are having to raid their savings, and it is clearly a cancer on the American dream.”
Kennedy’s full remarks are available here.
WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today joined Sens. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and James Lankford (R-Okla.) in introducing the Families’ Rights and Responsibilities Act to reaffirm parents’ right to raise their children according to their values.
“Far too often, woke officials treat American parents like second-class citizens for making decisions about their own kids’ upbringing and education. Congress must protect moms’ and dads’ basic rights under the law, and that is what this bill would do,” said Kennedy.
The bill would prevent the federal government from infringing on the fundamental rights of parents without first passing the strict scrutiny test—the highest level of judicial review. It also allows parents to raise a violation of the Families’ Rights and Responsibilities Act in judicial or administrative proceedings on the federal and state levels. This could apply to Title IX cases, gender-transition cases and other areas where public officials may try to usurp parental rights.
“Parents have a fundamental right to control the upbringing of their child, whether it’s in the classroom or at home. Yet, far too often, parents are being pushed out of their child’s lives, and kids are paying the price. I’m fighting to put parents back in the driver’s seat and ensure they remain the lead decision maker in their child’s life,” said Scott.
“Moms and dads have the right—and responsibility—to determine what’s best for their kids. Good parents should not live in fear of their own government every day. Whenever parental rights are threatened by federal government overreach, families deserve a fair hearing before a court. The Families' Rights and Responsibilities Act preserves the rights of parents and restricts government overreach into our homes and families,” said Lankford.
Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) introduced the legislation in the House of Representatives.
“In America today, the rights of millions of parents are under siege—this moment calls for a targeted course correction so that these proud men and women can raise their children without government infringement. The Families’ Rights and Responsibilities Act serves not only as a reinforced bulwark for parental rights, but also as a fundamental check against the government whenever it decides to enforce policies that fail to extend due deference to parental decision-making. I am immensely proud to introduce this legislation alongside Senators Scott and Lankford to further safeguard the rights of parents,” said Foxx.
The Families’ Rights and Responsibilities Act would:
- Affirm parents have the fundamental right to raise their children and direct their education according to their values.
- Prevent the federal government from substantially burdening this fundamental right without first passing the strict scrutiny test.
- Allow parents to raise a violation of the legislation as a claim or defense in judicial or administrative proceedings at the federal and state levels.
Full text of the bill is available here.
Watch Kennedy’s full comments here.
WASHINGTON – The Senate today attempted to overcome President Joe Biden’s veto of Sen. John Kennedy’s (R-La.) Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution of disapproval. The resolution would prohibit the Biden administration’s Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) from enforcing its Dodd Frank Section 1071 small business data collection rule. The attempted veto-override earned 54 votes, failing to reach the two-thirds majority needed to advance.
The Senate originally passed Kennedy’s resolution of disapproval in October, and the House of Representatives passed it in December.
“Common sense is illegal at the CFPB, yet some of my colleagues failed to protect the privacy of small business owners across America from the Biden administration’s woke, invasive rule. Congress has already passed this common-sense resolution to safeguard the personal information of small business owners, and it’s wrong for a minority of senators to allow Pres. Biden to keep putting sensitive personal information at risk,” said Kennedy.
Section 1071 requires covered financial institutions to collect certain personal information on small business loan applicants and report that to the CFPB. This information includes an applicant’s race, ethnicity and sex and whether the business is minority-owned, woman-owned or LGBT-owned. The CFPB may then make certain parts of that information public, including data that could be used to publicly identify the small business credit applicant.
Background:
- In June 2023, Kennedy introduced a Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval of the CFPB rule to implement Dodd Frank Section 1071, which amends the Equal Credit Opportunity Act.
- Kennedy introduced the Transparency in CFPB Cost-Benefit Analysis Act to ensure that the CFPB does not establish regulations that would foist unreasonable costs or harms onto taxpayers, financial entities or consumers.
- Kennedy introduced the Small LENDER Act to protect Louisiana’s small businesses’ access to capital. The legislation would block the Biden administration’s CFPB from requiring community banks and small lenders to collect and report social data—such as race, gender and ethnicity—from borrowers.
The legislation is available here.
WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, today announced $1,000,413 in a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grant for Louisiana disaster aid.
“The Audubon Zoo is one of the top attractions in New Orleans. I’m grateful to see that this $1 million will help restore facilities at the park so that families from around the country can continue to enjoy animal encounters,” said Kennedy.
The FEMA aid will fund the following:
- $1,000,413 to the Audubon Commission for permanent zoo repairs needed as a result of Hurricane Ida.
MADISONVILLE, La. – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) welcomed the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) decision to purchase $36 million of shrimp to help alleviate food insecurity. The USDA made the purchase under the Agriculture Act of 1935, which provides for national food assistance during emergencies.
“High inflation is hindering Americans’ ability to put food on the table, and many families are relying on national food assistance programs to get by. I’m thankful for the USDA’s purchase of $36 million of gulf shrimp, which will not only benefit Louisiana shrimpers, but will also help those in need during this holiday season,” said Kennedy.
