MADISONVILLE, La. – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, today announced $11,769,782 in Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grants for Louisiana disaster aid.  

“Hurricanes Laura and Ida hit Louisianians hard. This $11.8 million will help Calcasieu Parish, Lafourche Parish, and nearby communities recover,” said Kennedy. 

The FEMA aid will fund the following:

• $8,907,510 to the Calcasieu Parish School Board to support school facility repairs resulting from Hurricane Laura.

• $1,812,815 to the Diocese of Houma Thibodaux for mold remediation in school buildings related to Hurricane Ida.

• $1,049,457 to Lafourche Parish for the demolition of 44 homes in danger of collapse as a result of Hurricane Ida.

Watch the report here. 

MADISONVILLE, La. – A recent investigation has highlighted Sen. John Kennedy’s (R-La.) work to make hospital prices clear to patients before they pursue treatment. InvestigateTV’s analysis found that, despite the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) attempt to make hospital prices clear to the public, many hospitals have not complied with the agency’s Hospital Price Transparency Final Rule.

The rule went into effect in 2021 and requires hospitals to share their pricing information online, yet many hospitals have not provided patients with straightforward access to pricing for routine services. Kennedy has authored a bill, the Hospital Transparency Compliance Enforcement Act, that would incentivize hospitals to share this information by doubling the current penalties for noncompliant hospitals to as much as $11,000 per day.

In the report, Kennedy criticizes CMS for failing to enforce the rule effectively and says the agency has the authority to penalize hospitals that are “playing games” with consumers.

“I’ve gone to these hospital websites. They either don’t post their prices, or it would take Dog the Bounty Hunter to find out where on their website they’ve posted it. You've got to click here and click there and click there, and then click there to get there, and then it’s written in a foreign language,” said Kennedy.

Background:

The Hospital Price Transparency Rule requires hospitals to establish and make public a list of the prices that hospitals charge for items and services. Hospitals must also display charges in a consumer-friendly manner. A February 2023 study of 2,000 hospitals found that only 489—or 24%—were fully compliant. 

In January 2022, the government implemented higher penalties on hospitals that fail to comply with the transparency rule. CMS requires non-compliant hospitals with 30 or fewer beds to pay a penalty of $300 per day, those with 31 to 550 beds to pay between $310 and $5,500 per day and those with more than 550 beds to pay $5,500 per day.

The Hospital Transparency Compliance Enforcement Act would: 

• Double the current government penalties on non-compliant hospitals. Penalties would increase to $600 per day for hospitals with 30 or fewer beds, $620 to $11,000 per day for hospitals with 31 to 550 beds and $11,000 per day for hospitals with more than 550 beds. 

• Require all hospitals to comply with the higher penalties within six months of the law’s passage.

• Prohibit hospitals from shielding information on their websites using webpage coding.

• Give non-compliant hospitals 60 days after notice of non-compliance to pay their monetary penalty.

• Require CMS to publish the names of hospitals that have not complied.

Text of the Hospital Transparency Compliance Enforcement Act is available here.

Find the investigation’s report here.

MADISONVILLE, La. – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, today announced $1,731,397 in a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grant for Louisiana disaster aid.

“Hurricane Ida struck south Louisiana badly, and I am grateful to see that this $1.7 million will support Louisianians’ efforts to rebuild,” said Kennedy. 

The FEMA aid will fund the following:

• $1,731,397 to the South Louisiana Electric Cooperative Association for damages to the Old Bridge Road Submarine Electrical Utility Crossing as a result of Hurricane Ida.

MADISONVILLE, La. – The Senate has passed an anti-fentanyl trafficking bill that Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Banking Committee, helped champion. The Fentanyl Eradication and Narcotics Deterrence (FEND) Off Fentanyl Act would combat the nation’s opioid crisis by targeting the supply chain from chemical suppliers in China to drug cartels in Mexico.

The FEND Off Fentanyl Act would reinforce current law and direct the Treasury Department to target, sanction and block the financial assets of transnational criminal organizations. 

“In New Orleans, 94 percent of overdose deaths now involve fentanyl. Mexican cartels are buying the chemicals to make this drug from China and trafficking it into our country through the southern border. The House must move quickly to pass this life saving legislation, which would cut off the drug flow at the source,” said Kennedy.  

Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) is leading the legislation. 

The legislation would:

• Declare that the international trafficking of fentanyl is a national emergency.

• Require the president to sanction transnational criminal organizations and drug cartels’ key members engaged in international fentanyl trafficking.

• Enable the president to use proceeds of forfeited, sanctioned property of fentanyl traffickers to further law enforcement efforts.

• Enhance the ability to enforce sanctions violations thereby making it more likely that people who defy U.S. law will be caught and prosecuted.

• Require the administration to report to Congress on actions the U.S. government is taking to reduce the international trafficking of fentanyl and related opioids.

• Allow the Treasury Department to utilize special measures to combat fentanyl-related money laundering.

• Require the Treasury Department to prioritize fentanyl-related suspicious transactions and include descriptions of drug cartels’ financing actions in Suspicious Activity Reports.