WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) introduced the Accountability for Long Term Medicare Solvency Act to increase transparency within the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to ensure that taxpayers are getting the best value for their money. 

“Thanks to out-of-control spending, America’s Medicare program could be insolvent within a decade. Yet CMS continues to add billions of dollars in new services to be covered by Medicare without any legislative oversight to ensure that the American people are getting the best value possible. Rather than raising taxes to cover this spending spree, Congress should provide better oversight on CMS to ensure current spending is done in the best interest of the American people,” Kennedy said.  

The Accountability for Long Term Medicare Solvency Act would require the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to deliver an annual study to Congress on CMS’s processes for adding, modifying and removing service billing codes under Medicare.

The bill also requires the HHS Secretary to submit a report of each new billing code added to Medicare and its respective costs to Congress, which CMS will make publicly available on its website.  

Background

• Recent projections show that Medicare Part A could be insolvent by 2031 if Congress does not take steps to curb spending. 

• CMS spending on Medicare programs continues to grow. By 2032, the cost of Medicare is expected to double to nearly $1.9 trillion—more than the U.S. currently spends on defense.

• The increase in Medicare spending is driven largely by the addition of new products or procedures. From 1997 to 2011, 85% of real per capita spending increases were tied to newly created bill codes for treatments, procedures and services not previously covered by Medicare. New billing codes applied through CMS rulemaking increased the cost of Medicare by $6 billion in 2016, $10 billion in 2017 and $6 billion again in 2018. All this spending occurred without legislative oversight.

The text of the bill is available here.

WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) today introduced the Exposing China’s Belt and Road Investment in America Act of 2023 to review investments that businesses controlled by the Chinese Communist Party make on U.S. soil. China routinely makes such “greenfield” investments while buying land, building factories and taking advantage of state and local tax breaks in America to expand China’s influence. Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) is the bill’s lead co-sponsor.

“The Chinese Communist Party is both aggressive and manipulative. Beijing uses greenfield investments to gain leverage over America’s economy and job market. We can’t be blind to the ways China is gaming our system to take American assets, real estate and innovation away from U.S. businesses. The Exposing China’s Belt and Road Investment in America Act is key to countering the threat China’s regime poses to our economy and national security,” said Kennedy. 

“Every land acquisition, investment, corporate merger, and building of agricultural facilities, influenced by foreign adversaries, is another step away from American ownership and sovereignty over our own food systems and supply chain. Placing greenfield investments under CFIUS review will enhance the review process of purchases from Chinese-operated enterprises. Let’s fend off bad, foreign investment once and for all,” said Cramer.

Greenfield projects involve a parent company in one country establishing a subsidiary in another country. These are the most common way that Chinese companies enter the American market. They are quickly becoming Beijing’s preferred method for expanding influence under its Belt and Road Initiative, the international infrastructure plan the regime is using to increase its global power. At the same time, the Chinese government keeps its domestic markets largely insulated from foreign influence. 

China’s state-operated enterprises use the greenfield model to siphon intellectual property, influence and other assets away from U.S. businesses.

The Exposing China’s Belt and Road Investment in America Act of 2023 would put Chinese greenfield initiatives under the review of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). The legislation would also require greenfield investments to file a declaration with CFIUS if China’s government controls or has a substantial interest in the investment. CFIUS would review these investments for national security purposes. 

Specifically, the bill would require a CFIUS review for any investment that is made by a foreign person that both: 

• involves the acquisition of real estate in the U.S. and the establishment of a U.S. business on such real estate, and

• results in China’s direct or indirect control of that U.S. business.  

Text of the Exposing China’s Belt and Road Investment in America Act is available here.

WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) joined Sens. James Lankford (R-Okla.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and 23 other senators in urging President Joe Biden to deter the Iranian regime from achieving nuclear weapons capability.  

“The regime in Iran continues to suppress dissent at home and export its malign influence abroad – further cementing its status as the leading destabilizing force in the Middle East. In February, the IAEA reported the discovery of uranium particles enriched to the 84% level. Iran today is capable of enriching uranium to the 90% weapons-grade level at a time of its choosing. As Under Secretary of Defense Colin Kahl has publicly stated, Iran could enrich enough weapons-grade uranium for a bomb in as little as 12 days,” the senators wrote.

“It is imperative today that we strengthen our efforts to deter Iran from achieving nuclear weapons capability. We must make Iran understand, in no uncertain terms, that further advances in its nuclear program will be met with unified international action. Iran simply cannot be allowed to advance its nuclear program with impunity and the PRC cannot be given a pass for accelerating Iran’s destabilizing behavior. We urge you to restore this posture of deterrence and provide leadership to strengthen the resolve of the international community,” they continued.

“Given the state of the Iranian nuclear program, we encourage you to secure the commitment of our allies to implement the snapback mechanism embedded in U.N. Security Council Resolution 2231 should Iran advance its program past the weapons-grade threshold. Such a move would squeeze Iran’s revenue sources and serve notice that Iran cannot continue to reap the benefits of international sanctions relief while progressing towards the development of a nuclear weapon,” they concluded.

Sens. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), John Boozman (R-Ark.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Mike Crapo (R-Ind.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.), Dan Sullivan (R-Ark.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).

The full letter is available here.

WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Appropriations committee, today announced $2,396,936 in a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grant for Louisiana.

“I am glad to see that this $2.4 million will help protect Louisianians’ properties in Tangipahoa Parish from flooding,” said Kennedy.

The FEMA aid will fund the following:

• $2,396,936 to Tangipahoa Parish for the elevation of 11 properties.