ICYMI: Kennedy, Van Hollen in WSJ: Foreign Companies Should Have to Play by the Same Rules
Apr 17 2023
Kennedy, Boozman introduce bill to protect Louisiana’s small businesses’ access to capital
Apr 11 2023
MADISONVILLE, La. – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Small Business Committee, joined Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.) in introducing the Small LENDER Act to ensure that small businesses can access capital from lenders. The legislation would block the Biden administration’s Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) from requiring community banks and lenders to collect and report social data—such as race, gender and ethnicity—from borrowers.
“The White House’s misguided woke policies put Louisiana’s small business owners at risk. Already struggling under historic inflation, these job creators can’t afford to lose access to capital. Congress must stop the Biden administration’s virtue signaling from penalizing small businesses that serve our communities and local economies—and that is what this bill would do,” said Kennedy.
The CFPB finalized its rule requiring lenders to gather information regarding the immutable characteristics of small business owners and prioritize them over financial factors, such as credit, last month. If left unchecked, the CFPB’s rule will make it more difficult for business owners to take out a loan for capital that they need to run their operations.
“The Biden administration created hurdles for small businesses that would prevent growth and predictability in the initial proposal, and unfortunately didn’t fix those mistakes in the final rule. The CFPB’s rule adds yet another burden by driving up the cost of capital and politicizing small business lending on the basis of social factors. The Small LENDER Act encourages investment and ensures access to financing by preventing the agency from imposing an unfunded mandate on many community banks and small lenders that invest in the backbones of our economy,” said Boozman.
The Small LENDER Act would:
- Exempt the smallest lenders by establishing a 500-covered small business credit transaction threshold.
- Provide small business relief by codifying a small business as one with $1 million or less in revenue.
- Give lenders and small businesses more time to comply by establishing a three-year implementation schedule plus a two-year grace period.
Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) and Steve Daines (R-Mont.) are also cosponsors.
Rep. French Hill (R-Ark) is leading companion legislation in the House of Representatives.
“I was proud to see the Small LENDER Act reintroduced by Senator Boozman and I thank him for working to ensure small banks are not subjected to the same compliance criteria as large businesses,” said Hill.
MADISONVILLE, La. – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, today announced $8,089,681 in a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grant for flood mitigation in Livingston Parish.
“Livingston Parish has weathered many storms, and I’m grateful this $8 million will support efforts to protect these properties from flood damage,” said Kennedy.
The FEMA aid will fund the following:
- $8,089,681 to Livingston Parish to elevate 29 storm-damaged properties and turn six others into open spaces.
MADISONVILLE, La. – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, today announced $13,213,995 in Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grants for Louisiana disaster aid.
“Hurricanes Laura and Ida devastated our state and took a toll on Louisianians in Beauregard and Lafourche Parishes. I’m thankful this $13.2 million will support ongoing recovery efforts throughout the state and these parishes,” said Kennedy.
The FEMA aid will fund the following:
- $7,145,047 to Beauregard Parish for debris removal related to Hurricane Laura.
- $3,569,282 to the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness for emergency protective measures related to Hurricane Laura.
- $2,499,666 to the Lafourche Parish School Board for management costs related to Hurricane Ida.
WASHINGTON – Sens. John Kennedy (R-La.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, introduced the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA). This bipartisan legislation would support small, local, independent and conservative news publications by giving them a level playing field in negotiations with Big Tech platforms that often prevent them from making a profit from their work online.
“Local papers—especially the independent papers in Louisiana—are the heart and soul of journalism, and they break the news that millions of Americans rely on every day. However, tech giants like Facebook and Google are hammering local publications by keeping them from making a profit on Big Tech platforms—and it’s killing local journalism. This bill supports the little guy by allowing local news providers to better negotiate with tech companies for the earnings they deserve,” said Kennedy.
“As the daughter of a newspaperman, I understand firsthand the vital role that a free press plays in strengthening our democracy. But local news is facing an existential crisis, from ad revenues plummeting and newsrooms across the country closing to artificial intelligence tools taking content. To preserve strong, independent journalism, news organizations must be able to negotiate on a level playing field with the online platforms that dominate news distribution and digital advertising. Our bipartisan legislation ensures that media outlets can band together and negotiate for fair compensation from the Big Tech companies that profit from their news content, allowing journalists to continue their critical work,” said Klobuchar.
The JCPA would remove legal obstacles in order to allow small and mid-sized news organizations to negotiate jointly for compensation from digital platforms, including Facebook and Google, that access their content without allowing them to profit from their journalism. The legislation also allows news publishers to demand arbitration if they reach an impasse in negotiations with digital platforms.
Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) cosponsored the bill.
The JCPA would:
- Protect small or independent publications, including those that express conservative viewpoints, from being discriminated against by digital platforms. The bill would also provide a private right of action for violations of this rule.
- Prohibit covered platforms from discussing ways to “display, rank, distribute, suppress, promote, throttle, label, filter, or curate” content as means of preventing content moderation from influencing the commercial agreement.
- Not apply to large publishers, including large mainstream outlets such as The New York Times and The Washington Post.
- Block retaliation against eligible digital journalism providers for participating in joint negotiations or arbitration and provide a private right of action for violations of this prohibition.
- Help independent, local or conservative online news publishers with less than 1,500 full-time employees and non-network news broadcasters to negotiate jointly with a covered digital outlet over the terms and conditions of the outlet’s access to digital news content.
- Require covered platforms to include those that have at least 50 million U.S.-based users or subscribers and are owned or controlled by a person that has either net annual sales or market capitalization greater than $550 billion or at least 1 billion worldwide monthly active users to negotiate in good faith with the eligible news organizations.
- Enable digital news publications to demand final-offer arbitration if a joint negotiation with a covered platform does not result in an agreement after six months.
- Create a limited safe harbor from federal and state antitrust laws for eligible digital journalism providers that allows them to participate in joint negotiations and arbitration and, as part of those negotiations, to jointly withhold their content from a covered platform.
- Sunset within eight years.
The bill text is available here.
WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) and dozens of other Republican senators introduced the Death Tax Repeal Act of 2023 to permanently repeal the federal estate tax, commonly known as the “death tax.” The Death Tax Repeal Act would amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to finally end a punitive tax that has the potential to cripple family-run farms, ranches and businesses with its tax burden upon the owner’s death.
“The death tax is lethal to many of America’s family-run businesses and farms. Louisianians—especially those in rural communities—shouldn’t lose a legacy of family work to a punishing, illogical tax burden. By ending the death tax, we can make it easier for families to pass their farms and businesses on to the next generation,” said Kennedy.
“Agriculture is the backbone of South Dakota’s economy. For years I have fought to protect farm and ranch families from the onerous and unfair death tax. Family-owned farms and ranches often bear the brunt of this tax, which makes it difficult and costly to pass these businesses down to future generations. I will continue to do everything in my power to remove these roadblocks for family businesses and repeal the death tax once and for all,” said Thune.
This legislation is supported by the American Farm Bureau Federation, National Cattleman’s Beef Association, National Federation of Independent Business, National Association of Manufacturers, Family Business Coalition, Family Business Estate Tax Coalition, Policy and Taxation Group, Associated General Contractors of America and National Taxpayers Union, among others.
Kennedy and Thune previously introduced the Death Tax Repeal Act of 2021 last Congress.
Full bill text is available here.
MADISONVILLE, La. – Sen. John Kennedy’s (R-La.) plan for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to transfer the National Marine Fisheries Services (NMFS) building to the University of Louisiana at Lafayette is completed, following approval in the House and Senate. Kennedy is a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, which first adopted the plan.
The building space will be a part of a laboratory school initiative within the College of Education and Human Development, known as the Learning Lab.
“The completion of the building transfer plan is a big win for the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. The laboratory school will benefit countless people in years to come, and I am proud that our work on the Appropriations Committee helped make this happen,” said Kennedy.
“The acquisition of the NOAA building enables the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and its College of Education & Human Development to provide, through the creation of a laboratory school, a space for high-quality teaching that will foster within our youngest minds a lifelong love of learning. The Learning Lab will be a place that will inspire creativity, embolden curiosity, and promote an environment where aspiring educators can immerse themselves in a living model of best educational practices. The hard work and dedication of Senator Kennedy has set all this in motion, and we’re very grateful for his leadership and support,” said Dr. Joseph Savoie, University of Louisiana at Lafayette president.
Background:
• In 1993, the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and NOAA agreed that, if NOAA ceased operations, the building would return to the university.
• Following NOAA’s announcement that or would discontinue operations in the building, Congress received a three-part plan, which includes returning the building to the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, consolidating the NMFS into one suite in the building and leasing the space to NMFS from the University.
• The university relocated federal partners housed in the NOAA building in order not to disturb their scientific work.
WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) applauded the Senate’s passage of the Congressional Review Act (CRA) joint resolution of disapproval to prevent the Biden administration’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from expanding federal regulation over certain bodies of water by a vote of 53-43. Kennedy cosponsored the resolution, which Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) introduced in February 2023.
“I’m proud to join my colleagues on both sides of the aisle and in both chambers of Congress to protect Louisianians from this bureaucratic power grab. I hope that President Biden will do the right thing for America’s farmers, energy producers and land owners and stop the EPA’s abusive rule,” said Kennedy.
“By voting to overturn President Biden’s waters rule, we are sending a clear, bipartisan message that Congress, even a divided one, will defend working Americans in the face of executive overreach. I’m proud to lead my colleagues in standing up for farmers and ranchers, landowners and builders, and energy and infrastructure workers across the United States. I urge President Biden not to overrule the will of a bipartisan majority in Congress, and instead draft a new rule that doesn’t unfairly penalize millions of Americans and jeopardize future growth in our country,” said Capito.
The House of Representatives passed the resolution earlier this month, where Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.) led the effort.
Background:
- In 2015, the Obama-Biden administration finalized a rule expanding the definition of WOTUS. This change created burdensome regulations that impact Louisiana farmers, energy producers and other industry.
- In 2020, the Trump administration finalized a rule undoing the previous administration’s red-tape.
- In December 2022, the Biden EPA and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced a final rule on WOTUS that would expand the regulatory power of the federal government.
The resolution is available here.
WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) today joined Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and other senators in introducing the Advertising Middlemen Endangering Rigorous Internet Competition Accountability (AMERICA) Act to restore and protect competition in digital advertising. The legislation would eliminate conflicts of interest that have allowed leading Big Tech platforms to manipulate ad auctions and impose monopoly rents on large portions of the U.S. economy.
“Big Tech does not have the right to stack the deck in its favor at the expense of competition. I’m supporting the AMERICA Act to hold Big Tech accountable for anti-competitive behavior and limit its power to manipulate ads that get pushed to unsuspecting consumers,” said Kennedy.
“Companies like Google and Facebook have been able to exploit their unprecedented troves of detailed user data to obtain vice grip-like control over digital advertising, amassing power on every side of the market and using it to block competition and take advantage of their customers. . . . That is why I have introduced this bill, and why I believe it is the first step towards liberating the internet—and therefore much of the 21st century economy—from the grip of Big Tech monopolists,” said Lee.
Google and Facebook dominate digital advertising. Google is the leading or dominant player in every part of the ad tech economy: the ad-buying side, the ad-selling side and the exchange that connects them. 90 percent of large publishers use Google Ad Manager. In the third quarter of 2018, Google Ad Manager served 75 percent of all online display ad impressions.
Google uses its pervasive market power across the digital advertising ecosystem—and exploits numerous conflicts of interest—to extract monopoly rents and stack the deck in its favor. These monopoly rents function as a tax—upwards of 40 percent—on every ad-supported website and every business that advertises online. Collectively, that represents a huge segment of the modern economy.
The AMERICA Act would restore and protect competition in digital advertising in two ways. It would prohibit large digital advertising companies from owning more than one part of the digital ad ecosystem if the company processes more than $20 billion in digital ad transactions. The bill would also require medium-sized and larger digital advertising companies that process more than $5 billion in digital ad transactions to abide by several obligations to protect customers and competition.
WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Banking Committee, and Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) introduced the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) Consultant Accountability Act of 2023 to protect homeowners who are victims of natural disasters from working with third parties that are found guilty of property damage assessment fraud.
“Far too often, fraudsters seek to take advantage of unsuspecting Louisianians who experience damage to their homes after a natural disaster strikes. FEMA should have the ability to fire all bad actors who are found guilty of defrauding homeowners. Our bill would make that a reality,” said Kennedy.
The legislation would allow the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to fire third parties involved in NFIP contracts that mishandle claims. Such third parties could include consultants, contractors, law firms, engineering firms and others.
Currently, FEMA can only cut ties with individuals or entities that have a criminal conviction.
“One of the many issues plaguing the National Flood Insurance Program is the lack of robust accountability. After Hurricane Sandy, engineering firms, consultants, and lawyers that were contracted with the NFIP tried to prevent victims from getting a fair claims check. Unfortunately, some of these contractors still work for the program. This critical legislation gives FEMA the necessary authority to swiftly terminate contracts with bad actors that have deliberately mishandled claims,” said Menendez.
Full text of the bill is available here.
