WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) today urged U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to abandon the department’s plan to allocate $650 billion in special drawing rights (SDR) to foreign countries through the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Currently, Yellen plans to make the allocation without consent from Congress. 

“I am concerned that an SDR allocation will not support low-income countries and instead will support dictators, China, and other adversaries, all while burdening the American taxpayer. Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, Hassan Rouhani, Bashar al-Assad, Nicolás Maduro, and the Burmese generals are all lined up to get hundreds of millions and, in some cases, billions from the Treasury Department,” wrote Kennedy.

Under the proposed SDR allocation, the world’s leading economies would receive $426 billion—well over half—of the allocation. Rich and middle-income nations would receive $126 billion, while low-income countries would receive only $21 billion—or 3%—of the allocation. China alone would receive more aid than all the low-income countries combined. 

“Additionally, I am deeply concerned that this allocation will benefit hostile governments and our adversaries. Under the proposal, Iran, a country heavily sanctioned by the United States for its illicit nuclear activity, would receive $3.5 billion in aid. China would receive $22 billion in aid. Russia will get $18 billion . . . Despite claims that the U.S. can refuse to buy SDRs from dictators, this type of blanket allocation will allow any dictator whose country receives SDRs to exchange them for hard currencies by simply channeling the exchange through a third country,” explained Kennedy.   

Not only would the money flow to enemy regimes, the U.S. will have to borrow the money that it would have to lend to these nations.

“In other words, America will have to borrow from Peter at home to pay Paul overseas: American workers and families will be on the hook for making up the difference between the interest rate the United States would have to pay to borrow this money by issuing perpetual bonds,” said Kennedy.

The SDR loans also come with a high risk of the receivers not repaying them. In fact, the countries have no obligation or deadline for paying the loans back. Nothing prevents a foreign government from redeeming SDRs at the U.S.-subsidized rate of 0.05 percent and then turning that cash around to reinvest in the 10-year Treasury bond, which offers payouts around 1.7 percent.

The full text of the letter is available here.

Kennedy’s exchange with Yellen on March 24 is available here.

MADISONVILLE, La. — Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) today joined Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) and other senators in introducing the Keep China Out of Solar Energy Act, which prohibits federal funds from purchasing solar panels manufactured or assembled in Communist China, specifically focusing on Xinjiang province, which is known for its use of forced labor.

“The Chinese Communist Party is guilty of monstrous human rights violations, and the regime’s cruelty is on full display in Xinjiang, where Uyghurs are suffering in Communist prison camps. Reports indicate Beijing relies on forced labor in Xinjiang to make solar panels—and other products—many of which it sells to the U.S. Americans should have no hand in funding the CCP’s atrocities, and the Keep China Out of Solar Energy Act would ensure that our federal dollars don’t fund the Communist Party, or any of its affiliated entities, through the purchase of solar panels,” said Kennedy.

“No taxpayer dollars should be used to prop up the Communist Party of China, which is committing a genocide against the Uyghurs under General Secretary Xi’s direction, continues to threaten our ally Taiwan and strip basic rights from Hong Kongers. Reports show that many solar companies rely on materials and labor from Communist China’s Xinjiang province, which is known for forced labor and horrific abuse of the Uyghurs. My Keep China Out of Solar Energy Act, which prohibits the use of federal funds to buy solar panels from Communist China, sends a clear message to General Secretary Xi that the United States will not turn a blind eye to his genocide and human rights abuses,” said Scott.

The Keep China Out of Solar Energy Act requires:

• The Director of the Office of Management and Budget to develop standards and guidelines to prohibit federal funds from being used to purchase solar panels manufactured or assembled by entities with ties to the Chinese Communist Party.
• The Comptroller of the U.S. to submit to Congress a report on the amount of solar panels procured by federal departments and agencies from covered entities.
• The Director of the Office of Management and Budget to conduct an independent study of the domestic market of solar panel production and the global supply chain and workforce involved in solar panel production.

Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) also co-sponsored the legislation.

MADISONVILLE, La. – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) authored this op-ed, originally published in the New York Post. 

“Did you get to visit Paris before the virus shut down international travel? The architect who designed the Louvre’s iconic glass pyramid was actually an American—an Asian American named I.M. Pei. By the time of his death at age of 102, Pei had designed many famous buildings on US soil, including the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library.

“Pei was one of millions of Asian Americans whose talents have helped make America an exceptional nation, made up of exceptional people who take advantage of all the opportunities our nation has to offer. President Joe Biden is absolutely right to denounce the recent attack in Atlanta, which took the lives of six Asian-American women, and he isn’t alone. The nation’s capital grieves with our Asian-American friends and neighbors.

“Sadly, however, Biden’s rhetoric in defense of the Asian-American community isn’t matched by respect for their right to enjoy the fruit of their gifts and grit. The Biden administration has shown, right out of the gate, a determination to stick its head in the sand, while America’s top universities actively discriminate against Asian Americans.

“Last year, the Department of Justice sued Yale University, claiming the school rejected many qualified Asian-American applicants on the basis of their race. The decision came two years after several Asian-American organizations filed a complaint with the DOJ and the Department of Education, accusing the New Haven Ivy of discrimination. Yet only a few weeks after Biden set up shop in the Oval Office, the DOJ withdrew its own lawsuit against Yale.

“Harvard University also seems bent on discriminating against Asian-American applicants. In 2014, Students for Fair Admissions sued Harvard, claiming the school was using an application system that reduces the number of Asian-American students through evaluations that are subjective and potentially racially biased.

“When Harvard considers an applicant, the admissions team often looks past objective indicators like grades and test scores to a student’s ‘personal ratings.’ These personal ratings claim to measure traits like ‘humor,’ ‘sensitivity,’ ‘helpfulness’ and ‘courage.’ The problem is that Harvard has consistently granted lower personal rating scores to Asian Americans than it has to white students and those of other ethnic groups.

“The judge in the Students for Fair Admissions’ lawsuit wrote that ‘the data demonstrates [sic] a statistically significant and negative relationship between Asian-American identity and the personal rating assigned by Harvard admissions officers, holding constant any reasonable set of observable characteristics.’

“It might sound smart for Harvard to look for well-rounded applicants—until you realize that these personal ratings aren’t just subjective, they’re subversive. The scores are value judgments that minimize the accomplishments of Asian Americans in particular.

“Harvard’s admissions scores work on a scale from 1 to 6. When it comes to the personal-ratings dimension of the application process, only 17.6 percent of Asian-Americans receive top scores of 1 or 2, compared with 21.3 percent of white applicants. In fact, Harvard gives Asian Americans the weakest personal ratings of any ethnic group.

“Harvard admissions officials have reportedly handed out these low scores without even interviewing some candidates in person. These officials admitted in 2013 that if the school only considered ‘academic achievement,’ then the class’ proportional Asian-American representation would have more than doubled.

“A federal judge ruled against the plaintiffs in 2019, notwithstanding her acknowledgment that Harvard grants lower personal rating scores to Asian-American applicants, and the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit upheld that decision last November. But there’s still hope for justice for Asian-American students. The Supreme Court could take up the case, and the White House could defend the cause of meritocracy against Harvard’s racial discrimination.

“The DOJ has historically supported the Students for Fair Admissions lawsuit. The department filed a statement of interest in the case in 2018 and an amicus brief last year. If Biden is committed to fighting racial discrimination against Asian Americans, it’s not hard to see how countering racist policies within the privileged halls of Harvard—a school that receives federal dollars—must be part of that commitment.

“I.M. Pei graduated from Harvard in the 1940s. Who knows if the Cambridge, Mass., Ivy would even admit him today? That’s a shame, and it shouldn’t stand. The new president should contend for the rights of Asian Americans to be treated fairly by America’s schools. His Department of Justice should support, rather than ignore, their lawsuit against racial bias.”

The op-ed is available here.