WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) joined Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) in introducing the Chemical Tax Repeal Act to eliminate the Superfund Tax that President Biden’s infrastructure package imposed on job creators in Louisiana and elsewhere.

“The White House’s petrochemical tax is targeting Louisiana’s industry specifically—and it’s working. President Biden’s rampant inflation and fake infrastructure bill are still ravaging our economy, and his administration’s $1.3 billion tax on Louisiana industry will hurt jobs and job creators. Congress must repeal this tax before it does too much damage to the economy,” said Kennedy. 

“Inflation has skyrocketed under President Biden, and his Chemical Tax would only make things worse. This tax increases prices on Texas and American manufacturers, driving up the prices of everyday household items that families need. Repealing this tax would benefit those most harmed by Washington’s out-of-control, inflation-driving spending: American families and those on a fixed income,” said Cruz. 

The Superfund Tax that Pres. Biden’s ill-named infrastructure bill implemented targets Louisiana’s petrochemical industry directly. These manufacturers will pay an estimated $1.3 billion in new taxes over 10 years, or $130 million a year—second only to Texas. The newly-signed law increases the Superfund Tax to twice its prior levels. It imposes roughly $14.5 billion in taxes on 42 different chemicals, critical minerals and metallic elements that are the building blocks of common household items such as plastics, rubber, concrete, soap, lightbulbs and electronics.

Groups against the Superfund tax include the National Taxpayers Union, Americans for Prosperity, Americans for Tax Reform, the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste, Freedom Works and the Taxpayers Protection Alliance.

Watch full video of Kennedy’s remarks here.

WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today expressed his support for Darrel James Papillion to be confirmed as a U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of Louisiana. 

Key comments from Kennedy’s introductory remarks are below:

“I have watched and observed Mr. Papillion on for years, really decades—we’ve both been around a while—both in his community and in our courts. He's a former president of our state Bar Association.”

“He has tried, I think, 33 cases in state court and federal court to verdict. He's been—for the longest time—he was a professor, an adjunct professor, at LSU law school in Baton Rouge.”

“Darrel is not a politician. . . . He's not an activist. He's a lawyer. He understands the magistery, the complexity, the nuances, the utility, the beauty of the law.”

“In every community of any size in America, there are always two, maybe three lawyers, that I call ‘lawyers’ lawyers.’ These lawyers are not—they're not necessarily the ones in the paper every day, and they're not necessarily the loudest, but these are the lawyers that other lawyers hire if the other lawyers need a lawyer. And there are never more than two or three. And Darrel is one of those lawyers.”

“I mean he's one of those lawyers that, if you're a lawyer, and you need a lawyer—doesn't matter what it's for—you're going to call him and say, ‘What do you think?’”

“So, I'm going to support him—have been supporting him. I hope you will, too. He’s a real lawyer’s lawyer.”

Watch the full exchange here.

WASHINGTON – Sens. John Kennedy (R-La.) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), members of the Senate Banking Committee, today introduced the Holding Foreign Insiders Accountable Act to hold executives of foreign companies that are traded on U.S. stock exchanges to the same disclosure requirements that U.S.-based firms are required to follow.

“Insiders at companies in Beijing and Moscow have been able to avoid billions in losses on the U.S. stock exchange by playing by a different set of rules than Americans do. This insider trading comes at a cost to American investors. The Holding Foreign Insiders Accountable Act will help stop opportunistic insider trading by requiring foreign executives to disclose trades immediately,” said Kennedy.

“All companies operating on U.S. markets should have to play by the same rules. And when corporate insiders sell their stocks, investors and the American public have a right to know. It’s time to require foreign executives to disclose these trades and provide this information to the public,” said Van Hollen.

Currently, executives of U.S. publicly-traded companies must disclose any trades they make of their own company’s stocks to the SEC within two business days. Meanwhile, executives of foreign firms are not required to make such timely disclosures and are required to file by paper. The lag this system creates means that foreign executives can keep trades private for a longer period of time, which promotes insider trading at the expense of everyday American investors.

The legislation would amend Section 16 (a) of the Securities Exchange Act to require executives of public companies based outside the U.S. to make electronic disclosures of trades in their company’s stocks to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) within two business days. The SEC would then make that information available to public, as they currently do with U.S.-based firms. 

Background:

• Kennedy and Van Hollen recently outlined their bill in the Wall Street Journal.  
• In August of last year, reports uncovered that Chinese investors of corporations listed on U.S. exchanges avoided billions of dollars in losses by making seemingly informed sock sales ahead of declines.
• In May of last year, Kennedy first introduced the Holding Foreign Insiders Accountable Act. 

Text of the Holding Foreign Insiders Accountable Act is available here.

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.