WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) today introduced a resolution urging North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) members not to confirm the next secretary general unless the nominee is the former leader of a member country that spends at least two percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) on defense.

“NATO can’t deter or answer aggression from hostile regimes if our own member nations show a lack of resolve. No leader from a country that fails to meet its own defense pledge should be able to lead NATO. It’s up to the Senate to deter Iran, China and Russia by ensuring that NATO’s secretary general hails from a country that’s already fulfilling its commitment to the alliance,” said Kennedy.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg’s term will expire in October. The Netherlands’ Mark Rutte is likely to replace Stoltenberg despite the fact that, throughout Rutte’s 13 years as prime minister, his administration failed to meet its NATO commitment to invest two percent of the Netherlands’ GDP in defense.

Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) have cosponsored the resolution. 

Kennedy’s resolution:

• Recognizes that, in 2006 and 2014, NATO members agreed to invest two percent of their GDP in defense.

• Recognizes that, by 2022, only 11 countries had met this minimum defense spending goal.

• Recognizes that, by 2024, NATO expects 18 member countries to have met the minimum investment.

• Declares that NATO’s next secretary general should hail from a country that meets the alliance’s defense spending pledge.

• Declares that NATO will never be fully effective as long as its secretary general represents a member country that does not even fulfill its commitment to its own defense. 

Background:

• In 2006, member countries of NATO first agreed to spend two percent of their respective GDP’s on defense. At the 2014 NATO Summit in Wales, all member countries once again committed to maintain or move toward meeting the two percent defense spending minimum within 10 years. 

• As of 2023, only 11 member countries had met the two percent minimum, including the U.S., the United Kingdom, Poland and Finland.

• Many member countries issued statements pledging to meet the minimum investment following Russia’s invading Ukraine, yet many member countries may not reach the minimum contribution until 2035.  

• Kennedy recently commended NATO allies for increasing defense spending and has consistently called on other countries to meet their commitments. 

• Kennedy recently led a bipartisan resolution urging NATO allies to spend a minimum of two percent of their GDP on defense spending. 

Full text of the senator’s resolution is available here.

WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) today called upon the Biden administration’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to investigate the Czechoslovak Group’s (CSG) proposed acquisition of U.S. ammunition producer Vista Outdoor Sporting Products. 

Kennedy wrote Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Chair of the CFIUS, about concerns regarding the deal because it would lead to an unprecedented consolidation in the global ammunitions market.

“I write to draw your attention to potential national security concerns arising from the proposed acquisition of Vista Outdoor's Sporting Products business (‘Vista Sporting Products’) to Czechoslovak Group (‘CSG’), a foreign arms dealer with ties to China that has been recently acquiring key suppliers of ammunition and primers used by the U.S. military and law enforcement,” Kennedy wrote. 

The senator highlighted three main concerns about the acquisition, including that it would give CSG immediately control over nearly 70% of production capacity for primers in the western world. That means that the U.S. Army could become reliant on a sole U.S. contractor for ammunition and U.S. law enforcement agencies would become more reliant on foreign providers of primers and ammunition.

“Further complicating this matter, questions have arisen in recent weeks related to CSG's relationships with China. It appears the company has taken actions to obscure its past relationships with China and insist it has no current relationships with our adversaries,”the senator continued.

“For these reasons, I request CFIUS to carefully examine national security concerns of the proposed acquisition, specifically concerning the potential impact of the transaction on the U.S. military and law enforcement's reliable access to an affordable supply of primers and ammunition, and the company's attempts to obfuscate its relationship with China,” Kennedy concluded.

Background: 

• On Oct. 16, 2023, Vista Outdoor announced an agreement to sell its Sporting Products business to CSG for $1.9 billion. 

• The proposed acquisition is the latest example of unprecedented consolidation in the global ammunition market occurring in Europe. For example, Beretta acquired the Ammotec division of RUAG International in March 2022, and CSG gained a majority stake investment in Fiocchi Munizioni in Nov. 2023.

• The proposed acquisition must undergo shareholder and regulatory approvals, including a national security review, by CFIUS.

• In Dec. 2023, Vista Outdoor and CSG disclosed that they received antitrust approval from U.S. antitrust regulators. However, the proposed acquisition did not happen within the initial 45-day CFIUS review window.

The full letter is available here.

WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Budget Committee, today introduced the Embracing anti-Discrimination, Unbiased Curricula and Advancing Truth in Education (EDUCATE) Act to block federal funding for medical schools and accrediting institutions that force students to affirm ideological beliefs and prioritize Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI).

“Woke universities are forcing America’s future doctors to care more about race and gender than saving lives. The EDUCATE Act would make sure taxpayer dollars don’t fund medical schools that discriminate against talented students or peddle progressive nonsense at the expense of science,” said Kennedy. 

Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) is co-leading the legislation.

“The medical field has traditionally been one driven by core tenants of merit, academic excellence, and superb scientific achievement, but that has not stopped the left from their malpractice of injecting DEI into every aspect of education in America. To cheapen medical schools with woke politics and DEI would be to put the lives of countless Americans in danger as students of extraordinary achievement and meticulous discipline in the field will be cast aside in the name of social justice and equity,” said Schmitt.

Rep. Greg Murphy (R-N.C.) introduced the legislation in the House of Representatives.

“American medical schools are the best in the world and no place for discrimination. The EDUCATE Act compels medical schools and accrediting agencies to uphold colorblind admissions processes and prohibits the coercion of students who hold certain political opinions. Diversity strengthens medicine, but not if it’s achieved through exclusionary practices. Medicine is about serving others and doing the best job possible in every circumstance. We cannot afford to sacrifice the excellence and quality of medical education at the hands of prejudice and divisive ideology,” said Murphy.

The EDUCATE Act would block federal funding from medical schools that:

• Direct, compel or incentivize students, faculty or staff to affirm or adopt certain ideological tenets.

• Take any action that would deprive a student of educational opportunities or otherwise adversely affect his or her status as a student on the basis of race or ethnicity. 

• Require a course of instruction that directs or compels students, faculty or staff to affirm or adopt certain ideological tenets. 

• Maintain a DEI or equivalent office within the medical school.

• Require or incentivize an individual to complete a diversity statement that affirms or capitulates to DEI as a condition of the person’s being admitted to or employed by a school.

Full text of the EDUCATE Act is available here.

Watch Kennedy’s comments here.

WASHINGTON – Senate Democrats today blocked S. Res. 623, a resolution from Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) that would establish efficient and fair trial procedures for the impeachment of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

Senate Democrats have indicated they intend to break centuries of Senate precedent by dismissing or tabling the impeachment charges against Mayorkas rather than holding a trial. Such a dismissal has never happened before in the history of the U.S. Senate.

“Our government is one of laws, not people—laws, not people—and, as you also know, Madam President, the United States Senate is built on precedent and custom and history and the law—not political expedience. 

“We in the Senate are supposed to listen to the American people—not ignore them. And one of the ways we do that, Madam President, is by playing by the rules that we’ve all agreed to. All of the rules. All of the time.

“Now, my Senate Democratic colleagues today—or at least very shortly—however, may be willing to jeopardize centuries of this stability—the stability that this body has brought and lives by—for a short-term political advantage.

“We all know what’s going on here. . . . For the very first time in our nation’s history, my Senate Democratic colleagues are seeking to table—maybe even dismiss—an impeachment by the United States House of Representatives of a sitting cabinet official without holding a full trial. If my Senate colleagues do that, they will be summoning spirits they won’t be able to control.”

. . .

“Senate Democrats, I’m afraid, are silencing the American people who want their country’s secure border back.

“The truth is that the Americans are tired of the drug trafficking. They’re tired of the human trafficking. They’re tired of the sexual abuse of women and children. They’re tired of the widespread illnesses. They’re tired of the death. They’re tired of the behavior of President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas, with respect to the border. They’re tired of the chaos. They believe it’s chaotic by design, and they believe it is undermining their national security—and they’re right.”

. . .

“If they choose to ignore this impeachment, they will have placed their seal of approval on the lawlessness at the border and the chaos it has brought to so many American communities. And they will have ignored 200 years of Senate precedent.

“A charitable interpretation based on policy does not exist for what my Democratic colleagues are going to try to do. It is all based on raw, gut politics. They know it, and I know it.”

Read Kennedy’s impeachment resolution here.

Watch Kennedy’s full speech here.