Kennedy introduces bill to ensure due process for college students in school proceedings
Mar 28 2023
WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Judiciary committee, today introduced the Ensuring Fairness for Students Act to codify due process in Title IX proceedings for students who are accused of sexual assault or harassment on school campuses. The bill would require schools to investigate and adjudicate formal complaints.
“The Biden White House wants to roll back fair proceedings on school campuses by making students guilty until proven innocent. That is not justice. Students’ rights don’t end where schools begin, and this bill makes sure that these serious investigations pursue justice without bias,” said Kennedy.
A recent study found that many of the nation’s top colleges and universities fall short of safeguarding due process rights in disciplinary proceedings that involve students. For example, 72 percent of the schools in the study “failed to provide ‘timely and adequate notice of the allegations to students accused of wrongdoing before expecting them to answer questions about the incident.’” At more than 60 percent of these schools, an explicit guarantee of the presumption of innocence “doesn’t extend across all disciplinary policies.” In fact, only 15 percent “guaranteed ‘a meaningful hearing, where each party may see and hear the evidence being presented to fact-finders by the opposing party, before a finding of responsibility.’”
The Biden administration is working to reverse policies that were established under the last administration and have been improving due process protections at colleges and universities.
The grievance process under the Ensuring Fairness for Students Act would:
- Provide both parties with a written notice of the allegations, an equal opportunity to select an advisor of each party’s choice and an opportunity to submit evidence throughout the investigation.
- Require schools to use trained Title IX personnel to evaluate all evidence objectively.
- Protect parties’ privacy by requiring written consent before using any medical, psychological or other treatment records during a grievance process.
- Ensure a presumption of innocence so that schools apply evidence correctly and bear the burden of proof.
- Ensure the decision-maker is distinct from the person investigating the allegation and from the Title IX coordinator.
- Require a live hearing and allow cross-examination by each party’s advisors, but never by the party himself or herself.
- Offer both parties an equal opportunity to appeal.
- Protect any individual, including complainants, respondents and witnesses, from retaliation for reporting sexual harassment or participating, or refusing to participate, in any Title IX grievance process.
- Require schools to document and keep records of all sexual harassment reports and investigations.
Background:
- In June 2022, the Biden administration announced a rule to roll back policies that ensure due process for sexual assault proceedings under Title IX.
- The Biden administration’s rule would offer the accused no right to cross-examine witnesses and no right to a public hearing. It would also allow one individual to investigate a case, bring charges in the case and decide the outcome of the case.
Full text of the legislation is available here.
WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) today joined Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and more than 30 other Republicans in introducing a joint resolution of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to stop the Biden administration’s Department of Education from implementing a rule to cancel student loan debt for millions of Americans.
“President Biden’s promise to cancel student debt is a woke fairy tale: The federal government doesn’t have the power to magically make debt disappear. The president is forcing Americans who paid off their debt, worked through college, went to a trade school or chose not to go to school to foot the bill for those who haven’t paid back their personal loans. Not only is this plan morally wrong, it will fan the flames of inflation and make necessities even more unaffordable for hardworking Louisianians,” said Kennedy.
The Department of Education’s plan would transfer up to $20,000 per borrower to taxpayers, costing an estimated $400 billion.
The Biden administration announced this policy, which the Government Accountability Office classified as a rule, before the Supreme Court issued a decision on the cases Biden v. Nebraska and Department of Education v. Brown.
“President Biden’s student loan scheme does not ‘forgive’ debt, it just transfers the burden from those who willingly took out loans to those who never went to college, or sacrificed to pay their loans off. Where is the relief for the man who skipped college but is paying off his work truck, or the woman who paid off her loans and is now struggling to afford her mortgage? This resolution prevents these Americans, whose debts look different from the favored group the Biden administration has selected, from picking up the bill for this irresponsible and unfair policy,” said Cassidy.
Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.) introduced the companion CRA resolution in the House of Representatives.
Sens. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), John Boozman (R-Ark.), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Ted Budd (R-N.C.), Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), James Risch (R-Idaho), Mitt Romney (R-Utah), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Tim Scott (R-S.C.), John Thune (R-S.D.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Todd Young (R-Ind.) also joined the resolution.
Full text of the CRA resolution is available here.
MADISONVILLE, La. – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Banking Committee, joined Ranking Member Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) in seeking further information from the Federal Reserve System, including the Board of Governors, and the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco about the mismanagement of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and its collapse.
“From publicly available information, it is now well understood that SVB suffered from rampant mismanagement, ultimately resulting in its catastrophic failure. Even more concerning, however, is the apparent failure of SVB’s regulators, including the Federal Reserve, the primary federal regulator responsible for examining and supervising SVB, to ensure that the bank operated in a safe and sound manner,” the senators wrote.
“Rather than effectively directing SVB management to take definitive, corrective action, it is apparent that the Federal Reserve supervisors and examiners neglected to intervene in a meaningful, appropriate way to rectify the bank’s deficiencies, ensure safe and sound operations, and prevent its ultimate failure,” they continued.
The lawmakers are seeking a response regarding their concerns about the collapse of SVB by no later than April 6, 2023.
“The American people deserve transparency and accountability from their government officials, and they are entitled to understand precisely what Federal Reserve officials knew about the apparent risks associated with SVB, when they knew it, and why they failed to act to prevent the bank failure from occurring,” they expressed.
Sens. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), Katie Britt (R-Ala.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) and Steve Daines (R-Mont.) also signed the letter.
The full letter is available here.
Kennedy announces $5.1 million to Terrebonne General Medical Center in Hurricane Ida recovery
Mar 23 2023
WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, today announced $5,157,913 in a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) disaster aid grant for Louisiana.
“I’m thankful this $5.1 million will support the Terrebonne General Medical Center’s recovery so its staff can continue to prioritize the health and safety of Louisianians,” said Kennedy.
The FEMA aid will fund the following:
- $5,157,913 to the Terrebonne General Medical Center for emergency protective measures related to Hurricane Ida.
Kennedy, Warnock introduce bipartisan bill to cap insulin prices, lower cost of diabetic care
Mar 23 2023
“While the world waits for a cure to diabetes, I am glad to join Sen. Warnock in offering a bipartisan solution to the rising cost of insulin for Louisianians and Americans living with diabetes. By making preventative care more accessible, this bill would reduce long-term health care costs for individual patients, avoid devastating complications from diabetes and take pressure off the entire health care system,” said Kennedy.
“I’ve long said that making insulin affordable for everyone should be bipartisan, and today we prove that’s not just talk. I’m thrilled to work with my colleague and friend, Senator Kennedy, to finally make insulin affordable for everyone who needs it. Insulin is a 100-year-old drug with a patent that was sold for $1. No one should feel forced to put their health or life in danger because they can’t afford their insulin. We have the momentum—let’s get this done,” said Warnock.
More than 14% of Louisiana’s adult population has been diagnosed with diabetes, and more than 30% of adult Louisianians are pre-diabetic.
Louisiana alone spends an estimated $5.7 billion a year on direct medical expenses for those who are diagnosed with diabetes. By ensuring that insulin is affordable, the long-term cost of care for patients will decrease over time as more Americans are able to prevent complications including heart disease, kidney disease, strokes and other diagnoses.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, medical costs and lost work and wages for people with diagnosed diabetes total $327 billion yearly, and the American Diabetes Association has asserted that diabetics account for $1 of every $4 spent on health care in the U.S.
A national study projected that improving access to insulin for uninsured patients could help avoid complications of diabetes and deaths related to the disease. As a result, the health care system could save substantial amounts of money on providing care to uninsured diabetes patients.
The Affordable Insulin Now Act of 2023 would:
- Require private group or individual plans to cover one of each insulin dosage form (i.e. vial, pen) and insulin type (i.e. rapid-acting, short-acting, intermediate-acting, and long-acting) for no more than $35 per month.
- Require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish a program to reimburse qualifying entities for covering any costs that exceed $35 for providing a 30-day supply of insulin to uninsured patients.
- Be fully paid for by an offset to be determined when the bill is voted on the floor.
Background:
- In August of last year, Kennedy introduced an amendment to President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act to cap insulin costs.
- In June 2022, Kennedy penned an op-ed outlining the benefits of making insulin affordable for diabetic Louisianians.
- In September 2021, Kennedy introduced the Seniors Saving on Insulin Act and the Vital Medication Affordability Act in an effort to make insulin and epinephrine more affordable.
- In August of 2021, Kennedy introduced the Ending Pricey Insulin Act to address skyrocketing insulin prices.
Full bill text is available here.
WASHINGTON – The Humane Society Legislative Fund has named Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) a 2022 Legislative Leader for his congressional record in advocating for animal rights. This title recognizes lawmakers who consistently introduce and support legislation promoting animal issues.
“Life is precious—plain and simple—and it’s our responsibility to protect the welfare of animals who often find themselves at the mercy of human beings,” said Kennedy.
During the 117th Congress, Kennedy introduced the Bear Poaching Elimination Act, which would help protect bears from poaching by ending the trade of their internal organs. The proposed legislation would prevent the import, export, possession, transportation and trading of bear viscera.
Kennedy also introduced the Chimp Sanctuary Act to move all chimps housed at Department of the Air Force installations to Chimp Haven, a sanctuary for more than 300 chimps in Louisiana.
WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) today introduced the Senate companion to H.R. 1, the Lower Energy Costs Act.
“Energy production is the key to America’s national security and economic success. Louisiana has always served our country by helping bring affordable, sustainable energy to market, and this bill would remove the burdensome, bureaucratic handcuffs that have been hurting the industry and millions of Americans,” said Kennedy.
The Lower Energy Costs Act would:
- Create parity among energy producing states by increasing Louisiana’s and other Gulf states’ share of oil and gas revenues from 37.5 percent to 50 percent.
- Provide for 50 percent of revenues from offshore wind leasing to be shared with coastal states.
- Eliminate the two percent administrative fee assessed on the state share of onshore energy revenue.
- Secure America’s critical mineral supply.
- Affirm states’ primacy in regulating energy production on state and private land.
- Provide analysis on how refineries can become more efficient energy producers.
- Promote energy infrastructure and pipelines across international borders.
- Express disapproval of President Biden’s revocation of the Keystone XL pipeline.
- Express congressional opposition to restrictions on the export of crude oil or other petroleum products.
- Repeal all restrictions on the import and export of natural gas.
- Improve interagency coordination for reviewing natural gas pipelines.
- Repeal the natural gas tax in Section 136 of the Clean Air Act.
- Repeal the greenhouse gas reduction fund in Section 134 of the Clean Air Act.
- Give homeowners more freedom to power their homes with their choice of energy options.
- Require the Interior Department to immediately resume quarterly lease sales on federal lands.
- Require the Interior Secretary to resolve any protest to a lease sale within 60 days.
- Require the Interior Department to make the permitting process for drilling more transparent by publishing relevant information online.
- Require the Interior Secretary to conduct all lease sales in the congressionally approved 2017-2022 Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing five-year plan no later than Sept. 30, 2023.
- Require the Interior Secretary to issue the five-year oil and gas leasing program for 2023-2028 and to begin preparing for the subsequent oil and gas leasing program within 36 months of the first sale in the current program.
- Require yearly lease sales for geothermal energy.
- Require the Interior Department to grant any additional approvals for previously awarded coal leases required for mining to begin.
- End the existing moratorium on new coal leasing.
- Prohibit the Chinese Communist Party from acquiring any interest in lands leased for oil or gas under the Mineral Leasing Act or Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act.
- Direct the Interior Secretary to authorize geological and geophysical surveys related to oil and gas activities on the Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf.
- Prevent the Bureau of Land Management from deferring the approval of permit applications because of agency formatting preferences.
- Require the Interior Secretary to process permit applications for drilling under a valid existing lease regardless of unrelated civil action.
- Expedite the approval process for gathering lines on federal lands that capture or transport oil, natural gas or related materials.
- Bar a mining claimant from operating on federal land if the Interior Secretary finds the claimant has a foreign parent company with a record of human rights violations and knowingly operated an illegal mine in another country.
- Prevent the Interior Secretary from stopping or slowing leasing and permitting activities on federal lands and waters that are open to energy and mineral development.
- Incentivize domestic production by rolling back burdensome fees on oil and gas development from the “Inflation Reduction Act.”
Full bill text is available here.
WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, today introduced the Small Business Disaster Damage Fairness Act of 2023 to permanently increase access to Small Business Administration (SBA) loans for homeowners and small business owners who face natural disasters.
The legislation would indefinitely extend an increase to the Recovery Improvements for Small Entities After Disaster Act’s initial loan limit of $14,000 to $25,000. The increase would not require borrowers to pledge collateral for three years.
“Too often in the aftermath of hurricane season, thousands of Louisiana’s families depend on SBA loans to rebuild their homes and businesses. I’m introducing this bill to give Louisianians more access to loans when disaster strikes and they need resources quickly,” said Kennedy.
Physical disaster loans help businesses, homeowners and others rebuild damaged property in declared disaster areas.
Background:
- Kennedy introduced the Rebuilding Small Businesses After Disasters Act of 2019 to extend the Recovery Improvements for Small Entities After Disaster Act of 2015, which became law but expired in November of 2022.
- A Government Accountability Office (GAO) study showed that Kennedy’s 2019 bill reduced government spending and saved taxpayer dollars. According to the study, the GAO “reviewed more than 20 years of loan data and found that the loans approved before the change in collateral requirements had higher default rates than the loans approved after the change.”
Text of the bill is available here.
WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today joined Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) in introducing a constitutional amendment to guard the U.S. Supreme Court from partisan efforts to expand and politicize the body.
The proposed amendment would ensure that the court remains apolitical by cementing the number of justices who can serve at a time at nine.
“The effort to pack the Supreme Court and turn justices into politicians in robes would delegitimize and destroy one of the most important institutions in America. Congress must protect the judicial branch from political expedience by safeguarding its current structure,” said Kennedy.
Once approved by Congress, the amendment would go to the states for ratification.
“The Democrats’ answer to a Supreme Court that is dedicated to upholding the rule of law and the Constitution is to pack it with liberals who will rule the way they want. The Supreme Court should be independent, not inflated by every new administration. That’s why I’ve introduced a constitutional amendment to permanently keep the number of justices at nine,” said Cruz.
Sens. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), Mike Braun (R-Ind.) and Todd Young (R-Ind.) also cosponsored the legislation.
The amendment is available here.
View Kennedy’s full remarks here.
WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) spoke on the Senate floor today about the danger that President Biden’s budget presents to the U.S. economy and about the Federal Reserve’s failure to oversee risk at Silicon Valley Bank.
Key comments from Kennedy’s remarks include:
“I learned that since 2019 until today, the population in the United States has grown 1.8 percent. You know how much our budget has increased? Fifty-five percent. And that doesn't even count the additional half a trillion dollars’ worth of spending that the president has just proposed.”
“I also learned that the president is proposing $4.7 trillion—not billion—$4.7 trillion dollars in new taxes.”
“Gross debt, all of our debt, will rise under President Biden’s budget from $32.7 trillion at the close of this year to $51 trillion by 2033. Only in Washington, D.C.—only in La La Land—can you go around and say, ‘My budget reduces the deficit and debt by $3 trillion’ when it really increases it by $18 trillion.”
“President Biden's bailout of Silicon Valley Bank was the result of bad management by the bank officials but also by bad supervision.”
“Four years ago, the Fed told Silicon Valley Bank that its system to control risk was not up to snuff. Fact number two: Last fall, short sellers and private bank analysts said the same thing.”
“It wasn't a failure of regulation that caused Silicon Valley Bank to go under. It was the failure to enforce the rules that we already have.”
“Now I also learned some of my colleagues are saying, ‘Well, you know, this is all the fault of Congress. It’s the fault of Congress because Silicon Valley Bank was not subject to a stress test. We, as you know, Democrats and Republicans, supported an amendment to Dodd Frank back in 2018 that some say prevented the bank from being stress tested. That’s not true. The bill that we passed in 2018 said categorically and unequivocally . . . the Federal Reserve and the other banking regulators have the authority at any time to stress test Silicon Valley Bank, and they chose not to do it.”
“Now the other point being made by some of my colleagues is that, ‘Well, they weren't big enough to stress test. They had to be $100 billion or more.’ That’s not true. They were over $100 billion bank at the end of 2021. So, they did qualify to be stress tested in 2022.”
“If the Federal Reserve had stress tested Silicon Valley Bank, Silicon Valley Bank would have passed. It would have passed. You know why? Because the Federal Reserve and its stress testing in 2022 didn't stress test interest rate risk. They just stress tested credit risk.”
“So, it wasn't a question of something that Congress did or didn't do. Under the regulations we passed, we put the Federal Reserve in charge of checking these banks for duration or interest rate risk. And the Federal Reserve chose not to do so.”
“The bank’s failure was the result of inadequate supervision by the Federal Reserve and the other banking regulators in the Biden Administration. Congress had nothing to do with it.”
Kennedy’s full remarks are here.
