WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) today introduced the Small Business Mergers, Acquisitions, Sales and Brokerage Simplification Act to help small business owners access the services of small business merger and acquisition (M&A) brokers. M&A brokers assist small business owners who want to sell their businesses or merge with other firms so that their companies can continue expanding and supporting job growth.

“Whether they want to buy new ventures, sell their businesses or retire, small business owners depend on M&A brokers to help them navigate these changes. We need to ensure that Main Street entrepreneurs have consistent access to financial services so that America’s small businesses—and the jobs that depend on them—can continue to thrive,” said Kennedy. 

The bill would allow small business M&A brokers to organize sales and purchases of ownership and control of private companies without registering as “broker-dealers” with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). 

Removing the requirement to register with the SEC and FINRA would remove a bureaucratic roadblock for M&A brokers. This would make their services more affordable and accessible to small business owners who need help buying or selling companies.

Text of the Small Business Mergers, Acquisitions, Sales and Brokerage Simplification Act is available here.

WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today wrote to Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) Director Michael Carvajal demanding answers about staffing shortages in Federal Correction Complexes (FCC) in Pollock and Oakdale, La. FCC Pollock and FCC Oakdale have experienced staffing shortages that have been exasperated by COVID-19, and the BOP director has failed to respond to Kennedy’s formal questions (QFRs) about the shortages.

“As of the date of this letter, I have not received a response from you. In other words, QFRs have remained unanswered for eight months. This is unacceptable. . . . Federal agencies must respond to congressional inquiries in a timely way. As a result of your failure to respond, the staffing crisis at FCC Oakdale has actually gone from bad to worse since the Judiciary Committee held the BOP oversight hearing earlier this year,” Kennedy wrote.

“Our men and women in law enforcement, including those working some of the most dangerous jobs in our federal prisons, must have every resource available to them to ensure their safety. Sufficient staffing levels are crucial to that safety. To that end, I ask that you respond to this letter by December 31, 2021, with the date that the BOP will restore FCC Oakdale to its 2016 staffing levels, per the direction of Congress,” Kennedy concluded. 

To meet custody requirements in the wake of staffing shortages, these facilities have had to pay increased overtime and siphon personnel from other departments to increase the number of guards on duty. 

The BOP has also ordered FCC Oakdale to reduce existing staff levels to 93 percent of current levels, even though it has lost personnel because of President Biden’s vaccine mandate. If this reduction occurs, the facility will have approximately 120 fewer personnel than it did in 2016, which is the level Congress has funded and required the facility to maintain.

Text of the letter is available here.

WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) today joined Sens. Jim Risch (R-Idaho) and John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) in introducing the Streamlining EIDL Act to improve the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) application process for small businesses and to fight fraud in the program.

“Louisiana’s small businesses contend with enough adversity as it is. They don’t need bureaucracy to make it harder to get straight answers on their EIDL applications or to combat fraud. I’m thankful to work with Sens. Risch and Hickenlooper to improve the EIDL program so that small businesses can get back to investing in their communities,” said Kennedy.

“Small businesses in Idaho have struggled to get meaningful answers on their EIDL applications from the SBA. They’ve been forced to submit the same document multiple times, received vague and ambiguous responses from the agency, and in some cases, had to contend with fraudsters submitting false applications on their behalf. Small businesses deserve a program that actually functions the way it should, and the Streamlining EIDL Act will go a long way to fix the flaws in the EIDL application process and make these disaster loans accessible to small businesses,” said Risch.        

“Economic Injury Disaster Loans have been a lifeline for small businesses throughout the pandemic. This bill will help businesses stay open and prevent fraud, a win-win,” said Hickenlooper.

Applicants to the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) EIDL program often experience a lag in the application process because of slow and unorganized review procedures. Applicants also have to contend with fraudulent applications submitted in their names.

The Streamlining EIDL Act would:

• Impose deadlines on the EIDL program application process,
• Require the SBA to conduct a comprehensive review of the process for submitting EIDL applications,
• Direct the SBA to submit a report to Congress detailing steps it has taken to correct how it has handled identity theft cases, and
• Require the SBA to report how it has recovered improper payments and how it is reconciling previous identity theft allegations with newly filed identity theft allegations.

Sens. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) and Catherine Cortez-Masto (D-Nev.) also cosponsored the legislation.

Text of the Streamlining EIDL Act is available here.

Watch Kennedy’s comments here.

WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) today introduced and asked the Senate to pass the Protecting the American Taxpayer and Medicare Act, which would protect Medicare and other mandatory spending programs from planned sequestrations without raising the federal debt limit. Sen. Wyden (D-Ore.) blocked the bill’s passage.

“Americans depend on Medicare, especially while we’re still recovering from the pandemic. This bill would protect Medicare and other crucial programs from harmful cuts without enabling Pres. Biden’s Build Back Broker agenda. If Democrats want to raise the debt ceiling to fund trillions of dollars in extra spending while inflation is ravaging American families, they can do it themselves,” said Kennedy.

Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Tim Scott (R-S.C.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), John Boozman (R-Ark.), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), John Hoeven (R-N.D.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) have cosponsored the legislation.

The Protecting the American Taxpayer and Medicare Act would:

• Delay the planned two percent Medicare sequester payment reductions that are scheduled to begin on Jan. 1, 2022.
• Waive Congress’s Pay-As-You-Go rule until 2023, which would prevent sequestration for all mandatory spending programs in 2022. This includes cuts to agricultural programs like Agriculture Risk Coverage and Price Loss Coverage.
• Continue the three percent increase to Medicare physicians through Dec. 31, 2022 to help providers care for patients in the wake of the pandemic.
• Delay reductions in Medicare payments to clinical laboratory fees through Dec. 31, 2022 to preserve access to testing and laboratory services.
• Delay the implementation of the Medicare radiation oncology model through Dec. 31, 2022 to ensure access to care for cancer patients.
• Provide $45 million in savings to the Medicare Improvement Fund, for a total balance of $101 million.

Failure to waive the Pay-As-You-Go rule would result in $9.4 billion in cuts to Medicare hospital providers in 2022. Cuts to Medicare overall would be $36 billion, or a four percent reduction.

Some senators want to tie Medicare protections to a measure increasing the debt ceiling by a fixed dollar amount, even though Senate Democrats can address the debt ceiling themselves through the reconciliation process. Kennedy’s legislation would protect Medicare from sequestrations without also raising the debt ceiling.

Text of the Protecting the American Taxpayer and Medicare Act is available here.

Watch Kennedy’s comments here.