kennedy, john Sen L A 6%

-===

pow

5 24 testimony oppos res dirty tricks

bad code

:{gotcha oppo res on biden nom (never resigned form ussr pioneers)}:

wack job ? dumb? nope oxford good ol boy dunno how to rank , how much infl damage

useful idiot ? #partyoftraitors

---

https://scorecard.lcv.org/moc/john-neely-kennedy

12*6%

tai nom, ~ gt am lands see below

an 2 25

Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) has advice for anyone concerned about President Donald Trump's pending funding freeze, and potential shutdown of the Department of Education: get over it.

According to a Politico report, Trump is planning to "dismantle" the Education Department through an executive order in the coming days — which comes after the president and billionaire "Elon Musk moved to eradicate" the US Agency for International Development Monday.

Democratic lawmakers were even blocked from entering the USAID building.

"To my friends who are upset.. call somebody who cares," Kennedy said during a Fox News interview. "You know, they better get used to this. It’s USAID today, it’s going to be the Department of Education tomorrow."

Vanity Fair special correspondent Molly Jong Fast replied: "Yeah but none of these people have the constitutional authority to dissolve parts of the federal government"

Rep. Sarah McBride (D-DE) commented: "Exactly what I was saying earlier: piece by piece, department by department, they are working to purge employees, consolidate power, gut programs -- even if they can't get everything immediately through executive fiat, they will decimate the federal government and sell it for parts. No program will be safe.

2021

500Sung Confirmation (Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals)Judiciary

2021459Restoring the Voting Rights ActJustice and Democracy

2021426Pérez Confirmation (Second Circuit Court of Appeals)Judiciary

2021420Voting Rights and Democracy ReformsJustice and Democracy

2021401Stone-Manning Confirmation (BLM Director)Other, Public Lands/Forests

2021357Build Back Better Budget ResolutionClimate Change, Clean Energy, Environmental Justice, Public Lands/Forests

2021346Promoting Polluting Energy SourcesDirty Energy, Climate Change, Air

2021320Eliminating Safeguards on Fossil Fuel ProductionDrilling, Dirty Energy, Climate Change, Oceans, Public Lands/Forests

2021303Defunding the Civilian Conservation Corps and Wildland FirefightingClimate Change, Public Lands/Forests, Other

2021298Restarting Construction of the Harmful Border WallWildlife, Public Lands/Forests, Environmental Justice

2021279Kim Confirmation (DOJ-ENRD Assistant Attorney General)Other, Environmental Justice

2021246Voting Rights and Democracy ReformsJustice and Democracy

2021236Fox Confirmation (EPA Assistant Administrator)Water

2021231Jackson Confirmation (D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals)Judiciary, Climate Change, Justice and Democracy

2021203Clarke Confirmation (DOJ-CRD Assistant Attorney General)Justice and Democracy, Other

2021178Investing in Water InfrastructureWater

2021175Repealing Assault on Methane Pollution SafeguardsClimate Change, Dirty Energy

2021150Mallory Confirmation (Council on Environmental Quality Chair)Other, Environmental Justice

2021125Becerra Confirmation (Health and Human Services Secretary)Other, Environmental Justice

2021123Tai Confirmation (United States Trade Representative)Other

2021119Haaland Confirmation (Interior Secretary)Other, Public Lands/Forests

2021116Regan Confirmation (EPA Administrator)Other, Climate Change, Water, Air, Environmental Justice

2021114Garland Confirmation (Attorney General)Other, Justice and Democracy

2021113Fudge Confirmation (Housing and Urban Development Secretary)Other, Environmental Justice

202186Striking Provisions to Help Farmers of ColorEnvironmental Justice, Agriculture

202170Raimondo Confirmation (Commerce Secretary)Other, Oceans

202166Granholm Confirmation (Energy Secretary)Other, Clean Energy

202159Impeachment for Incitement of InsurrectionJustice and Democracy

202143Bolstering the Dirty Water RuleClean Water

202132Supporting the Destructive Keystone XL PipelineDirty Energy, Environmental Justice

---

2021

28Promoting Drilling for Fossil FuelsDirty Energy, Drilling

202111Buttigieg Confirmation (Transportation Secretary)Other, Transportation

20212Certifying Pennsylvania’s Electoral VotesJustice and Democracy

20211Certifying Arizona’s Electoral VotesJustice and Democracy

2020224Barrett Confirmation (Supreme Court)Judiciary

2020222Barrett Cloture Vote (Supreme Court)Judiciary

2020168Inadequate COVID Relief PackageOther

2020126Inadequate Policing ReformJudiciary, Other

2020125Wilson Confirmation (Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals)Judiciary

2020123Walker Confirmation (D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals)Judiciary

2020121Great American Outdoors ActLands/Forests

2020118Defeating Effort to Derail the Great American Outdoors ActLands/Forests

202072Danly Confirmation (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission)Dirty Energy, Clean Energy, Climate Change

202060MacGregor Confirmation (Interior Deputy Secretary)Dirty Energy, Climate Change, Lands/Forests, Oceans, Drilling, Wildlife

202041Kindred Confirmation (U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska)Judiciary

202036Brasher Confirmation (Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals)Judiciary

202014USMCA Trade DealClimate Change; Other

2019339Undermining the Land and Water Conservation FundLands/Forests

2019324Stopping Rollbacks of Carbon Pollution Limits for Power PlantsClimate Change

2019313Scalia Confirmation (Labor Secretary)Other

2019300Jorjani Confirmation (Interior Solicitor)Other, Lands/Forests

201977Bernhardt Confirmation (Interior Secretary)Climate Change, Drilling, Lands/Forests, Wildlife, Other

201968Wyrick Confirmation (District Court for Western District of Oklahoma)Other, Justice and Democracy

201944Rao Confirmation (D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals)Other, Justice and Democracy

201933Wheeler Confirmation (EPA Administrator)Climate Change, Clean Air, Clean Water

201929Miller Confirmation (Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals)Other, Justice and Democracy

201922Public Lands PackageLands/Forests

201920Undermining the Antiquities ActLands/Forests

201919Blocking Permanent Reauthorization of the Land & Water Conservation FundLands/Forests

2018259Farm Bill Conference ReportClimate Change, Clean Water

===

an 12 24

One Republican senator sparred with a witness during a hearing Tuesday over a tweet published two years ago.

"Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) malfunctions during a hearing on mass deportations," Heartland Signal wrote via X, sharing a video of the Louisiana lawmaker attempting to grill witness Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, who is a lawyer and senior fellow at American Immigration Council.

"On November 1, 2022, you tweeted, 'Both Texas and Louisiana have their knives out for Black immigrants.'" Kennedy said, asking Reichlin-Melnick, "Do you remember that tweet?"

He replied, "I don't, but it's quite possible."

Kennedy said, "It's not only possible, but it happened. You're not denying it, are you? Who in Texas had their knives out for Black immigrants? Give me a name. Give me a name."

Reichlin-Melnick replied, "My suspicion is Attorney General Ken Paxton."

"Give me a name," the GOP senator said again. "Give me a name."

"I just did," Reichlin-Melnick emphasized.

"You don’t have a name, do you?" Kennedy asked.

"I just said Ken Paxton," the witness replied.

Watch the video below or at this link.

===

September 18, 2024 4:50 pm

Steve Benen @ The Maddow Blog: New reporting makes Vance’s handling of Springfield story look even worse

According to the city manager in Springfield, Ohio, JD Vance knew the truth about Haitian immigrants. The senator and Donald Trump kept lying anyway.

Angry White Men: Jeremy Carl: The Racist Lie About Haitians Eating Pets Is ‘Gonna Be A Winning Issue For Us’

During an appearance on The Auron MacIntyre Show, Claremont Institute senior fellow Jeremy Carl not only celebrated the spread of these false claims, he predicted that it will be a “winning issue” for the Republican Party.

Alex Griffing @ Mediaite: ‘Unfounded’: Police Debunk Viral Claim Shared By Elon Musk And Others of Bomb Found Near Trump Rally Site

Quickly debunked claims spread like wildfire on X on Wednesday that explosives were found in a car near the site of former President Donald Trump’s upcoming rally on Long Island, New York.

Robert McCoy @ The New Republic: GOP Senator Goes Full Racist in Attack on Arab American Witness

Republican Senator John Neely Kennedy accused an Arab American activist of being a member of Hamas, in an incredibly racist tangent during a congressional hearing.

Maggie Astor @ The New York Times: Sarah Huckabee Sanders Jabs at Harris for Not Having Biological Children

“My kids keep me humble,” Ms. Sanders said at an event with former President Donald J. Trump. “Unfortunately, Kamala Harris doesn’t have anything keeping her humble.” The remark quickly drew backlash.

Amanda Marcotte @ Salon: “Get this under control”: Mark Robinson’s anti-birth control tirade spoils Trump’s Project 2025 spin

It’s no surprise that another clip of Robinson being the worst has emerged. This time Robinson is caught on camera in a 2022 church appearance, going on a tirade about how women don’t need birth control because — as he gestures to his crotch for emphasis — they need to “get this under control” instead.

===

heATED 5 23

Geoffrey Supran, the director of the Climate Accountability Lab at the University of Miami, is one of the country’s foremost experts on climate disinformation.

That’s why the former Harvard researcher was called to testify in the Senate Budget Committee’s hearing yesterday, titled “Denial, Disinformation, and Doublespeak: Big Oil’s Evolving Efforts to Avoid Accountability for Climate Change.”

Supran’s opening statement for the hearing included 120 cited sources, all of which he said “clearly demonstrate that the fossil fuel regime has deliberately denied Americans and Congress their right to be accurately informed about the climate crisis, just as tobacco companies misled Americans about the harms of smoking.”

So when it came time for Senator John Kennedy—a heavily oil-funded Republican from Louisiana—to question Supran, one might have expected him to take issue with Supran’s sources or claims.

Instead, Kennedy attempted to discredit Supran personally, by tangentially associating him with a climate activist group that routinely calls politicians potty-mouth names. (The horror!)

[vid]

In an attempt to cast doubt on Supran’s credibility as an academic, Kennedy accused him of making social media posts “in support of” the youth-led direct action group Climate Defiance.

Kennedy:On December 14th, 2023, you tweeted in support of Climate Defiance. That's an entity that the Brookings Institute has called a “radical climate change group.” Is that correct?

Supran:I don’t recall, I’m afraid.

Kennedy:Would this be the same Climate Defiance—I'm looking at your tweet, you tweeted in support of them—that called, Senator Joe Biden a “sick fuck?”

Supran:I don’t know.

Kennedy:Would this be the same Climate Defiance that called Senator Lisa Murkowski a “murderer?”

Supran: I don’t know, but as I said in my statement…Kennedy:Would this be the same Climate Defiance who told the CEO of Exxon to “Eat shit, Darren?”

Supran:I’m not responsible for the statements of others.

Kennedy:Nice group you’re hanging around with, doc.

Visibly confused by the accusation, Supran asked to see the tweets in question. While he waited to receive them, Kennedy cast doubt on Supran’s ability to be objective as a researcher, repeatedly calling him “doc” and “good doctor.”

“Thank you for your ‘objective’ advice, doc,” Kennedy said. “I’d like to submit all of the good doctor’s objective tweets.”

But Supran had never actually posted or re-posted any of the profane name-calling statements Kennedy referenced. Supran had only ever re-postedone tweet from Climate Defiance in December, which had described the group’s preferred method for climate action: chasing down fossil fuel CEOs and politicians, rather than sending letters or signing petitions.

Kennedy was using Supran’s re-tweet of Climate Defiance to associate the academic with everything the activist group has ever said. “The line of questioning itself was a bad faith, ill-mannered, and failed attempt to bait me,” Supran told HEATED. “It is unfair and unrealistic for anyone to be held accountable for everything that an independent organization has ever said.”

At the time, though, Supran did not have a chance to explain or clarify this. He only interjected: “These are not my tweets. These are retweets”—which made it seem like he had, in fact, retweeted a statement calling Joe Biden a “sick fuck.”

To this, Kennedy exploded. “Do you often retweet stuff you don't support?” He said. “Is that what you're telling me, doc?”

“I just want to say, this form of character assassination is characteristic of the propaganda techniques of fossil fuel interests,” Supran said.

“Are you gonna call me a sick fuck??” Kennedy replied.

Shortly afterward, video clips of Kennedy’s “sick fuck” remark went viral—but not because of outrage at Supran.

Source: X

In fact, they went viral in part because they were re-posted by Climate Defiance as a fundraising tool.

“We really struck a nerve,” the group said in an e-mail blast to its supporters about the exchange.

Indeed, Climate Defiance founder Michael Greenberg told HEATED that Kennedy’s meltdown was a powerful endorsement of his group’s aggressive tactics.

“It shows that this stuff is working and getting under peoples skin, and making people in power squirm,” he said. “The fact that an oil-funded Senator from Louisiana is referencing a group of young, broke kinds fighting for their lives shows the power of the movement we’re creating and the change we’re making.”

As for Supran, he told HEATED in a statement that he hopes the exchange can serve as an unorthodox educational tool:

More important than the Senator’s theatrics themselves is how they typify the hostile tactics that the fossil fuel industry and its allies have resorted to for decades to attack not just the message but the messenger.

It’s straight out of Big Tobacco’s playbook. In fact, research by John Cook and his colleagues has shown that character assassination has been one of the most common ways in which fossil fuel interests have attempted to deny accountability for the climate crisis.

The Senator’s behavior is also living proof of the influence of oil money on American politics. As I mentioned in my testimony, scholars at Yale and Cambridge have statistically shown that the more Congresspeople vote against the environment, the more money they get from oil companies.

Perhaps it’s just a coincidence that Senator Kennedy has taken $1.5 million from the oil and gas industry.

---

. Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) met an unexpected answer on Tuesday after pushing a GOP talking point that suggests Democratic-run cities are the most dangerous and Chicago is the most violent.

“Why do you think that Chicago has become America’s largest outdoor shooting range?” Senator Kennedy asked Dr. Megan Ranney, Dean of the Yale School of Public Health, during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the intersection of U.S. gun violence and public health, according to C-SPAN. “Do you think it’s because of Chicago citizens who have no criminal record? But who have lawfully a gun in their home for protection, or perhaps for hunting? Or do you think it’s because of a finite group of criminals who have rap sheets as long as King Kong’s arm?”

Dr. Ranney, who is an expert in gun violence and co-founded the American Foundation for Firearm Injury Reduction in Medicine (AFFIRM) at the Aspen Institute, gave Senator Kennedy an answer he did not appear to appreciate.

“So Mississippi, Louisiana, and Missouri actually have higher firearm death rates. Obviously, there’s –” Dr. Ranney replied before Kennedy interrupted her.

“What about Chicago?” the Senator from Louisiana asked, trying to move back to his focus on the Windy City.

“So I don’t live in Chicago. It’s not my primary area of research,” Ranney replied.

“You don’t have an opinion on that?” Kennedy continued.

“I think there’s easy access to firearms combined with environmental conditions, lack of great education. There have actually been studies showing that when you green vacant lots and repair abandoned buildings in urban neighborhoods, you see decreases in gunshots and violence as well as in stress and depression in the neighborhoods around them,” said Ranney, who has also served as a professor of emergency medicine and as an ER physician.

“No disrespect, doc,” Kennedy replied, not looking at Dr. Ranney, “but that sounds a lot like word salad to me.”

Despite Senator Kennedy’s focus on Chicago, that city doesn’t even make list of the top 15 most dangerous cities in America. According to a report in Forbes, they are (in ranked order):

St. Louis, Missouri

Birmingham, Alabama

Baltimore, Maryland

Memphis, Tennessee

Detroit, Michigan

Cleveland, Ohio

New Orleans, Louisiana

Shreveport, Louisiana

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Little Rock, Arkansas

Oakland, California

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Kansas City, Missouri

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Richmond, Virginia

Forbes also listed the 5 Worst Cities for Mass Shootings in the US. Chicago is not on that list either:

Boulder, Colorado

San Jose, California

Indianapolis, Indiana

Atlanta, Georgia

Colorado Springs, Colorado

“Cities and states run by Republicans do not actually have less crime,” The New York Times reported in August. “Consider DeSantis’s state, Florida. Its homicide rate was roughly 50 percent higher than New York’s in 2021. Florida’s two most populous cities, Jacksonville and Miami, each had a homicide rate more than double New York City’s last year, even though both had Republican mayors.”

Watch Senator Kennedy below or at this link.

---

no lnx

'Dead as fried chicken': Senate Republicans lash out after Supreme Court ethics bill clears committee

https://www.alternet.org/as-fried-chicken-senate/

Brandon GageJuly 20, 2023

The United States Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday in an 11-10 vote along party lines advanced The Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency Act for a floor debate in the upper congressional chamber. According to its sponsor, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island), the bill "would require Supreme Court justices to adopt a code of conduct, create a mechanism to investigate alleged violations of the code of conduct and other laws, improve disclosure and transparency when a justice has a connection to a party or amicus before the Court, and require justices to explain their recusal decisions to the public."

But as Politico reports, the measure faces almost certain defeat in the House of Representatives, which just like in the Senate, Republicans view "as an erosion of separation of powers and an attack on the conservative court."

Thursday's hearing lasted more than three hours, Politico notes, wherein lawmakers "struck down more than a half dozen Republican amendments, on topics such as the size of the court, punishing leakers and further regulating stock trades by lawmakers. But GOP committee members never called up the vast majority of the more than 60 amendments they said they planned to offer."

READ MORE: Democrats 'don’t like democracy' claims Ted Cruz, who voted against certifying the 2020 election

According to Politico, "The Whitehouse proposal would give the court 180 days to adopt and publish a code of conduct and allow the public to submit ethics complaints that would be reviewed by a randomly selected panel of lower court judges. It also would establish more stringent rules for disclosure of gifts and travel. Justices would also be subject to clearer rules on recusing themselves from cases where they may have a conflict of interest, or an appearance of one."

Multiple jurists on the High Court — most notably Associate Justice Clarence Thomas — are under intense scrutiny for receiving gifts and having personal financial relationships with individuals who had stakes in the outcomes of cases that came before the Court. Nonetheless, Republicans were less than cordial about the legislation.

"You're going to fail miserably. This bill is going nowhere," said Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), whileSenator John Kennedy (R-Louisiana) voiced similar, albeit more colorful criticism.

"You don't have to be Oliver Wendell Scalia to figure out that this legislation is meant to be a court-killing machine," Kennedy quipped. "This thing's dead as fried chicken on the Senate floor and it's dead as fried chicken in the House."

READ MORE: Expand the Supreme Court? Activists livid Senate Democrats are holding out

Meanwhile, Whitehouse pushed back against the GOP's claims that Democrats are attempting to "pack" the Court:

I would like to make a few points as we wrap this up. The first is I would react to the comments that some of my colleagues said Democrats wanna pack the court. My sense is the court has already been packed. It has been packed as the result of a very long and expensive effort run by a handful of secretive right-wing billionaires through a bunch of front groups.

The tally of the cost of the operation has risen from the original $250 million estimate of The Washington Post to now $580 million spent on trying to make sure that those billionaires succeeded in what has been characterized in this room as the long effort to make this a conservative court.

Watch Whitehouse's statement below via The Recount or at this link.

READ MORE: How the Supreme Court pulled a right-wing doctrine 'out of thin air' to 'invalidate' Biden’s policies

Politico's analysis continues here.

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"tastes like I'd rather be fat': GOP senator wails about kale and yoga mats while calling Democrats 'berserk'

Brandon Gage

United States Senator John Kennedy (R-Louisiana) railed against "high-IQ stupid people" and "wokers" during a speech at a campaign stop for Georgia's scandal-plagued Republican...

===

boing

don't usually share online quizzes, because most are pretty dumb. But I stumbled across this oldie but goodie (well, it's from 2019, but I promise, it's relevant) that's worth sharing. The quiz, presented by Tim Morris at NOLA.com, is called, "Who said it: Sen. John Kennedy or Foghorn Leghorn?"

Tim Morris explains:

John Neely Kennedy is the junior U.S. senator from Louisiana who was a key member of Gov. Buddy Roemer's staff before being elected to five terms as the state treasurer.

Foghorn J. Leghorn is an animated chicken who appeared as a featured character in Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons for Warner Bros. Pictures.

Yes, this is the same Senator John N. Kennedy who recently warned us about the scourge of liberals carrying around zip-locked bags of kale and "hyperventilating on yoga mats if you use the wrong pronoun."

If you have heard them both speak, you can imagine that it might be hard to discern who said what. In fact, I grew up in Louisiana and thought I might do ok, but even I missed several. They're tough! Here's a sampling (and no spoiler alerts, don't worry!):

"She has a billy goat brain and a mockingbird mouth."

"He's tough as a boiled owl."

"He's a hard dog to keep on the porch. He's not a porch dog; he's a running dog. He likes to do things his way."

"I'm not just talking to hear my head roar."

See if you can tell the difference – go take the quiz here.

===

https://www.alternet.org/2022/10/sen-john-kennedy/

call crackhead for help ad

===

[[https://www.alternet.org/2022/03/gop-lawmakers-face-barrage-of-questions-over-viral-russian-ad/

[vid]

an 322

Republican Party is being labeled as the "Party of Treason” in a new, scathing political ad chronicling all that has transpired since Russia invaded Ukraine.

According to HuffPost, the ad was released by Really American, a progressive political action committee (PAC). The video highlights Independence Day 2018 when several Republican lawmakers' traveled to Moscow to visit the Kremlin.

With the video, the PAC tweeted, "A day after the Senate Intelligence Committee confirmed Russia interfered in our elections, 8 Republicans flew to Russia for a photo-op. Now they're blaming Biden for the invasion of Ukraine while repeating Kremlin talking points."

Although the trip was reportedly intended to address Russian interference, the video notes that Sen.Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), "downplayed said established threat just days later."[twt]

the video's narrator posed a number of compelling questions to Republican lawmakers asking: "why Republicans have 'consistently taken' the side of Russian President Vladimir Putin by, among other things, voting to block election security bills and backing Donald Trump for threatening to withhold military aid to Ukraine in exchange for dirt on Joe Biden, misconduct that led to the first impeachment of the former president."

The narrator concluded by saying, “Putin has shown his goal is to destabilize Western democracy from Ukraine to the U.S. We can’t allow his puppets to sink their claws deeper into our government.”

In just a short period of time, the video has gone viral. Since its release on Thursday, March 10, it has received more than 850,000 views as it continues to circulate on social media.

[ron j, shelby, moran, daines, thune, kay granger, john kennedy hoeven

#partyoftraitors

---

ref 2

... GOP is slammed as the “#PartyOfTreason” in a new viral ad from progressive PAC Really American.

The group’s spot recalls the visit to the Kremlin that eight Republican lawmakers controversially made on Independence Day in 2018,

https://www.npr.org/2018/07/06/626664156/gop-senators-spend-july-4-in-moscow no names ] a day after the Senate Intelligence Committee confirmed Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

---

ref july 2018

mADISON –Republican Sen. Ron Johnson is downplaying the threat Russia poses to U.S. elections, saying “these are not the greatest threats to our democracy.”

Johnson was part of a contingent of senators who met with Russian officials in Russia last week. He told reporters Tuesday that over half of their five-hour discussion focused on Russia’s involvement in the 2016 U.S. elections.

Johnson says Russian interference is “unacceptable” and “serious,” but “when you look at threats to this nation I look at much larger threats.”

He says U.S. elections are very difficult to hack and remain secure, while Russia’s interference on social media in 2016 was minimal.

Johnson has been critical of Senate sanctions against Russia, saying they have been ineffective and don’t leave President Donald Trump with enough negotiating room on other issues.]]

dan bishop asked if naacp a revolutionary

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/louisiana-s-kennedy-dabbles-modern-day-mccarthyism-n1284201

no lnx

louisiana's Kennedy dabbles in modern-day McCarthyism

If Sen. John Kennedy's line of questioning against Saule Omarova sounded familiar, it's probably because it echoed Joe McCarthy's tactics.

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., speaks during the confirmation hearing for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett.Patrick Semansky / Pool via AP

Nov. 19, 2021, 6:27 AM PST

By Steve Benen

Senate fights over the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency are not especially common, but the dispute over Saule Omarova's nomination is proving to be unusual.

At face value, Omarova's story reads like a classic American story. She was born in Kazakhstan, before the collapse of the Soviet Union. She immigrated to the United States, studied law and business, became an American citizen, took on a role in the Bush administration's Treasury Department, and ultimately became a law professor at Cornell University. see WITH pod]

President Joe Biden nominated her for a position in which she'd be responsible for regulating bank assets — she specializes in financial regulation — and yesterday, Omarova's nomination arrived at the Senate Finance Committee for a confirmation hearing.

Republican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana apparently thought it'd be entertaining to take aim at her personal background, starting with this question: "You used to be a member of a group called the Young Communists, didn't you?" The Washington Post took it from there:

But this isn't where Kennedy was headed. Instead, he spent his designated time suggesting that Omarova was a communist sympathizer, beginning with that loaded question. Omarova indicated that she wasn't sure what group he was referring to, a bit of caution that Kennedy wasn't interested in. Kennedy, reading from handwritten notes, identified the group by name: "the Leninist Communist Young Union of the Russian Federation," also known as the Komsomol.

As a child in a USSR country, Omarova's participation in Komsomol was not optional. The professor patiently tried to explain this to the Republican senator, who didn't seem overly concerned about the relevant details.

"I don't mean any disrespect — I don't know whether to call you professor or comrade," Kennedy said.

Of course, why would anyone find such nonsense disrespectful?

As part of the line of questioning, the Louisiana Republican sought proof that Omarova "resigned" from the school program as a child. She explained that participants didn't have to formally quit the group, since they simply "grow out of it with age."

Kennedy, either confused or willfully ignorant, wasn't satisfied, seeking some kind of letter of resignation. No such letter existed, because the question didn't make sense.

The Post's analysis added, "It's safe to assume that Kennedy, who attended Oxford University during the Cold War, is aware that Soviet youth were conscripted into party organizations and that socialist views are not communist ones. But he is a politician representing a deep-red state, and he clearly understands that it's easier to submarine a presidential nominee using old-school Red scare tactics than it is to challenge her actual belief systems one by one."

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It was notable in large part because contemporary examples of McCarthyism usually aren't this literal. Kennedy was, for all intents and purposes, on the lookout for communists. If that meant unfairly smearing a qualified nominee — who is not, in reality, a communist — so be it.]

"My family suffered under the communist regime. I grew up without knowing half of my family. My grandmother herself escaped death twice under the Stalin regime," Omarova explained. "This is what's seared in my mind. That's who I am. I remember that history. I came to this country. I'm proud to be an American, and this is why I'm here today, senator. I'm here today because I'm ready for public service."

It was a good answer to a bad question.

To be sure, Omarova's confirmation will be difficult for reasons that have nothing to do with her family history or experiences as a child in Kazakhstan. Some moderate Senate Democrats have expressed reservations about her nomination because of her opposition to a financial deregulation bill several years ago. Despite her qualifications, experience, and expertise, it's unfortunately easy to imagine her nomination coming up short in the evenly divided Senate.

But that doesn't make Kennedy's display and Joe-McCarthy-like tactics any less offensive.

And yet, visitors to the Louisiana Republican's website this morning were greeted with one prominent headline, splashed across the homepage near the top: "Kennedy questions Biden nominee on membership in communist organization."

It was cheap and ugly — and for Kennedy, a source of pride.

===

an 10 21

attorney General Merrick Garland laughed at a Republican senator's question during a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.

Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA), like every other GOP senator before him, used his allotted time to pepper Garland with questions about an Oct. 4 memo directing the Department of Justice to investigate threats against local school board members after a national organization asked President Joe Biden for federal intervention.

"The National School Board Association sent the letter to the White House and the White House promptly called you and said, 'Sic the FBI on parents at school board hearings, and that's what I mean," Kennedy said. "The White House is the prophet here and you're just the vessel, correct?"

Garland insisted he did not coordinate with the White House on the memo, which he said reflected his own views on protecting public officials from violence and threats while protecting parents' rights, but Kennedy pressed on.

Garland laughed out loud before continuing.

"I'm not -- I signed on this memorandum on my own," Garland said. "I said from the very beginning, I've taken this job to protect the Department of Justice and make independent determinations with respect to prosecution, and I will do that."

===

an 121

...(The satirical news site *The Onion* deftly handled this, calling out each of the 126 with an individualized message. To Rep. Gus Bilirakis of Florida, "You have been absolutely fearless when stopping the American people from participating in elections;" to Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee, "Never again will we allow U.S. citizens to recklessly turn in their ballots;" to Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana, "Thank you for bravely standing up to the American voters;" and so on. Each was accompanied by an especially beguiling photo of a maggot.)

Many of those same members and more—some 140—are now lending their names to the smoke-and-mirrors effort in Congress to challenge the votes of the Electoral College, which already has given the election to Joe Biden. The votes of the electors officially are to be announced on Wednesday by Vice President Mike Pence in his capacity as President of the Senate.

In normal times, this would be a mere formality, but Trump and Republicans have decided to turn it into a clumsy attempt at a coup d'etat, ignoring the rule of law and numerous court rulings. They're putting on an act, trying to overturn the results of a free and fair election as a dumbshow of power, all out of fear of Tin Hat Trump's "base" of voters and to preserve a status quo that ignores the diversity of America, cossets the rich and fosters hate, poverty and inequality.

In the House, the leaders of this effort include the feckless Louie Gohmert of Texas, known as "America's craziest and dumbest congressman." Having just had an election lawsuit thrown out by a Federal appeals court on New Year's Day, he went on *Newsmax* suggesting that the alternative now is going to the streets and "being as violent as antifa and BLM."

He's joined in this mad pursuit—simultaneously dumbing down and radicalizing a significant portion of the party and American populace—by the usual suspects, led by Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama and including Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey, Jody Hice of Georgia and Joe Wilson of South Carolina. New members of the House are piping up, too, including QAnon queen Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.

On the Senate side, opposition to finalizing the presidential result is being led by Josh Hawley of Missouri, a man of vaulting ambition who wants to be president so badly he's is willing to violate his sworn oath of office and destroy the Constitution and Bill of Rights to get there, using conspiracy theories and falsehoods to oil his way into the White House as early as 2024.

In a letter published Saturday, eleven other Republican senators and senators-elect demanded an "emergency 10-day audit" of results in "the disputed states,"—in other words, the states Trump is shocked—shocked!—that he lost to Joe Biden, states he assumed would be a cinch for him. They weren't.

Remember their names:

Ted Cruz (Texas)
Ron Johnson (Wisconsin)
James Lankford (Oklahoma)
Steve Daines (Montana)
John Kennedy (Louisiana)
Marsha Blackburn (Tennessee)
Mike Braun (Indiana)
Cynthia Lummis (Wyoming) (new senator)
Roger Marshall (Kansas) (new senator)
Bill Hagerty (Tennessee) (new senator)
Tommy Tuberville (Alabama) (new senator)

Sadly, this Dirty Dozen (including Hawley), a so-called "Sedition Caucus" in the Senate, probably won't be deterred by news of that phone call Trump made to Georgia's Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, trying to bully him into finding more votes to change the result in the state from Biden to Trump—a conversation much like the one with Ukraine President Zelensky that a year ago got Donald Trump impeached.

Trump's impeachment didn't lead to conviction by the Senate, thanks to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who would brook no new evidence or witnesses, turning the trial into a sham with a predetermined outcome. But McConnell now is opposed to his colleagues' efforts to subvert the Electoral College. Why? Because McConnell is all about the raw power he alone holds in the Senate. He cares for that and little else except, of course, tax cuts for the superrich, holding rules and regulations at bay and getting as many conservative Federal judges approved by the Senate as quickly as he can.

...

===

admittedly he got facts wrong?

Chuck Todd accuses GOPer John Kennedy of being ‘duped’ by Russia and spreading their propaganda in contentious interview

In a fairly contentious interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,”…

===

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/510818-trump-yates-either-lying-or-grossly-incompetent

no lnx vod

trump: Yates either lying or grossly incompetent

BY MORGAN GSTALTER - 08/06/20 08:16 AM EDT 1,747

President Trump on Thursday accused former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates of “either lying” or being “grossly incompetent” after her testimony Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Justice Department investigations into election interference in 2016.

“It is not possible she could have known so little about Dirty Cop James Comey (and others) from her high position in the Department of 'Justice,'" the president tweeted early Thursday. “Thepolitical Crime of the Century, [// fox hanty tucker rhet on obamagate]and she had no idea what they were doing?”

Yates told the committee that the FBI, under the leadership of then-Director James Comey, in January 2017 interviewed incoming national security adviser Michael Flynn without her authorization or advanced knowledge.

"I was upset that Director Comey didn't coordinate that with us and acted unilaterally," Yates said.

"Did Comey go rogue?" Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, asked.

"You could use that term, yes," Yates responded.

Despite her criticism of Comey’s handling of the process, Yates defended the FBI’s need to interview Flynn due to his conversations with the then-Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak after the November 2016 election.

"Interviewing General Flynn was really right at the core of the FBI's investigation at this point to try to discern, what are the ties between the Trump administration and the Russians?" she said during her testimony.

Flynn was fired in 2017 for misleading Vice President Pence about those conversations. He had initially entered into an agreement in 2017 to cooperate with the Department of Justice and pleaded guilty, but he subsequently withdrew from the plea agreement and was fighting the charges.

The Justice Department decided earlier this year to drop the case against Flynn, a decision that sparked outrage among Democrats, who claimed Attorney General William Barr was politicizing the agency.

Yates, asked about the decision to drop those charges on Wednesday, said she thought it was “highly irregular.”

Prior to her testimony,Trump lashed out at Yates and tweeted that she has “zero credibility.”

“She was a part of the greatest political crime of the Century, and ObamaBiden knew EVERYTHING! Sally Yates leaked the General Flynn conversation? Ask her under oath. Republicans should start playing the Democrats game!” Trump tweeted.

Trump fired Yates in January 2017, while she was serving as acting attorney general, after she refused to defend his controversial travel ban

When asked if she doesn’t like Trump, Yates told senators, "I don't respect the manner in which he has carried out the presidency."

[Trump attacks Cuomo after his Democratic convention speech

Roger Stone drops appeal of felony convictions]

“You despise Donald Trump, don’t you?” Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) shot back.

“I don't despise anyone, senator,” Yates added.

The GOP is ramping up their Obama-era investigations and Graham is centering his efforts around the origins of of the FBI’s investigation into Russia's election interference and the Trump campaign as well as former special counsel Robert Mueller’s subsequent probe.

:{It was Russia’: Chris Wallace issues live fact check to :(style="background-color:#ffffff;"):}::{GOP senator who says Ukraine could have hacked election}:

David Edwards / Raw Story

Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) was corrected by Fox News host Chris Wallace on Sunday after he said Ukraine could have been behind interference in the 2016 U.S. election.

CNN’s Jim Sciutto was openly stunned after Louisiana Republican Senator John Kennedy said it was fine with him if President Donald Trump blocked the merger of AT&T-Time Warner because he didn’t like the way he’s covered by CNN, saying the president, like everyone else, has the right to an opinion.

“The New Yorker is reporting this morning that the president ordered the Department of Justice to attempt to block the merger between AT&T and Time Warner,” said Sciutto, noting that the move had raised objections from Trump’s advisors. “In your view is that an acceptable use of presidential power, a president trying to block a merger because he doesn’t like the coverage by a news station, this one, owned by one of the companies involved?

“Well, number one, I don’t know if it’s true,” said Kennedy, saying the source was anonymous. “Number two, I think it’s perfectly acceptable for the president of the United States to have an opinion.”

“To block a merger — to block a merger, to punish what he considers a critic?” asked Sciutto.

“I don’t think that it’s been established. I know it’s been alleged that that was what his mental perspective was at the time,” said Kennedy. “I don’t know what the president thought, and neither do you, frankly. It’s an anonymous source once again talking to ‘The New York Times.”

“Well, it’s ‘The New Yorker,’” said Sciutto, raising the question of whether Kennedy had even read the article he was dismissing. “If the president were to do that, would you consider that an acceptable use of presidential power?”

“Well, I don’t think that’s a fair question,” said Kennedy with a stammer. “Because they haven’t proven that he did it.

Watch the video below.

===

https://insideclimatenews.org/news/27062018/hfcs-global-warming-climate-pollution-lawsuit-trump-epa-regulations-kigali-amendment

Eleven states and the District of Columbia sued the Trump administration on Wednesday, demanding enforcement of regulations on super-polluting greenhouse gases in air conditioners and refrigerators.

A similar lawsuit was filed by environmentalists on Tuesday. Both challenge an attempt by Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt to roll back federal regulations on the class of chemicals known as hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs.

The HFC lawsuits are the latest in a string of legal challenges to the Trump administration's far-reaching agenda of rolling back environmental regulations, especially those relating to climate change. Instead of launching a new formal rulemaking procedure to rescind or replace the HFCs rule, Pruitt announced in Aprilthat the agency would no longer enforce the Obama-era rule, which a federal court had partially struck down in a case brought by two foreign HFCs manufacturers.

The court had struck down only part of the HFCs rule, leaving some elements in place, yet Pruitt's move essentially eliminated the rule entirely. By using "guidance" to do that rather than going through the formal rulemaking process, Pruitt violated administrative law, the NRDC's Lissa Lynch wrote in a blog post explaining her group's lawsuit over the move.

"Throwing out these commonsense restrictions on this potent pollutant is contrary to the law and science, and it is disruptive to the manufacturers that have invested in alternatives," Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey said in announcing the states' lawsuit. "We are suing to protect the health of our residents and the planet."

An EPA spokesperson, asked about the lawsuits, said the agency does not comment on pending litigation.

Thousands of Times More Potent Than CO2

HFCs have become the world's fastest growing greenhouse gases as use of refrigeration and cooling spreads in a warming and more populous world. In the short term, they are thousands of times more potent as global warming gases than carbon dioxide, and while they don't last as long in the atmosphere, the short-lived climate pollutants have a rapid global impact.

The Obama administration finalized a rule in 2015 to phase out the chemicals. By then, U.S. manufacturers were already producing less damaging alternatives, and many companies supported the phase-down.

An analysis by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory estimated the rule would have provided about 4 percent of the cuts in greenhouse gas emissions the U.S. needed to meet its obligations under the Paris climate agreement.

What About the Kigali Amendment?

Another move to phase out HFCs has been developing at theinternational level, and the Trump administration at one point indicated it supported it.

In 2016, nations agreed to an update to the Montreal Protocol called the Kigali Amendment that requires all countries to slash production and consumption of HFCs by at least 80 percent over the next 30 years. It has the backing of a wide array of U.S. businesses, many of which manufacture safer alternatives to HFCs. But the Trump administration has yet to send it to the Senate for ratification.

Thirteen Republican senators, led by John Kennedy of Louisiana and Susan Collins of Maine, have urged the White House to move forward with the treaty, saying the amendment would help domestic companies by leveling the playing field worldwide and giving them long-term certainty on what chemicals to use going forward.

In the meantime, Pruitt's deregulatory moves, if they survive court challenges, would undercut U.S. progress toward meeting the Kigali goals.

Connections to an Ethics Scandal

HFCs have come up in the ethics allegations swirling around Pruitt, as well, the Washington Post reportedthis week. Emails obtained by the Sierra Club under the Freedom of Information Act show that J. Steven Hart, a lobbyist whose wife rented Pruitt a condo on Capitol Hill last year, had contacted Pruitt's chief of staff in 2017 seeking to discuss the HFCs rule and issues it might cause for companies. The agency has maintained that Hart did not lobby the agency on environmental issues. The matter is under investigation by both the EPA's inspector general and the House oversight committee.

The attorneys general who sued over HFCs represent New York, California, Delaware, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oregon, Vermont, Washington and the District of Columbia, and they were joined by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. Earlier this year, Californiaregulators adopted their own state prohibition on HFCs in new air-conditioning and refrigeration.

"The Trump EPA is seeking to gut critical climate protection rules through the backdoor—once again endangering New Yorkers while thumbing their nose at the law," New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood said.

PUBLISHED UNDER:

REGULATION

SHORT-LIVED CLIMATE POLLUTANTS

SCOTT PRUITT

EPA

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kennedy_(Louisiana_politician)

John Kennedy

United States Senator from Louisiana	United States Senator from Louisiana
Incumbent	Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 2017 Serving with Bill Cassidy	Assumed office January 3, 2017 Serving with Bill Cassidy
Preceded by	David Vitter
Treasurer of Louisiana	Treasurer of Louisiana
In office January 10, 2000 – January 3, 2017	In office January 10, 2000 – January 3, 2017
Governor	Mike Foster Kathleen Blanco Bobby Jindal John Bel Edwards
Preceded by	Ken Duncan
Succeeded by	Ron Henson (Acting)
Personal details	Personal details
Born	John Neely Kennedy November 21, 1951 (age 66) Centreville, Mississippi, U.S.
Political party	Republican (2007–present)
Other political affiliations	Democratic (before 2007)
Spouse(s)	Rebecca Stulb
Children	1 son
Education	Vanderbilt University (BA) University of Virginia (JD) Magdalen College, Oxford(BCL)
Website	Senate website

John Neely Kennedy (born November 21, 1951) is an American attorney and politician serving as the junior United States Senator from Louisiana since January 3, 2017. After prevailing in Louisiana's 2016 U.S. Senate jungle primary, Kennedy defeated Democratic candidate Foster Campbell by more than 21 percentage points in the 2016 Senate election runoff.

Kennedy was a member of the Democratic Party until 2007, when he became a Republican. Before being elected to the Senate, he served multiple terms as Louisiana State Treasurer.

Education and early career

Born in Centreville, Mississippi, Kennedy was raised in Zachary in East Baton Rouge Parish. He graduated in 1969 from Zachary High School. He finished magna cum laudein 1973 from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, with a degree in Political Science, Philosophy, and Economics.

At Vanderbilt, he was elected president of his senior class and named to Phi Beta Kappa. After Vanderbilt, Kennedy received a J.D. degree in 1977 from the University of Virginia School of Law in Charlottesville, Virginia. At the University of Virginia School of Law, he was an executive editor of the Virginia Law Review and was elected to the Order of the Coif.^[1] In 1979, he earned a Bachelor of Civil Law degree with first class honours from Magdalen College, Oxford in England.^[2][3]

Prior to entering politics, Kennedy practiced law at the New Orleans and Baton Rouge firm of Chaffe McCall. Before he took office as state treasurer, Kennedy had served as appointed secretary of the Department of Revenue and was a legal counselor and secretary for then Governor Buddy Roemer.^[citation ^needed]

He has also served as an adjunct professor at Louisiana State University's Paul M. Hebert Law Center in Baton Rouge.^[4]

Political career

In 1988, Kennedy became special counsel to then-Democratic Governor Roemer.^[5] In 1991, he was appointed cabinet secretary and served in that post until 1992. In 1991, he was an unsuccessful Democratic candidate for state Attorney General of Louisiana to succeed the retiring William J. Guste.^[6]

Following his first stint in state government, Kennedy returned to the private practice of law until 1996. That same year, he was appointed Secretary of the state Department of Revenue in the cabinet of Republican Governor Mike Foster.^[7]

Treasurer of Louisiana

Kennedy at the NatchitochesChristmas Parade in 2014

Kennedy left the Foster administration when he was elected State Treasurer in 1999, having unseated incumbent Democrat Kenneth "Ken" Duncan, 621,796 (55.6 percent) to 497,319 (44.4 percent).^[8] Kennedy was re-elected Treasurer without opposition in 2003.^[9]

After being courted by the Republican Party for months, Kennedy announced in a letter to his constituents that he was leaving the Democratic Party and joining the Republicans, effective August 27, 2007. In his letter, he announced that he would run again for State Treasurer.^[10]

During the State Treasurer's term to which he was elected in 2007, Kennedy devised a twenty-four-point plan by which the state could save money.^[11] Governor Bobby Jindal said Kennedy could "streamline" his own department. Many of Kennedy's ideas were derived from the Louisiana Commission for Streamlining Government, of which the Treasurer was a member.^[12]

U.S. Senate

Elections

Main articles: United States Senate election in Louisiana, 2004; United States Senate election in Louisiana, 2008; and United States Senate election in Louisiana, 2016

Then-President-elect Donald Trumpand Kennedy campaigning in Baton Rouge

In 2004, Kennedy campaigned for the United States Senate seat held by John Breaux, who retired from elected office. Kennedy ran as a Democrat in the state's jungle primary, losing to Republican David Vitter and Democrat Chris John.^[13] Vitter defeated John to win the seat in the general election.^[14][15]

Kennedy ran for the U.S. Senate again in 2008. This time, Kennedy ran as a Republican. He was defeated, 52.1 to 45.7 percent, by incumbent Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu; the same year, Republican presidential nominee John McCain defeated Barack Obama in Louisiana, but Obama was elected nationwide.^[16][17]

On January 26, 2016, Kennedy announced that he would run for the U.S. Senate for a third time. In seeking to succeed the retiring David Vitter, he faced more than twenty opponents.^[18] Vitter announced his retirement from the Senate in 2015 after losing a bid for governor to the Democrat John Bel Edwards.^[19]

Kennedy's senatorial campaign was endorsed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Federation of Independent Business, the National Rifle Association, the National Right to Life Committee, the American Conservative Union, Vice President Mike Pence and President Donald Trump.^[20][21]:{

Kennedy, who had supported Vitter for governor the previous year, won the jungle primary and faced Democrat Foster Campbell in a December 10 runoff election. President-elect }:Donald Trump—who had received Kennedy's support in the 2016 presidential election^[22]—campaigned for Kennedy the day before the runoff election.^[23] Kennedy defeated Campbell, 536,204 (61 percent) to 347,813 (39 percent), in the runoff election. Kennedy lost the largest populated parishes of Orleans and East Baton Rouge, in which he had been reared, but he was a runaway winner in Campbell's home parish of Bossier.^[24]

Tenure

Kennedy was sworn in as Louisiana's junior U.S. Senator on January 3, 2017.

In June 2017, Kennedy grilled Education Secretary Betsy DeVos in a hearing before the Appropriations subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Service, Education and Related Agencies. In the exchange, he contrasted the lack of school choice available for younger pupils in many rural areas of the country to the widespread brands of mayonnaise available on the grocery store shelf: "Now I can go down to my overpriced Capitol Hill grocery this afternoon and choose among about six different types of mayonnaise. How come I can't do that for my kid," Kennedy said. The remark attracted national attention. DeVos replied that the Trump administration budget proposal would give parents and students more power and opportunity so that American education could again become "the envy of the world."^[25]

Kennedy has attracted comment for his manner in the Senate. The Huffington Post reported: "Since being elected to the Senate a year ago, Kennedy[...] has made a name for himself on Capitol Hill with his wit, humor and penchant for folksy expressions ― a notable feat in a place where jargon and arcane procedure tend to reign supreme. At a time when many of his colleagues are using modern forms of media to communicate with their constituents ― e.g., Twitter ― Kennedy has managed to command viral headlines with little more than Southern wisdom and a Pelican State drawl, distilling events of the day into blunt terms regular people can understand."^[26]

Committee assignments

2024

Political positions

Kennedy holds a score of 89% for the 116th Congress and a lifetime score of 83% from Heritage Action for America.^[171] The American Conservative Union's Center of Legislative Accountability gives Kennedy a lifetime rating of 83.74.^[172] His Humane Society Legislative Fund rating has ranged between 67% (2019) and 28% (2017), with his last (2020) at 57%.^[173] On infrastructure, the National Association of Police Organizations rates Kennedy at 60% and the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) has assigned him a rating of 8% on matters concerning labor unions.^[173]

Judiciary[edit]

Kennedy is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. As a member, he voted to confirm Justices Neil Gorsuch,^[174] Brett Kavanaugh,^[175] and Amy Coney Barrett.^[176] He voted against the nomination of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.^[177]

Kennedy has defended the blue slip process for district court judges, saying that it "encourages bipartisan cooperation … The blue slip process makes our court system fairer and stronger. And that’s good for our democracy."^[178] He often asks judicial nominees basic questions about the Constitution during their confirmation process, occasionally stumping them.^[179]

Kennedy has opposed the effort to add more justices to the Supreme Court,^[180] claiming it would "delegitimize" the Court. He has said he supports judges and justices who believe in "judicial restraint", adding, "Federal judges don't make law. They don't tell us what the law ought to be. They tell us what the law is."^[181] Kennedy opposed Congress establishing ethics standards for justices. He claimed such a move would violate the Constitution and called it a "a crusade to undermine the United States' Supreme Court's legitimacy and the credibility of the federal judiciary."^[182]

Natural disasters and conservation[edit]

Kennedy has advocated for natural disaster aid for Louisiana to address hurricane damage as a member of the Appropriations Committee.^[183] He worked to reform the National Flood Insurance Program because he believes flood insurance is too expensive for coastal communities, including those in Louisiana. In 2023, Kennedy called on FEMA to disclose the algorithm it uses to determine flood insurance prices after premiums increased rapidly under FEMA's Risk Rating 2.0, saying, "Since millions of Louisianians depend on the NFIP to protect their homes from natural disasters, FEMA must come clean about why premiums are skyrocketing under Risk Rating 2.0. In the meantime, my bills would ensure fairer rates for the people of Louisiana."^[184]

As treasurer, Kennedy believed in investing in coastal restoration and conservation. He worked to ensure that settlement money from the BP oil spill was used for coastal protection and restoration.^[185] Kennedy also fought to protect tobacco settlement money that had been allocated toward coastal restoration after the governor proposed using the money to cover other state debts.^[186]

Health care[edit]

Kennedy supported the "skinny repeal" of the Affordable Care Act in 2017, a vote that failed. He said, "It's not a loss for the Republican Party—it's a loss for the American people. But I intend to keep my promise to the people of Louisiana, to get rid of Obamacare."^[187] Kennedy has supported capping the price of insulin. He and Senator Raphael Warnock introduced a bill to cap the price at $35.^[188]

As treasurer, Kennedy fought to keep investing tobacco settlement money in health care rather than reallocating it toward other budget shortfalls.^[189]

Education[edit]

Kennedy opposed President Biden's student loan forgiveness plan, saying, "Americans who already paid off their debt, worked through college, went to a trade school, or chose to not go to school will pay off the loans that other people incurred. On what planet is that fair?"^[190] He celebrated the Supreme Court's ruling against loan forgiveness, writing, "Biden's attempt to cancel student debt was a woke injustice: Forcing Americans who paid their debt or chose not to go to school to foot bills for [people] who haven’t paid back their personal loans. SCOTUS made the right call. Hardworking Americans will be better off for it."^[191]

Kennedy supports school choice and has argued that parents should get to pick the school their child attends, especially if their district is providing a poor education. He said, "We can't seem to teach our kids how to read and write and do basic math when we've got 18 years to do it. I don't understand that…I don't care what the political cost is. I'm willing to try just about anything to improve public elementary and secondary education, including vouchers, including school choice, including charter schools."^[192]

In 2023, Kennedy encouraged the Louisiana legislature to pass HB 12, a bill that requires schools to give extra tutoring to students who cannot read at grade level by third grade.^[193] He has served as a volunteer substitute teacher in Louisiana schools for more than a decade.^[194] He told CNBC he volunteered at the schools because "It occurred to me that not many of the folks in that room really knew what public schools were like today".^[93]

Banking[edit]

Kennedy has warned against allowing Chinese investors into American markets without safeguards to prevent insider trading. He passed two bills, the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act and the Accelerating Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act, to require American markets to delist foreign companies that do not allow reviews of their audits.^[195]

Kennedy criticized regulators for failing to spot the failure of Silicon Valley Bank, saying, "Where were the regulators? You couldn’t have found them with a search party."^[196]

Immigration and border security[edit]

Kennedy opposes illegal immigration and has called for stronger border security. In 2008, while serving as Louisiana treasurer, he criticized Senator Mary Landrieu for opposing legislation that would have prevented illegal immigrants from receiving Social Security benefits.^[197] In 2019, Kennedy supported Trump's effort to build a border wall and said he believed it could save taxpayers money by reducing the number of migrants on government benefits. He also called for illegal immigrants to pay fines for breaking immigration laws, saying, "If you cross the border illegally or overstay your visit to this country, then you should pay a stiff penalty."^[198] Kennedy said weak border policies have allowed fentanyl to flow into the United States, leading to thousands of overdose deaths annually. He introduced a bill to extend the prison sentences of those caught dealing fentanyl.^[199] Kennedy also introduced a bill to classify cartels south of the border as terrorist organizations.^[163]

Kennedy supports legal immigration, saying, "Legal immigration makes the country better. We are, after all, a nation of immigrants."^[200]

Abortion[edit]

Kennedy is "strongly opposed" to abortion.^[201] He supported the 2022 overturning of *Roe v. Wade*, saying, "today's decision to return the issue of abortion to the American people and the states corrects a legal and moral error."^[202]

Greenhouse emissions[edit]

In 2019, Kennedy introduced the American Innovation and Manufacturing Act,^[203] co-sponsored by Senator Tom Carper as an amendment to the American Energy Innovation Act. It would direct the Environmental Protection Agency to phase down production and consumption of hydrofluorocarbons over the next 15 years.^[204] Hydrofluorocarbons are potent greenhouse gases used primarily as coolants in refrigerators and air conditioning systems. The American Innovation and Manufacturing Act became law in December 2020 as part of the annual government funding bill.^[205] ^[non-primary ^source ^needed]

Guns[edit]

Kennedy had an "A" rating in 2016 and "A+" rating in 2022 from the NRA Political Victory Fund (NRA), which endorsed him during both elections.^{[206][207][83]} Kennedy opposed a rule from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms that effectively reclassified guns equipped with pistol stabilizing braces as short barreled rifles, which would require gun owners to register the weapons with the federal government. He argued the rule harmed gun owners with disabilities who needed the braces to use handguns. He tried to pass a joint resolution of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act to block the rule, but the resolution failed by a vote of 50–49.^[208] Kennedy supports gun ownership for self-defense and often says, "I believe love is the answer. I do. But I also own a handgun, just in case."^[209]

Criminal justice[edit]

Kennedy opposed the First Step Act, a bipartisan criminal justice reform bill. The bill passed 87–12 on December 18, 2018.^[210] Kennedy said the bill did not do enough to protect victims of crime, saying, "This is not a criminal justice bill. It is a prisoner release bill. We should be protecting victims of crimes and not the offenders who committed the crimes."^[211] In 2023, he introduced a bill that would lower the amount of fentanyl a dealer must possess to face the mandatory minimum prison sentence.^[199]

Kennedy has criticized prosecutors for declining to prosecute some offenders. In 2023, he introduced the Prosecutors Need to Prosecute Act, which requires prosecutors to disclose when they decline to prosecute cases. It would also remove funding for prosecutors who fail to report such cases.^[212]

Net neutrality[edit]

On March 7, 2018, Kennedy introduced a bill that would "prohibit companies like Comcast and Verizon from blocking or throttling web content."^[213] He was one of three Republican senators, with Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, to vote with the entirety of the Democratic caucus on May 16, 2018, to overturn the FCC's repeal of net neutrality.

Foreign policy[edit]

[](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:U.S._Congress_delegation_in_the_State_Duma_%282018-07-03%29_09.jpg)Kennedy greeting Vyacheslav Volodin in July 2018

As Louisiana treasurer, Kennedy defended his choice to invest state money in Israeli bonds, writing, "Here’s how the U.S. Secretary of State’s Office sums up our nation's relationship with Israel: 'The United States was the first country to recognize Israel as a state in 1948. Since then, Israel has become, and remains, America's most reliable partner in the Middle East. Israel and the United States are bound closely by historic and cultural ties as well as by mutual interests.' That—along with Israel Bonds' solid track record—is good enough for me.”^[214]

In April 2018, Kennedy was one of eight Republican senators to sign a letter to United States Secretary of the Treasury Steve Mnuchin and acting Secretary of State John Sullivan expressing "deep concern" over a United Nations report exposing "North Korean sanctions evasion involving Russia and China" and asserting that the findings "demonstrate an elaborate and alarming military-venture between rogue, tyrannical states to avoid United States and international sanctions and inflict terror and death upon thousands of innocent people" while calling it "imperative that the United States provides a swift and appropriate response to the continued use of chemical weapons used by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his forces, and works to address the shortcomings in sanctions enforcement."^[215]

In January 2019, Kennedy was one of 11 Republican senators to vote to advance legislation intended to block Trump's intent to lift sanctions against three Russian companies.^[216]

Kennedy criticized Biden for his conduct of the withdrawal from Afghanistan, saying, "President Biden chose to withdraw from Afghanistan, but there’s no reason it had to be so chaotic. We all saw it: The panic, the fear, the chaos, the abandonment of equipment, the scrambling to destroy unclassified documents and classified documents, thousands of Americans and our allies trapped behind Taliban lines, no plan for the refugees… I am so sorry that all of our American soldiers who fought so valiantly had to witness what we all saw, and what we saw was stunning incompetence."^[217]

Kennedy has been hawkish on China, especially when it comes to stopping Chinese companies from breaking American stock market rules. He passed two bills, the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act and the Accelerating Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act, to delist any company that refuses to have its audits inspected by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.^[218]

Kennedy supported sending aid to Ukraine, saying, "This is not just the fight for the people of Ukraine. It's a fight for the people of the United States of America. It’s a fight for our national security."^[219] He advocated for a special inspector general to monitor the aid given to Ukraine following Russia's invasion.^[220] Kennedy expressed concern that money was being misspent, saying, "Ukraine is not without flaws. We've heard several unsettling reports of bad actors exploiting our generosity… We trust that our friends in Ukraine take corruption seriously. We must verify, too."^[221]

Personal life

Kennedy resides in Madisonville in St. Tammany Parish outside New Orleans with his wife, Becky, and son, Preston. He attends North Cross United Methodist Church in Madisonville.^[4] He is unrelated to the Kennedy family of Massachusetts.^[34]

...

Kennedy's family have been political and economic elites in Louisiana since the 19th century. Kennedy's great-grandfather Leonidas Calhoun owned hundreds of acres of land in Catahoula and Concordia Parish, which employed sharecroppers. Kennedy inherited hundreds of acres of land in Catahoula when his mother died.^[224]

[bad code?]

... not every day you learn Congressional Republicans are excited to pass an Obama-era climate deal, but that seems to be the case when it comes to a treaty that would eliminate an obscure but potent greenhouse gas.

On June 4, a group of 13 Senate Republicans sent a letter to President Trump urging him to send them the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol for approval. Negotiated in 2016 under former President Obama and agreed on by leaders of 170 nations, the Kigali Amendment phases out hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), substances developed for use in refrigerators and air conditioning units after the Montreal Protocol banned their ozone-destroying cousins, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), beginning in the late 1980s. endit[bad code] Experts believe eliminating their use will stave off half a degree Celsius of global warming, which is why, when the deal was first agreed on, as “the single most important step we could take at this moment to limit the warming of our planet.”

But for the U.S. to be party to the agreement, it requires a two thirds majority vote in the Senate. And while the Trump administration voiced support for Kigali last year, E&E News reports that the effort to eliminate HFCs has since hit snags, most notably the Environmental Protection Agency, which under the leadership of Scott Pruitt is far more interested in unwinding climate regulations than implementing them.

Hence the recent Senate letter, which conspicuously makes no mention of climate change or Obama. To these Republicans, the Kigali Amendment is simply good business. The letter notes that it’s projected to add 33,000 U.S. manufacturing jobs and generate $4.8 billion in export revenues in the heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration industries. Failure to ratify the amendment, meanwhile, could cede these economic benefits to China....“We urge you to send this amendment to the Senate for consideration,” the letter reads. “The impacted industries in our country played a major role in shaping this amendment and are supportive of its ratification and implementation.”

David Doniger, Senior Strategic Director at the NRDC’s Climate and Clean Energy Program, said he hoped the letter is a signal that the Senate will move quickly to ratify the amendment if and when Trump sends it their way (no word on when that might happen, though).

“I think you’ll assume this will have general support from the Democrats,” Doniger told Earther. “What this letter signals is it’s also got substantial support from the Republicans and shouldn’t be controversial.”

In Doniger’s view, the reason for that bipartisan support is support from the industry that’s being regulated. Unlike, say, the Paris Agreement, which is fundamentally at odds with the survival of the fossil fuel industry, replacements for HFCs will come from the cooling industry, and should help it prosper.

“This is an agreement focused on a small set of industries [that] has the expertise, engagement, focus, formula for success to deal with these refrigerants, blowing agents, [and] solvents in a focused way,” Doniger said. “They are content to treat this as an industrial sector agreement.”

Although it wasn’t its intention at the time, implementing the Montreal Protocol has already had major climate benefits. A study published last year found that the phase-out of CFCs and hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) under the Montreal Protocol had, between 2008 and 2014, yielded about half the climate benefit of all other regulations enacted by the EPA

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kigali amend to montreal protocol

kennedy murkowski collins...

13 Republican senators are urging President Trump to back a policy achieved under former President Obama that they say would create American manufacturing jobs. It would also cut greenhouse gas emissions, but that went unmentioned.

Why it matters: In a letter, dated last week and obtained by Axios on Monday, the senators don’t mention "Obama" or "climate change." It's one of the starkest signs of how the Republican Party is willing to support efforts cutting emissions as long as they don’t mention one of these two hyper-polarizing topics....United States Senator United States Senator...Murkowski Johnny Isakson

United States Senator United States Senator

Lamar Alexander Marco Rubio