Archives for December 2010

December 22nd, 2010, Fairfax, VA—Award-winning Americans for Limited Government (ALG) cartoonist William Warren is honored to have five of his best cartoons published in the book, Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year, 2011 Edition.

“William Warren is very deserving of this honor,” said ALG President Bill Wilson. “We are proud and privileged to have him work for ALG. He produces great work and it is no wonder that five of his cartoons were selected for the book.”

With new cartoons featured three days a week on ALG’s website, Warren’s cartoons are right on with the political issues of the day with an added dose of humor.

In an exclusive interview with ALG News, Warren talks about life as a conservative cartoonist, his influences, and his views on contemporary political events.

Warren gave his thoughts on what makes a funny political cartoon: “A funny and successful cartoon must be rooted in truth. If it’s a lie, no one will find it amusing. Secondly, it has to put a clever spin on an issue and twist that issue to the point of absurdity. And it has to be delivered well, which is where art, caricature, composition, and style come into play.”

Attachments:

“ALG’s Award-Winning Cartoonist Talks Skills, Passion and Talent,” December 22nd, 2010.

“Obama Monument,” February 2nd, 2010.

“Veered to the Left,” March 10th, 2010.

“Earth to NASA,” July 7th, 2010.

“How ‘Bout a Cold Drink,” July 27th, 2010.

“Insurmountable Odds,” September 2nd, 2010.

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December 20th, 2010, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government (ALG) President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement in support of a 74-day continuing resolution to keep the government funded until March 4th:

“Senate Republicans have forced Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and the Democrats to acknowledge the elections. The omnibus ploy was insulting to the people and dangerous for our nation. Now the hard work of cutting the federal budget begins. The 74-day continuing resolution under consideration will give the next Congress the opportunity to actually make spending cuts to begin to bring our fiscal house into order in 2011 instead of continuing to kick the can.

“It is no longer Congress’ job to borrow and spend billions of dollars it doesn’t have. Now, its job is to cut spending and to find a way to reduce the national debt so that we can return to a sustainable path as a nation. That is what the American people voted for in November.

“As a nation, we must stop heaping new debt on the shoulders of our children and grandchildren. That is what the American people expect, and that is the standard they will hold their representatives to, whether they are Democrats or Republicans. The fiscal crisis that looms and the hard choices we face are shared by all Americans.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Rebekah Rast at (703) 383-0880 or at rrast@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

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December 17th, 2010, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government (ALG) President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement in support of a 60-day continuing resolution to keep the government funded until February 18th:

“The American people owe Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans a debt of gratitude for leading the charge against the 2000-page $1.27 trillion omnibus monstrosity. In November, the American people spoke out against increasing the national debt, and now they have been heard in Washington. But more must be done.

“Congress should now pass Senator McConnell’s 60-day continuing resolution, and then go home. After that, it will fall on the next Congress to begin the hard work of bringing our fiscal house into order, cut spending, and return the nation to a sustainable path in the New Year. Defeating the omnibus is just the beginning, and not the end, of the work ahead of us.”

Attachment:

“Sovereign Debt Crisis Can Happen Here,” ALG President Bill Wilson, December 14th, 2010.

Interview Availability: Please contact Rebekah Rast at (703) 383-0880 or at rrast@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

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December 17th, 2010, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government (ALG) President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement in opposition to HR 5116, a bill with $7.4 billion in new spending sponsored by Senator Jay Rockefeller and cosponsored by Senators Alexander, Kay Bailey Hutchison and Jeff Bingaman:

“Not a day after the American people demanded that the wasteful spending come to an end with the omnibus bill, the Senate is already back to its old tricks. Now the so-called ‘America Competes Act’ has been put on the fast track to get unanimous authorization by the Senate. This is just more corporate welfare, even after omnibus was defeated, and it is outrageous. Where are the spending cuts the American people were promised?

“The programs funded in the bill, including increased spending of $7.4 billion for research grants, ‘green’ jobs and other items, are really irrelevant. No non-essential programs should be getting any additional funding while the nation has a $13.8 trillion national debt that cannot be paid.

“After November, it is no longer Congress’ job to borrow and spend billions of dollars it doesn’t have. Now, its job is to cut spending and to find a way to reduce the national debt so that we can return to a sustainable path as a nation. This $7.4 billion in new spending is completely unnecessary. There should be no new spending for unessential items like this. If the Senate cannot defeat smaller spending items, how will it tackle the larger ones? This is not what the American people voted for in November.

“If Congress cannot find a way to reduce spending and cut wasteful programs, the $13.8 trillion debt will soon be larger than the entire economy. Next year, the Federal Reserve will be the number one lender in the entire world to the government — more than China — with over $1 trillion of printed money. Moody’s has warned that it may downgrade its outlook to negative next year, and it could downgrade the Triple-A credit rating by 2018 if not sooner. Since there is a large bipartisan consensus not to increase taxes in this recession, that means our fiscal house can be brought into order with spending cuts. This $7.4 billion in new spending should be defeated.”

Attachment:

$7.4 billion in new spending, HR 5116.

Interview Availability: Please contact Rebekah Rast at (703) 383-0880 or at rrast@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

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Correction: Ireland would get $15 million for the International Fund for Ireland, not $15 billion to the International Monetary Fund for Ireland.

December 15th, 2010, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government (ALG) President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement on $1.27 trillion omnibus spending bill under consideration in the Senate:

“This $1.27 trillion omnibus monstrosity will fully fund ObamaCare for a year and contains over 6,600 outrageous earmarks, favors, kickbacks, and handouts from lawmakers to favored special interests totaling more than $8 billion. That includes $349,000 for swine waste management, $3.5 million for termite research in Louisiana, $6 million for parkland acquisition in Hawaii, and $15 million to the International Fund for Ireland. And yet, at least 4 Senate Republicans are considering supporting this bill: Senators Kit Bond, George Voinovich, Susan Collins, and Bob Bennett.

“The support of Senators Bond, Voinovich, Collins and Bennett would be enough to push this $1.27 trillion omnibus bill across the finish line, and would come in spite of a Senate Republican conference moratorium against earmarks. If Republicans cannot keep their promise to stop spending now, the American people will rightly question their credibility on fiscal matters. The American people have every right to be outraged, but they will pillory any Republican that votes for this. Republicans should stand with the American people against this waste.

“The American people have handed control of the House back to Republicans, and increased their numbers in the Senate, to more than anything else, stop the spending. But Republican support for the $1.27 trillion omnibus bill tells the American people that the decisive verdict they rendered in the November elections has gone unheeded.

“The nation is quickly going broke, and yet Congress continues to spend and pretend that there is nothing wrong. A vote for this omnibus is a vote for another trillion-dollar deficit in 2011. Where are the spending cuts the American people were promised?

“Americans for Limited Government supports Senator Judd Gregg’s amendment for a 45-day continuing resolution. If the current members of Congress have no political will to cut spending now, then the job should fall on the next session. It is time for Senate Republicans to stand for something. But nobody will believe the GOP stands for anything, if they cannot in fact stop anything. The vote on the $1.27 trillion omnibus monstrosity, if it goes through with Republican support, will be a repudiation by Washington of the outcome of the November elections.”

Attachment:

“Sovereign Debt Crisis Can Happen Here,” ALG President Bill Wilson, December 14th, 2010.

Interview Availability: Please contact Rebekah Rast at (703) 383-0880 or at rrast@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

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December 14th, 2010, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government (ALG) President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement on the budget continuing resolution under consideration in the Senate:

“The current continuing resolution is a transparent ploy by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid to negate the impact of the November elections. The current continuing resolution under consideration in the Senate will lock in the $3.5 trillion budget at current levels for a whole year without any spending cuts. Congressional Democrats should have no power to set in the nation’s budget priorities right now, having been so soundly rejected by the American people in November.

“Despite the dire fiscal crisis the nation faces, with a $13.8 trillion national debt that cannot be paid, and in spite of the American people who are demanding action to cut spending, Congress is busy voting to kick the can for yet another year. A vote for the continuing resolution is a vote for another trillion dollar-plus deficit, and that is simply unacceptable to all Americans. Any politician in Congress that has ever promised to reduce the deficit should vote ‘no’ on this continuing resolution.

“The proper course of action is to instead block the proposed continuing resolution and either propose a new one that locks in FY 2007 levels of $2.7 trillion across the board, or pass a 3 month continuing resolution that will give the new Congress an opportunity to cut spending for FY 2011. A recent International Monetary Fund study shows that successful fiscal consolidation programs around the world have relied primarily on spending cuts, not tax increases. If the current members of Congress have no political will to cut spending now, then they are a failure. They should just get out of the way, and hand the tough job ahead to the new Congress with a short three-month continuing resolution.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Rebekah Rast at (703) 383-0880 or at rrast@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

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December 14th, 2010, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government (ALG) President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement on the possible downgrade of the U.S. Aaa credit rating by Moody’s:

“Because the tax deal now under consideration does not include drastic spending reductions, there will likely be a $1.5 trillion deficit in 2011. As a result, Moody’s is once again warning the U.S. that the agency may switch the outlook on US debt to negative next year if the deal passes as proposed. Because there is a strong bipartisan consensus not to increase taxes during a severe economic downturn and risk a double-dip recession, our fiscal house can only be brought into order, and the $13.8 trillion debt reined in, with spending cuts.

“The warnings from sovereign credit ratings agencies could not be more clear. If Congress passes the tax deal without cutting the budget deficit, the likelihood of a credit downgrade increases substantially. A credit downgrade will increase borrowing costs, threaten the dollar’s status as the world’s reserve currency, and risk another global financial meltdown. Is that the legacy lawmakers really want on their consciences? Is that the account they want their grandchildren to read in the history books in twenty years?

“Nobody can claim with a straight face that the spiraling national debt is a ‘long-term’ or even a ‘mid-term’ problem. The debt is an imminent threat to the nation’s prosperity. Now is the time to cut spending. A recent International Monetary Fund study shows that successful fiscal consolidation programs globally have relied primarily on spending cuts, not tax increases. The choice is clear for lawmakers going forward. Either Congress cuts spending now, or else the U.S. will become the latest, largest victim of the sovereign debt crisis. It can happen here.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Rebekah Rast at (703) 383-0880 or at rrast@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

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December 13th, 2010, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government (ALG) President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement praising the decision of U.S. District Court Judge Henry E. Hudson to find ObamaCare’s individual mandate unconstitutional:

“The decision today by Federal Judge Hudson to invalidate the individual mandate in ObamaCare is a tremendous step forward. Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli deserves the praise and thanks of all Americans. Hopefully, future courts will finish the job and completely find ObamaCare to be unconstitutional.

“It is an unprecedented step forcing all Americans to purchase health insurance individually or through employers, obtain it from the government, or else pay a fine. Never before had Congress enacted a law forcing Americans to buy anything. As Judge Hudson said in August, ObamaCare’s individual mandate ‘literally forges new ground and extends Commerce Clause powers beyond its current high watermark.’ This means the Obama Administration was completely wrong when it asserted that ‘there is a pretty longstanding precedent on the constitutionality of this.’

“Without the individual mandate, ObamaCare loses a lot of its teeth. The mandate was supposed to be the mechanism to force millions of out-of-work Americans onto Medicaid. Without it, the path to a completely government-run health care system has run into a wall.”

Attachment:

ALG President Bill Wilson on Individual Mandate Being Invalidated, December 13th, 2010.

Interview Availability: Please contact Rebekah Rast at (703) 383-0880 or at rrast@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

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