Archives for March 2014

FOIA requests Commerce Dept. legal authority to turn over Internet

March 27, 2014, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government today filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) requesting the legal basis for its plans to transition control over the Internet to some as of yet unnamed international body.

The FOIA request includes “All records relating to legal and policy analysis developed by or provided to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) that support its decision to ‘transition key internet domain name functions,’ including any analysis showing whether the NTIA has the legal authority to perform the transition.”

On March 23, L. Gordon Crovitz reported in the Wall Street Journal that “a spokesman for the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration said the agency reviewed this legal issue and concluded the administration can act without Congress but refused to share a copy of the legal analysis [emphasis added].”

“The American people have a right to know why and on what legal basis, if any, the Commerce Department believes it has the power to transition control over key Internet domain name functions to an international body or to anyone else without a vote in Congress,” Americans for Limited Government president Nathan Mehrens stated.

Attachments:

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Request to National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), March 27, 2014 at http://getliberty.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/DOC-NTIA-FOIA-re-ICANN-03-27-14.pdf

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at (703)383-0880 or at media@algnews.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts including ALG President Nathan Mehrens.

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ALG urges passage of JOBS Act

March 26, 2014, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Nathan Mehrens today issued the following statement urging passage of the JOBS Act being introduced in the House of Representatives:

“Americans for Limited Government strongly urges passage of the Republican Study Committee’s JOBS Act.  The JOBS Act is comprehensive legislation that unleashes private job creators through overturning the Obama Administration’s regulatory assault on the American workforce.

“The JOBS Act stifles Obama’s War on Coal creating a low cost energy future that is needed to build a robust U.S. manufacturing sector which isn’t dependent upon government subsidies for success.  The Act also strips away the rogue National Labor Relation’s Boards capacity to serve as prosecutor, judge and jury on employment law cases, a power that has created profound workforce uncertainty for employers who seek to follow the law.  The House of Representatives should pass the JOBS Act without delay.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at (703)383-0880 or at media@algnews.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts including ALG President Nathan Mehrens.

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$63 billion IMF bailout stripped out of Ukraine aid bill

March 25, 2014, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Nathan Mehrens today issued the following statement praising Senate Republicans for stripping an additional $63 billion in new quota money for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) from a bill to offer a $1 billion loan guarantee to Ukraine:

“There never was a good reason to hold up the Ukraine aid legislation in order to give another $63 billion to the IMF to bail out banks that foolishly lent money to bankrupt European governments. Senate Republicans are to be praised for insisting to Harry Reid that it be removed. It should have never been included in the first place.

“In the face of Russia’s threats against Ukraine, it always was irresponsible to hold these loans hostage in order to achieve unrelated funding for the IMF, as if U.S. credibility abroad was something to be bargained with.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at (703)383-0880 or at media@algnews.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts including ALG President Nathan Mehrens.

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Ukraine aid should not be conditioned on $63 billion IMF bailout

March 21, 2014, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Nathan Mehrens today issued the following statement demanding the U.S. Senate take up a clean U.S. House legislation to offer a $1 billion loan guarantee to Ukraine, and to strike its additional $63 billion in new quota money for the International Monetary Fund (IMF):

“There is absolutely no reason to hold up Ukraine aid, needed to support the nascent government there, so that Obama can give another $63 billion to the IMF to bail out bankrupt governments like Greece and the banks that foolishly lent them money. Russia has annexed Crimea, and is threatening Ukraine, a U.S. ally. That is more than enough cause for Congress to consider the clean House aid bill to Ukraine on its merits. Even the Washington Post editorial page has rightly stated the ‘White House and Senate Democrats are more to blame for picking this fight’.

“It is time for Harry Reid to stop playing Washington, D.C. politics in the face of geopolitical threats. It is irresponsible to hold Ukraine aid hostage while that country’s fate very much hangs in the balance, and it is embarrassing.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at (703)383-0880 or at media@algnews.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts including ALG President Nathan Mehrens.

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U.S. cedes control of Internet infrastructure to the UN

March 14, 2014, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Nathan Mehrens today issued the following statement blasting the Obama Commerce Department for turning over control of the Internet to United Nations International Telecommunication Union*:

“Congress needs to prevent the Obama Administration from giving away U.S. control over the Internet to any international body.  To allow the free speech rights of U.S. citizens to be threatened by international bodies that don’t recognize these fundamental rights is dangerous and a threat to our national sovereignty.  Perhaps this latest egregious action by the Obama Administration in their quest to deconstruct the United States will finally wake Congress up to their power of the purse responsibility as a co-equal partner in government.”

* Editor’s Note: Initial reports by Politico indicated that the UN International Telecommunication Union could be taking over ICANN’s role in lieu of the U.S. A subsequent reading of Commerce’s proposal indicates that the agency’s intent is to “transition key Internet domain name functions to the global multistakeholder community” and “to convene global stakeholders to develop a proposal to transition the current role played by NTIA” and “ICANN will work collaboratively with the directly affected parties, including the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), the Internet Architecture Board (IAB), the Internet Society (ISOC), the Regional Internet Registries (RIRs), top level domain name operators, VeriSign, and other interested global stakeholders” and “international support continues to grow for the multistakeholder model of Internet governance”.

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at (703)383-0880 or at media@algnews.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts including ALG President Nathan Mehrens.

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Medicaid non-expansion qualifies 11.7 million for Obamacare waiver

March 13, 2014, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Nathan Mehrens today issued the following statement calling attention to a hardship exemption under Obamacare: “You were determined ineligible for Medicaid because your state didn’t expand eligibility for Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act,” according to the new Healthcare Marketplace form, “Application for Exemption from the Shared Responsibility Payment for Individuals who Experience Hardships.”:

Utilizing data compiled by Kaiser, about 11.7 million Americans in 25 states are eligible for a waiver to Obamacare’s individual mandate because their state governments wisely chose to not expand Medicaid eligibility saving taxpayers billions of dollars. The recently released White House definition details that those who are not covered by the expanded Medicaid criteria face a hardship and can apply for exemption from the Obama individual mandate tax.

“The Medicaid non-expansion waiver proves that the law itself is a hardship.  If millions sign up, it will severely undercut the law’s implementation. Republican governors who courageously stood up against this massive entitlement expansion should be helping this along by encouraging those who would have otherwise qualified for the program to get their exemptions.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at (703)383-0880 or at media@algnews.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts including ALG President Nathan Mehrens.

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ALG praises Judiciary Committee for taking up E-fairness

March 12, 2014, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Nathan Mehrens today issued the following statement praising the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee Rep. Bob Goodlatte for holding a hearing, “Exploring Alternative Solutions on the Internet Sales Tax Issue”:

“We thank Chairman Goodlatte for taking up the important issue of the E-fairness, returning the rightful power to the states to determine sales tax policy. It is sound from a federalism perspective and from an overall policy standpoint. The unintended consequence of current law is to dictate winners and losers between local and online sales, when it is Congress’ duty to facilitate commerce and remove artificial advantages.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at (703)383-0880 or at media@algnews.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts including ALG President Nathan Mehrens.

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Unemployment situation muddled

March 7, 2014, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Nathan Mehrens today issued the following statement on the latest jobs numbers:

“The two, distinct surveys that the Bureau of Labor Statistics produces that create the unemployment report continue to produce contradictory information.  The Household report that produces the unemployment rate shows an economy that is dead in the water with a paltry 43,000 more people employed last month, and a stunning 223,000 more people unemployed.  This dismal snapshot of the economy contrasts with the Establishment report where businesses provide the government their hiring statistics, where it is reported that 162,000 private sector jobs were created with a total of 175,000 when government hiring is included.

“Either report individually would lead any rational person to a completely different conclusion of where the economy stands, but when put together, they merely confirm that our nation’s economic situation is murky at best, and with the threat of Obamacare implementation, the threat of a minimum wage increase which is estimated to kill 500,000 more jobs, and the continued war on energy development being conducted by the EPA, it is amazing that the private sector has fought through these government created obstacles to produce even this meager economic stalemate.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at  (703) 383-0880(703) 383-0880  or at media@algnews.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts including ALG President Nathan Mehrens.

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Adegbile fails in Senate

March 5, 2014, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government Nathan Mehrens today issued the following statement praising defeat of Debo Adegbile in the U.S. Senate to head the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division:

“At long last, basic political survival instincts may have taken over for Democratic Senators.  A vote for Abegdile was a near certain political death sentence as evidenced by the endangered Democrats who joined Senate Republicans in opposing his nomination.  Now that Senators are actually listening to voters, perhaps Obamacare can be legally delayed by Congress as opposed to being delayed at the whim of the President.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at (703)383-0880 or at media@algnews.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts including ALG President Nathan Mehrens.

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