Archives for February 2011

February 15th, 2011, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement praising a proposal by Rep. Jim Jordan to cut another $20 billion from the budget:

“Rep. Jordan’s proposal is a big step in the right direction, and will cut about $20 billion more from current spending levels. Coupled with House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers’ proposal to cut $60.8 billion in the continuing resolution, House Republicans are coming close to fulfilling their pledge to cut $100 billion. All members should vote in favor of Rep. Jordan’s amendment. These are excellent first steps by the new House majority.

“But more must be done. With a $14 trillion national debt, fast approaching 100 percent of the entire economy, and a $1.5 trillion deficit, Congress will need to find a whole lot more than $100 billion of cuts anyway. There will come a point where the debt becomes so large that it can no longer be serviced. The nation is already spending $413 billion a year in interest payments, which will likely rise to over $1.2 trillion by 2021. This is unsustainable, and will sink our finances sooner than anyone thinks.

“The only solution is to get the budget as close to balanced as possible and begin repaying the debt. House Republicans in their pledge also promised to ‘pay down the debt’. It is a promise they must keep if America is to remain the world’s number one economic superpower. We urge all citizens to continue to go to www.keepthepledge.org and urge House Republicans to keep their promises. There is too much at stake.”

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

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February 14th, 2011, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement responding to the Obama Administration’s ten-year budget:

“By 2021, under the Obama budget, the national debt will balloon to $26.3 trillion from its current level of $14.1 trillion, an 86.5 percent increase. In fact, this year, in 2011, the national debt will grow to $15.4 trillion, larger than the entire economy. Thereafter, the debt-to-GDP levels will stay above 100 percent, growing every single year.

“In fact, under the Obama budget, the national debt will never be repaid. It will continue to grow into perpetuity. Even under the rosiest of scenarios projected by the Obama Administration, the debt will be growing faster than the economy and be larger than the economy — forever.

“If spending is not cut drastically and the debt paid down at fixed intervals like a mortgage payment, one day the debt will become too large to service, let alone be paid down. Net interest alone will be $844 billion annually by 2021, a number that will easily double by 2030 if not triple.

“Congress must consider real proposals that will prevent these numbers from becoming reality. Because once they do, and once the debt becomes so large that it cannot be serviced, the U.S. will default on its obligations.

“While nobody can say for certain where that breaking point is, what is certain is that no system can be sustained that always spends more than it takes in and never repays any debt. It has never happened in history, and it never will happen.”

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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February 11th, 2011, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today urged Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, as well as the 26 co-plaintiff states, to take immediate action against the implementation of new regulatory processes forbidden by Judge Roger Vinson’s ruling:

“Despite the ruling of a federal court striking down the bill in its entirety, the Obama Administration has continued with the regulatory implementation of the health care takeover. Instead of the rule of law, we now have the rule of Obama.

“Today, published in the Federal Register, the Obama Administration has introduced a new regulation affecting student health plans. The problem is that the executive branch has no power to implement regulations based on voided legislation. These actions are barred by Judge Vinson’s ruling. The Obama Administration has not even taken the basic step asking the courts for a stay of that decision.

“This lawlessness must not stand. Without a stay or being overturned, the Administration must follow Judge Vinson’s decision.

“It is now evident that the Department of Health and Human Service is taking further steps to execute the law expressly forbidden by Judge Vinson’s ruling. Obama has called the states’ bluff by continuing with implementation. If the states are serious in their opposition to ObamaCare, they must take immediate action.”

Attachments:

“Obama Defies Judge, Implementation Continues,” February 7th, 2011, ALG President Bill Wilson.

“The Week Ahead Analyzes Judge Vinson’s Ruling,” Video News Segment, February 1st, 2011.

“Judge Stops ObamaCare, but Who Will Stop Obama?” February 2nd, 2011, by Robert Romano, Senior Editor, Americans for Limited Government.

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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February 10th, 2011, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement urging House Republicans to amend and build upon a proposal to cut current spending levels by $35 billion as the organization launched the grassroots petition site, http://keepthepledge.org/, to enable activists and concerned citizens to easily contact their members of Congress:

“A House Republican proposal to cut only $35 billion from current spending levels is very disappointing. The American people were promised $100 billion of initial cuts, and it was widely understood that proposal would be attached to an upcoming vote on the budget continuing resolution.

“House members should keep their pledge and cut $100 billion, as they promised to do when they were running for office. Then they said they would ‘roll back government spending to pre-stimulus, pre-bailout levels, saving us at least $100 billion in the first year alone and putting us on a path to balance the budget and pay down the debt.’ Unfortunately, now only a third that amount is being proposed.

“In November, the American people sent House Republicans back into the majority on the premise that they would bring order to the nation’s fiscal house. They need to keep the pledge and cut at least $100 billion. Representative Jordan has a solid, well conceived proposal that will meet and exceed that goal. The Jordan proposal must be incorporated into the Continuing Resolution.

“To the American people, a promise broken is rarely forgotten. Now, members must choose. Will they pretend they kept their pledge? Or will they amend this legislation to include the full $100 billion of they promised? The choice they make may well determine whether Republicans will sustain and build on their majority, or once again lose touch with the American people and lose the opportunity to bring the nation’s fiscal house into order.”

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

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February 10th, 2011, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement praising a move by House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers to go back to work on the budget continuing resolution to find $100 billion of cuts to attach:

“After rightly receiving a very poor reception to a proposal to merely cut $35 billion from existing budget levels, House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers has now promised to go back to the drawing board to find more cuts. In their Pledge to America, House Republicans had promised to cut $100 billion. He needs to find at least that much in cuts to keep the pledge.

“Now the American people need to verify that current spending levels will actually be cut by $100 billion. No gimmicks. It does not matter what Barack Obama proposed for Fiscal Year 2011, because his budget was never adopted. A promise to cut $100 billion can only be understood as a $100 billion cut from current spending levels, or else it’s just another stunt.

“I strongly hope and encourage that Chairman Rogers will avoid the gimmicks and accounting sleights of hand. The American people are tired of these games. We urge all citizens to go to www.keepthepledge.org and voice their concerns.”

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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February 8th, 2011, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement praising a plan by Florida Governor Rick Scott to overhaul the Medicaid and public pensions systems in his state:

“Governor Rick Scott’s proposal to move Medicaid recipients into managed care plans could save as much as $2 billion a year and is a move that warrants consideration by all governors and legislatures across the country. Medicaid spending is already sinking state governments with $60 billion in annual obligations that are set to dramatically rise as temporary federal ‘stimulus’ moneys run out. After that, state Medicaid spending will only rise in the next 10 years. This is a program that must be scaled back if states are to get their fiscal houses in order. Governor Scott is to be applauded for taking this step.

“Governor Scott also plans to put new government employees into a 401(k)-style retirement system and for all government employees to contribute 5 percent of their salaries to retirement. This will likely save another $1.4 billion every year, and give public employees a greater stake in the solvency of their retirement funds. And by transitioning new employees into defined contribution plans, Florida is putting itself on sounder fiscal footing for the coming years. With unfunded pension liabilities for states totaling as much as $3 trillion, phasing out and eventually eliminating defined benefit plans must be at the top of every state’s long-term fiscal planning. There is too much at stake.

“Thanks to these remarkable steps by Governor Scott to slash state spending, he can afford to include in his plan $2 billion in property and corporate tax cuts. These will make it easier for Florida to clear out its excess housing stock, and add new incentives for businesses to set up shop there.

“Taken together, slashing Medicaid spending, reforming the public pension system, and reducing the tax burden are a model for every state in the Union to follow. These are the steps that must be taken to make America competitive again, and to save governments from certain insolvency.”

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

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February 4th, 2011, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government Director of Communications Rick Manning, former Public Affairs Chief of Staff for the U.S. Department of Labor, today issued the following statement on today’s unemployment report:

“It simply is not credible that the unemployment rate could drop by .4% with only 36,000 jobs created. This supposed drop is at least partially a result of the Obama Administration changing the methodology for determining who was in the workforce. This change in methodology coupled with a massive drop in the top line unemployment rate leaves the data open to the perception that they may have been politically manipulated.

“However, taking the numbers at face value, the Obama Administration cannot avoid the harsh reality that their economic policies have resulted in almost one million people leaving the workforce in the past two months alone. The January reported decline of 504,000 is a startling indictment of the failure of the past two years, as Americans have voted with their feet to leave the workforce.

“The bottom line is that our nation needs to create more than 100,000 jobs a month for sustained economic growth, and this report reveals that the main driver of the unemployment rate decline is that Americans are giving up on the American dream of getting a job and making a better life for their families.

“In the past year, more than two million Americans have left the labor force with the labor participation rate dropping from 64.8% to 64.2%. The labor participation rate when Obama took office in January 2009 stood at 65.5% when Obama took office in January 2009.

“This is a devastating indictment of the Obama economic policy, and if not reversed will have severe implications for our nation’s economic future.”

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

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February 2nd, 2011, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement praising Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen for following federal Judge Roger Vinson’s decision striking down the government takeover of health care:

“Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen has taken the proper step of following the law, which now says that ObamaCare is unconstitutional in its entirety, relieving Wisconsin of any obligation to follow it. Every Attorney General in the nation must follow Attorney General Van Hollen’s lead, and halt any actions to implement this unconstitutional law. To do otherwise will open states up to legal liability.

“Instead, all states should join with the American people in demanding that Barack Obama cease and desist from any and all implementation of the law. The nation is now free from any compulsion to follow the dictates of Washington.

“All regulations derived from the health care takeover have also been voided by Judge Vinson’s ruling, and every bureaucrat at the Department of Health and Human Services must stop what they are doing this instant. Obama has to follow the law, and ensure that every single employee of the executive branch does the same.

“The rule of law must prevail in this instance. Unless and until Judge Vinson’s decision is overturned by a higher court, the federal government must follow it. The judiciary is a co-equal branch of government, whose decisions carry the full force of the law. Judge Vinson’s decision bars any further implementation of ObamaCare.”

Attachments:

“The Week Ahead Analyzes Judge Vinson’s Ruling,” Video News Segment, February 1st, 2011.

“Judge Stops ObamaCare, but Who Will Stop Obama?” February 2nd, 2011, by Robert Romano, Senior Editor, Americans for Limited Government.

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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February 2nd, 2011, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement condemning the U.S. Senate for voting against the repeal of the government takeover of health care, 51-47:

“It’s unfortunate that Senate Democrats are so far out of touch with the American people that not one of them chose to vote to repeal ObamaCare, which has already been found to be unconstitutional. They may be in the majority of the Senate, but they are against the majority of Americans who are demanding that this law not stand.”

Attachments:

“ObamaCare’s Lies,” Bill Wilson, President, Americans for Limited Government, January 19th, 2011.

“Repealing ObamaCare a Good Start to Entitlement Reform,” Robert Romano, Senior Editor, Americans for Limited Government, January 5th, 2011.

“ObamaCare Repeal Could Save $2.6 Trillion,” Robert Romano, Senior Editor, Americans for Limited Government, January 10th, 2011.

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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