Archives for June 2012

June 20, 2012, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement urging the House Financial Services Committee chaired by Rep. Spencer Bachus to send HR 2313, a bill by Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, which would rescind what remains of a $108 billion expansion of credit to the International Monetary fund that has been used to bail out Greece:

“Now that the pro-bailout parties have cobbled together a shaky government in Greece, it is certain that U.S. taxpayers will continue to prop up European banks that bet poorly on the sovereign debt of not just Greece, but also Portugal and Ireland, and soon Spain. Already, U.S. lending to the IMF has topped $32.7 billion, with bailouts in Europe accounting for most of that at over $24 billion. What a waste.

“Yet House Republicans since taking the majority have not attempted to rescind the additional $108 billion of funding to the IMF that was approved by the Pelosi-Reid Congress in 2009. Their silence on this issue guarantees tens of billions of tax dollars will continue to be wasted to bail out reckless European, socialist governments and the banks that lent them the money to begin with.

“HR 2313 should be sent to the floor immediately for an up or down vote, and then sent to the Senate, before any more money is poured into the pit of European socialism.”

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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June 18, 2012, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today urged Tennessee Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander to drop a bill that would delay implementation of an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulation on coal emissions.

“By opposing Sen. James Inhofe in his effort to block the costliest Environmental Protection Agency mandate ever proposed (the Utility MACT rule) — you are acting as nothing more than a pawn in Obama’s ‘War on Coal,’” Wilson wrote in his letter to Alexander.

Alexander is offering legislation instead that would merely delay implementation of the rule regarding mercury emissions, which Wilson accused him of “attempting to provide cover to other Obama foot soldiers”.

Sen. Inhofe has described the Alexander effort as a “cover bill” that still “kills coal but just puts it off for six years.”

The EPA’s mercury emission regulations require power plants be retrofitted with new technologies that cost billions of dollars to implement. Rather than going through that trouble, many older coal-fired plants are simply shutting down leading to a drop in demand, which is costing coal mining jobs.

Wilson wrote that the regulation could cost as much as $108 billion to implement, could lead to a shutdown of 20 percent of the nation’s coal capacity, and potentially kill 1.6 million jobs, citing congressional committee estimates.

“You have frequently invoked the legacy of Ronald Reagan over the course of your political career, referring to yourself as an ‘activist conservative’ who believes in growth and prosperity through limited government,” Wilson wrote, concluding, “Your support for this economically crippling regulation stands in stark contrast to that legacy and those stated beliefs — which is why I hereby call upon you to join your Republican colleagues (and Democratic Senators Joe Manchin and Ben Nelson) in supporting Senator Inhofe’s legislation.”

A Senate vote is expected Wednesday, June 20, on the Inhofe measure.

Attachments:

Letter to Sen. Lamar Alexander, June 18, 2012 at http://getliberty.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Letter-Alexander-Coal-6-18-12.pdf

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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June 15, 2012, Fairfax, VA–Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement urging Senate adoption next week of S.J. Res. 37 that would overturn an Environmental Protection Agency regulation that would require coal-fired power plants to significantly reduce mercury emissions:

“The EPA’s mercury emission regulations require power plants be retrofitted with new technologies that cost billions of dollars to implement. Rather than going through that trouble, however, all the regulation is accomplishing is older coal-fired plants are being shut down, leading to a drop in demand, which then hurts miners who depend on coal for their livelihoods.

“The worst part is this regulation is completely unnecessary. Mercury is a natural part of the Earth’s environment. Thousands of tons of mercury are emitted annually through natural forces like volcanoes, deep-sea hydrothermal vents, geysers, and forest fires.

“The EPA is not regulating natural mercury emissions, because it cannot, but it is focused on the relatively low amount of mercury that is emitted by coal-fired plants in the U.S.  Meanwhile, its rules prevent more than 99 percent of mercury from being emitted into the environment. This may be one of the costliest and yet least effective regulations ever.

“Every single senator who wants to stand with the miners, and with the American people who need power for their homes, should vote to rescind this tyrannical imposition by the EPA. Senator Inhofe is to be commended for his efforts to rein in this out-of-control agency.”

Attachments:

“The Myth of Killer Mercury,” By Willie Soon and Paul Driesson, Wall Street Journal, May 25, 2011 at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703421204576329420414284558.html

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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June 15, 2012, Fairfax, VA--Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement praising Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell for his long service in defense of First Amendment freedoms:

“It’s kind of sad when in America we have to praise somebody for supporting the freedom of speech. But today, with the relentless assault by all levels of government attempting to curtail political speech, Senator McConnell’s remarks today must be recognized.

“Senator McConnell’s eloquent defense of our first freedom—the right of everyone to speak their minds regardless of content—is appreciated, and we call on all elected officials to heed his call to protect the very fabric of our Republic by preserving that freedom. Thank you, Senator McConnell, on behalf of the American people whose rights you are defending.”

Attachments:

To listen to McConnell’s speech: http://www.cc.org/capitolhillupdates/growing_threats_our_first_amendment_rights_address_senate_republican_leader_mitch

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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June 14, 2012, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement reacting to a leaked version of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact with Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam:

“These new trade agreements will place domestic U.S. firms that do not do business overseas at a competitive disadvantage.  Based on these leaked documents, foreign firms under this trade pact could conceivably appeal federal regulatory and court rulings against them to an international tribunal with the apparent authority to overrule our sovereignty. If foreign companies want to do business in America, they should have to follow the same rules as everyone else. No special favors.

“It is telling that the only apparent way these Pacific nations will enter a free trade agreement with the U.S. is if they are exempt from our onerous environmental and financial regulations that make it cost-ineffective to do business here. Instead of making these foreign firms exempt from these burdensome rules, they should just repeal the regulations and make it cheaper to do business here.

“This poses an even wider problem, though. Obama is negotiating a trade pact that would constitute a judicial authority higher than even the U.S. Supreme Court that could overrule federal court rulings applying U.S. law to foreign companies. That is unconstitutional. The U.S. cannot be allowed to enter a treaty that would abrogate our Constitution.

“This tribunal needs to be removed from this agreement, and no foreign company doing business on our soil should have a competitive advantage, created by some a dumb agreement, over American companies. What is Obama thinking? He is placing international organizations above the interests of our own country.”

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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June 14, 2012, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement on a House plan to extend current tax rates for a single year:

“If House Republicans believed in anything, they would vote to make the current tax rates permanent, send that to the Senate, and make that the only option to prevent the nation from driving off the fiscal cliff at year’s end. And if Harry Reid doesn’t want to go along with it, then it’s on him.

“It is obscene and immoral to set tax rates every 12 months. Set the rates, all of them, make them permanent. Give people and businesses certainty in this weak economy, instead of one more year of uncertainty that will not get us out of our doldrums. Rather than even attempting to clean up the mess we are in, Republicans are guaranteeing another lost year economically. Temporary tax breaks have never worked before, and they won’t work now.

“We’re supposed to be a nation of laws, not a nation of whims. By going along with these temporary extensions year after year, Republicans are accepting this arbitrary, psychotic rule that is hurting the national economy. It is inexcusable.”

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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June 8, 2012, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement challenging Obama’s declaration that the “private sector is doing fine”:

“The private sector is not doing just fine. It is growing, just barely, in spite of Obama and his policies. Obama lauds the 4 million private sector jobs created in the establishment survey, but that is just happy talk.  That is not recovering nearly fast enough to retrieve the 8 million jobs that were lost in this recession since 2008. It does not even keep up with the growth of the working age population, which has increased by 10 million since that time.

“For all of Obama’s ‘stimulus’ and overregulation and government expansion, the fact is that only 21.9 million people work for the federal, state, and local government, or 15 percent of the 142 million people employed nationwide. Obama says the problem is that government jobs are not growing fast enough, but we could never have a government big enough, growing fast enough to help the 27 million Americans out there who cannot find full-time work in the Obama economy.

“What Obama fails to understand are that all public sector jobs are consumption, they are a net cost to the economy. In and of themselves, they create nothing.

“We need robust private sector expansion to get out of this hole. And right now we’re not getting that with Obama, contrary to his happy talk rhetoric. We’re overregulated, overtaxed, overspending, and overindebted — and Obama has done nothing to stop the bleeding. So, unless Obama gets robust, private sector job growth, he won’t have the money to pay for his army of government employees. Not even Ben Bernanke can print enough money to satisfy Obama’s lust to expand the government payroll.”

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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June 7, 2012, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement responding to French President Francois Hollande’s plan to lower France’s retirement age to 60 at the same time Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke promised that the central bank was “prepared to take action as needed to protect the U.S. financial system and economy in the event that financial stresses escalate”:

 “At a time when a European collapse caused by too much debt is the very thing that is weighing down markets, French President Hollande’s big plan is to throw fuel on the fire by lowering France’s retirement age, placing more strain on an already threadbare system. Meanwhile the financial elites have engaged in a whispering campaign to have the U.S. prop up Europe and the rest of the global economy with more quantitative easing money printing. Ben Bernanke says he’s ‘prepared to take action’ if that’s what it takes.

“This is obscene. The American people are being forced to pay, through higher inflation and direct bailouts through institutions like the IMF, to enable the French to work less, the Greeks to default on their debts, and to prop up insolvent Spanish banks.

“Now is the time for House Financial Services Committee Chairman Rep. Spencer Bachus to send HR 2313 to the floor of the House, which would roll back $108 billion of additional commitments the U.S. made to the IMF in 2009. With U.S. lending to the fund topping $32.7 billion, direct bailouts to Europe now account for most of that at $24 billion. Action is needed quickly to prevent any more bailouts from going out the door.

“There also needs to be a clear prohibition on the Fed from engaging in any more backdoor bailouts to Europe, including its continued dollar liquidity operations to help expand European lending. Defunding the IMF will do little good if, in the end, the bailout just comes from the central bank. For good measure, a real audit is needed at the Fed while we’re at it to see just how many trillions of dollars have gone out the door since the European crisis began.”

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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