March 9, 2023, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement responding to H.R. 140, the Protecting Speech from Government Interference Act:

“H.R.140, the Protecting Speech from Government Interference Act, is a great sounding bill, but in Washington, D.C., as we’ve learned from the Inflation Reduction Act, the titles of legislation do not always reflect what the legislation does. The Protecting Speech from Government Interference Act specifically exempts federal law enforcement personnel from the provisions of the law in the exercise of their lawful duties.

“The perverse effect of this loophole is that the same FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and CISA which have overtly pressured social media platforms to censor political speech under the guise of counterterrorism appears to be exempt from its very provisions. Other government civil agencies would merely need to forward their disinformation ‘concerns’ to agencies expressly allowed to forward them to private sector entities including interactive computer services and social media companies. The net effect is that the legislation intended to stop the governmental censorship appears to write its allowance into law.

“Specifically, the proposed bill states, ‘Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit an employee from engaging in lawful actions within the official authority of such employee for the purpose of exercising legitimate law enforcement functions…’ which excludes law enforcement from the provision defining censorship as ‘the removal or suppression of lawful speech, in whole or in part, from or on any interactive computer service’ if they are discharging their lawful duties without any enforcement provision or legal recourse for the censored. Similarly, it does nothing to roll back the lawful authority of CISA, FBI, et. al. to forward and provide information including disinformation ‘concerns’ to private sector entities including social media under H.R. 3359 from 2018 in its counterterrorism provisions.

“It is disappointing that what appeared to be a great first step in protecting First Amendment political speech is actually a swing and a miss that may in fact violate the First Amendment’s prohibition that ‘Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press’ by specifically authorizing federal law enforcement to engage in censorship by outlining the exceptions to the law therein.”

Attachments:

“CISA scrubs ‘disinformation’ web page to remove the fact it ‘rout[es] disinformation concerns’ to ‘appropriate social media platforms’ to censor you,” By Robert Romano, March 9, 2023 at https://dailytorch.com/2023/03/cisa-scrubs-disinformation-web-page-to-remove-the-fact-it-routes-disinformation-concerns-to-appropriate-social-media-platforms-to-censor-you/

For media availability contact Americans for Limited Government at media@limitgov.org.

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Feb. 22, 2023, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement in opposition to the draft World Health Organization (WHO) Pandemic Agreement:

“Americans for Limited Government opposes President Joe Biden’s negotiated draft agreement with the World Health Organization that abrogates U.S. sovereignty without any Senate ratification. Article 4, Section 3 of the draft clearly states that the United States and other signatories would retain sovereignty, but only ‘provided that activities within their jurisdiction or control do not cause damage to their peoples and other countries.’

“In other words, America would retain our sovereignty so long as it complies with the measures that WHO recommends. It even allows for provisional adoption of the agreement in Article 35 to expedite implementation.

“Toward the end of protecting the Senate’s advice and consent process on treaties, Senator Ron Johnson has introduced legislation the ‘No WHO Pandemic Preparedness Treaty Without Senate Approval Act’ which we wholeheartedly support.  Additionally, we urge the House and the Senate to end U.S. financial support to the World Health Organization should President Biden press ahead on this disastrous shattering of our liberties under the U.S. Constitution.

“It is clear that President Biden intends to sign and follow the WHO Pandemic Agreement without submitting it to the Senate, and it is incumbent on Congress to send the current president a strong message that he cannot trade away our nation’s freedoms to unaccountable third party actors.”

Attachments:

WHO Pandemic Agreement, Draft, Feb. 1, 2023 at https://apps.who.int/gb/inb/pdf_files/inb4/A_INB4_3-en.pdf Article IV, Section 3: “Sovereignty – States have, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and the principles of international law, the sovereign right to determine and manage their approach to public health, notably pandemic prevention, preparedness, response and recovery of health systems, pursuant to their own policies and legislation, provided that activities within their jurisdiction or control do not cause damage to their peoples and other countries. Sovereignty also covers the rights of States over their biological resources.”

President Biden proposed amendments, Jan. 18, 2022 at https://apps.who.int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/WHA75/A75_18-en.pdf

Council of the EU gives green light to start negotiations on international pandemic treaty, March 3, 2022 at https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2022/03/03/council-gives-green-light-to-start-negotiations-on-international-pandemic-treaty/

For media availability contact Americans for Limited Government at media@limitgov.org.

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Feb. 1, 2023, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement in response the FBI’s search of President Joe Biden’s Rehoboth, Del. beach house in connection with its missing classified documents case against Biden, according to CBS News’ Arden Farhi “the search was planned with Biden’s attorneys and consensual. No warrant was sought for this search…”:

“According to CBS News’ sources, President Joe Biden’s beach house in Rehoboth, Del. is being searched in connection to the FBI’s ongoing investigation against Biden of the missing classified documents, but without the use of any warrants and therefore no judicial oversight. In light of the FBI’s treatment of former President Donald Trump who lawfully held documents that he says he declassified in its August raid at Mar-a-lago, it is stunning they are proceeding without a search warrant which under the Fourth Amendment would require the FBI to tell a judge what they were hoping to find, protecting the rights of the accused and preventing a wholesale general warrant.

“Since day one of the discovery of the illegally held Biden classified documents, the FBI has allowed Biden attorneys the privilege to go through boxes without supervision, effectively neutering any real investigation. America watched almost a decade ago, became aware that Hillary Clinton smashed her cell phones and bleachbitted her computers to deny federal officials access to her unsecure email server.

“It should be remembered that the FBI similarly allowed Clinton’s attorneys to go through her emails to determine if there was classified information on her computer, only intervening after much of the evidence was tainted or destroyed. America has seen what the FBI does when they’re serious, with 6 a.m. raids on targets of investigations if they’re in the wrong political party and kid gloves for the Democrats who have apparently become the official party of the government.”

For media availability contact Americans for Limited Government at media@limitgov.org.

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Jan. 30, 2023, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement urging passage of H.J. Res. 7 and H.R. 382 to both the presidential and Department of Health and Human Services national Covid emergencies:

“This week, the House of Representatives will be voting on two pieces of legislation by U.S. Reps. Paul Gosar and Brett Guthrie to end the 2020 presidential declaration under the National Emergencies Act and by the Department of Health and Human Services for the Covid pandemic. The fact is, the virus is much less deadly than it was in 2020. When the pandemic began, estimated cases peaked in March 2020 at 157,000 per day, and then daily fatalities peaked by April 17 at 2,328 daily, about a 1.47 percent fatality rate, according to IHME. Today, fatalities in the U.S. reached about 645 daily deaths on Jan. 11, out of 1.7 million peak daily new cases from December, a 0.037 percent fatality rate.

“Americans for Limited Government praises House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise and U.S. Reps. Paul Gosar and Brett Guthrie for offering legislation that will bring an end to the official Covid emergency, long after the actual emergency has passed. The pandemic is over, and it is time Congress said so.”

Attachments:

“It’s time to end the Covid national emergency, Mr. President.” By Robert Romano, Vice President of Public Policy, Americans for Limited Government, Jan. 6, 2023 at https://dailytorch.com/2023/01/its-time-to-end-the-covid-national-emergency-mr-president/

For media availability contact Americans for Limited Government at media@limitgov.org.

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Jan. 12, 2023, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement reacting to the appointment of another special counsel:

“America lived through an unending special counsel investigation in the prior administration due to the Russia collusion fantasy. Now there’s three. Given these repeated abuses of power at the Justice Department, it’s time that Congress revisit the legal and regulatory basis for these unaccountable prosecutors that undermine basic due process rights and confidence in our electoral system.

“One of the great mysteries of Merrick Garland’s appointment of a special counsel to investigate President Joe Biden’s possession and mishandling classified documents at his residence and Washington, D.C. think, from 2017 to 2021, after his time as Vice President, is why it wasn’t wrapped together with Trump’s own special counsel that was announced in November after Trump announced his bid to run for president in 2024. Six days prior to the Nov. 8 midterm elections, the FBI reports they discovered the first group of documents at the D.C. think tank, yet, the Department of Justice chose not to disclose this information prior to the election in November, the naming of Jack Smith as Special Counsel against Trump after the election and then the Georgia special runoff election for Senate. Clearly, the political weaponization of the Justice Department has become so normalized that every action appears to be taken through a political prism. This is the same Justice Department that continues to sit on and suppress the Hunter Biden laptop for the past two years.

“Now it is up to Congress to take a close look at whether these unending political investigations serve the nation.”

For media availability contact Americans for Limited Government at media@limitgov.org.

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Jan. 12, 2023, Fairfax, Va.–Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement praising the U.S. House of Representatives for passing a veto-proof bill to ban all sales of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to China:

“The House of Representatives voted by a 331-97 margin for HR 22 to ban all sales of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to China.

“HR 22 by Representative Cathy McMorris-Rogers (R-WA) simply states, ‘This bill prohibits the sale and export of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to China. Specifically, the bill prohibits the Department of Energy (DOE) from selling petroleum products (e.g., crude oil) from the SPR to any entity that is under the ownership, control, or influence of the Chinese Communist Party. Further, DOE must require as a condition of any sale of crude oil from the SPR that the oil not be exported to China.’”

“Incredibly, the Biden administration has been allowing Chinese Communist Party controlled companies to purchase the United States’ oil reserves that are designed for our nation’s national defense needs.  After the Biden team allowed the sale of SPR crude to a wholly owned subsidiary of China’s state owned oil company last year among other Chinese government purchasers, Speaker Kevin McCarthy has made it a priority to stop Biden from draining the tank and propping up China’s economy.

“It is truly sad that this legislation had to be passed by the House to prevent selling our oil to the Chinese government, but the broad bi-partisan support will hopefully carryover to Senate passage with a veto proof majority.  Americans for Limited Government praises this first step in holding the Chinese communist government accountable for their abuses of freedom both at home and around the world.”

For media availability contact Americans for Limited Government at media@limitgov.org.

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Speaker McCarthy’s first big test

Jan. 9, 2023, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement:

“This is Kevin McCarthy’s first real test as Speaker. McCarthy was elected Speaker based on the agreement he made with his conference for the rules governing the House. In many ways, these rules merely roll back changes by Nancy Pelosi that made the House autocratic and undemocratic. A simple example is the increased ability for members to offer amendments on the House floor, separate from leadership approval.

“Failure for any House GOP member to vote for Speaker McCarthy’s rules would undermine his capacity to perform his duties as Speaker of the House, and effectively disenfranchise 54 million Americans who voted for a Republicans. Americans for Limited Government strongly urges every member of the House Republican conference to vote in favor of the McCarthy-negotiated House rules package. Failure to vote for the McCarthy rules package would destroy McCarthy’s ability lead in the future—and he knows it.”

For media availability contact Americans for Limited Government at media@limitgov.org.

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