July 19, 2023, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement blasting the defeat of an amendment offered by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) to the National Defense Authorization Act that would have affirmed Congress’ power to declare war under Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution:

“It was disappointing that 83 Senators disagreed with the basic principle that a treaty cannot supersede the U.S. Constitution when it comes to going to war.

“Americans for Limited Government supported Amendment 222 offered by Senator Rand Paul to the NDAA this afternoon affirming that Congress’ power to declare war under Article I, Section 8, Clause 11 of the Constitution.

“The world is in a perilous time and it is for these exact times that following the Constitution is of paramount importance. The decision to go to war must always be made with the consent of the governed and that means through a vote of Congress. This would not have changed the NATO Treaty, but merely reaffirmed provisions within it which assure that actions should be carried out within the framework of each member country’s constitutions.”

Attachments:

Dr. Paul, Reps. Roy and Davidson Reaffirm Congress’ Constitutional Authority to Declare War, June 22, 2023 at https://www.paul.senate.gov/dr-paul-reps-roy-and-davidson-reaffirm-congress-constitutional-authority-to-declare-war/

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

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July 19, 2023, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning Manning today issued the following statement in favor of passage of U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar’s (R-Ariz.) amendment 33 to the Securing Growth and Robust Leadership in American Aviation Act (FAA) bill:

“Americans for Limited Government urges passage of Representative Paul Gosar’s amendment #33 which removes an ill-advised provision restricting air flight tourism.  People with disabilities, seniors and families need the flexibility of viewing our national parks and other treasures using helicopters and fixed wing aircraft.  For many, it is the only way they can fully enjoy the unmatched beauty of the Grand Canyon, Denali and the many inaccessible Hawaiian sights.  Congress has a long history of promoting accessibility and your support for Rep. Gosar’s amendment #33 will stand alongside that historic record of inclusion.  There simply is no reason to deny people with disabilities true access to our nation’s most beautiful natural treasures.”

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

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July 19, 2023, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement urging the U.S. House of Representatives to vote in favor of an amendment by U.S. Reps. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) and Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) that would strike Sections 206 and 207 of the FAA reauthorization legislation:

“Hidden within the legislation to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration is a proposal to end the re-selling of the tail numbers which identify individual aircraft. Why the heck should the federal government care about this and who are these supposed limited government elected officials who would so blithely end a free-market solution which intelligently allocates desirable vanity tail numbers while still allowing non-premium numbers to be available for purchase for ten dollars? Fortunately, U.S. Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) and U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) have offered an amendment to the legislation, Amendment No. 334, that would strike Sections 206 and 207 related to N-number restrictions.

“Some smart entrepreneurs discovered a demand for short two, three or four letter/number combinations or meaningful combinations that was unfilled, and they reserved numbers they thought there would be an excess demand for a cost of $10 each. This is a true supply and demand marketplace with potential buyers free to walk away at any time to purchase a different number from the FAA for a nominal fee, and Congress should not be interfering with.”

Attachments:

FAA Bill Stomps Free Market Tail Number System & Common Sense, July 19, 2023, By Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning at https://dailytorch.com/2023/07/faa-bill-stomps-free-market-tail-number-system-common-sense/

Letter to House and Senate against Sections 206 and 207 of FAA reauthorization, July 14, 2023, Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning: https://getliberty.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Reject-Sec-206-207-House-FAA-Letter-7-14-23.pdf

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

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July 18, 2023, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement urging the public to remain calm in response to reports that former President Donald Trump may once again be arrested by the Justice Department, this time for alleged violations of the Insurrection Act:

“Having observed the politicized and weaponized U.S. Department of Justice and how they have used January 6 as an excuse to eviscerate First, Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights, the reported pending arrest of President Donald Trump is a time to respond with a calm resoluteness and dedication to exhausting every ounce of energy to ending this abuse of power at the ballot box.  Any GOP member in Congress who chooses to stand with the DOJ and FBI should be primaried and defeated.  Most know or suspect that the Biden administration secretly hopes for protests which can be goaded into violence.  Do not take the bait.  We have seen the pictures of suspected FBI actors instructing others to lead the attack on the Capitol police barricades on January 6.  Please do not give those who would use any incident as an excuse to escalate their war on individual liberty.

“I am sick of this garbage as much as anyone.  We have one choice.  To beat the corrupt elites in charge of the White House and our intelligence agencies at the ballot box, and then sweep them into the ash heap of history where they belong.  Stay calm, but do not be defeated.”

Attachments:

“Protesters in Washington D.C. should cease and desist from violence,” statement by Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning, Jan. 6, 2021 at https://getliberty.org/2021/01/protesters-in-washington-d-c-should-cease-and-desist-from-provocative-actions-that-will-lead-to-violence/

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

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July 7, 2023, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement in response to the latest jobs numbers:

“The Labor Department’s unemployment report signals a slowing of the jobs economy in June.  The most troubling number was the significant increase in people reporting that they had become part-time employees due to slowing or slack economic conditions.  Employers moving their workers to part-time status is the typical cost-cutting path that businesses are forced to pursue as the economy slows.

“It is fair to say that predicting recession off of this one report is unreasonable, but it is important to note alarm bells that go off when reading beyond the top-line unemployment rate numbers.”

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

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June 8, 2023, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement blasting President Joe Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland for indicting former President Donald Trump, the Republican frontrunner in 2024, and urged the U.S. House of Representatives to immediately begin impeachment proceedings against Biden and Garland for this unprecedented abuse of power:

“Major allegations related to President Joe Biden’s taking a $5 million bribe in exchange for getting a Ukrainian prosecutor fired just hit American news outlets today. Just an hour and a half after this bombshell, very credible allegation of bribery, the Justice Department leaped into action and indicted former President Donald Trump for having classified documents that any reasonable reading of the law and Constitution indicates he had every right to have because they were declassified. Joe Biden over the past four years has repeatedly stated that his presidency is about the soul of the country. If what’s happened on June 8, 2023, with this massive abuse of power for a sitting president to imprison his political opponent doesn’t convince you that our nation’s soul is at stake, nothing will.

“The Trump indictment represents a threat to constitutional governance. We are in a battle over whether the Constitution and Declaration of Independence even matter anymore, and it is incumbent upon the House to exercise its Article I responsibility to rein in an out of control executive and begin impeachment proceedings against both Biden and his Attorney General immediately.”

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

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June 6, 2023, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement urging opposition to expected legislation by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) that would impose new regulations on credit card processing fees:

“Woke retailers like Target are lining up in support of what last year I called ‘smash and grab’ legislation worth billions of dollars by mandating changes to how credit cards are processed. Senator Dick Durbin succeeded in getting language put into the 2010 Dodd-Frank bill that imposed massive new regulations on the banking industry which changed the processing of debit card transactions.  Guess who got and kept the windfall in lower processing fees?  If you answered the big box retailers, you are right.

“Why would anyone in the Senate jump on board legislation which would give uber-woke retailers like Target millions of dollars a month in free money? That’s the question Americans should be asking Senator Durbin who is expected to reintroduce his stale, failed legislation to give Big Box retailers a bigger cut on credit card swipe fees.

“As always, Durbin and Target lobbyists promise that the savings in processing fees will find their way to the consumer.  As the legendary British rock group The Who once sung, ‘we won’t be fooled again.’

“In fact, a 2017 study by the International Center for Law and Economics (ICLE), found that big box stores like Target were the big winners from the Durbin debit card processing fees amendment, and main street stores along with lower income consumers were the losers.

“And a previous 2014 analysis by ICLE also found that ‘although the Durbin Amendment had generated benefits for large box retailers, it had harmed many other merchants, especially those specializing in small-ticket items, and imposed substantial net costs on the majority of consumers, especially those from lower-income households.’

“The 2017 ICLE study also found ‘… that the passage of time has not ameliorated the harm to bank customers from the Durbin Amendment; to the contrary, earlier adverse trends have solidified or worsened. Nor do we find any indication that matters have improved for small merchants or retail consumers: Although large merchants continue to reap a Durbin Amendment windfall, there remains no evidence that small merchants have realized any cost savings — indeed, many have suffered cost increases. Nor is there any evidence that merchants have lowered prices for retail consumers; for many small-ticket items, in fact, prices have been driven up. Finally, we identify a new trend that was not apparent when we examined the data three years ago: Contrary to our findings then, the two-tier system of interchange fee regulation (which exempts issuing banks with under $10 billion in assets) no longer appears to be protecting smaller banks from the Durbin Amendment’s adverse effects.’

“Shocker.  The 2010 Durbin amendment benefitted Durbin’s big retailer donors and harmed small businesses.

“What’s more, the study finds that bank consumers with low balances endured higher bank fees in order to offset the losses suffered by the banks increasing the number of unbanked Americans.  Effectively, Durbin’s last venture into the transfer fee arena created the perverse effect that the poorest consumers suffered a funds transfer into the largest and wealthiest big box stores.

“Now, you know why Durbin is desperately seeking a GOP Senator to co-sponsor his recycled credit card transfer fee legislation.  It is also why he is looking in the ranks of the newly elected Republican freshman class, like Ohio’s J.D. Vance, for someone who doesn’t realize that this idea has been tried and has failed.

“It is easy to understand why Illinois’ Dick Durbin would want to fill the pockets of woke retailers like Target with unearned cash, what is impossible to fathom is why any GOP Senator would join him.”

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

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June 5, 2023, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement blasting FBI Director Christopher Wray for refusing to turn over the Form FD-1023 that alleges President Joe Biden was bribed when he was Vice President for $5 million by a foreign national in exchange for influence over policy decisions:

“FBI Director Christopher Wray continues to act as if the agency he leads has zero responsibility to Congress.  His failure to comply with a subpoena by the House Government Oversight and Accountability Committee for an unclassified document containing allegations of a $5 million bribery scheme involving then-Vice President Joe Biden is just another example of Wray’s abuse of power, and on-going failure to do his job when it comes to corruption allegations related to the Biden family.  From hiding, denying and lobbying news and social media companies about the veracity of Hunter Biden’s laptop to suppressing efforts to unwind foreign contributions to the Biden family, Christopher Wray has proven to be the worse FBI Director in the Agency’s history.

“Unfortunately, the U.S. Attorney of the District of Columbia will ignore any contempt of Congress citation issued, much like then Obama Attorney General Eric Holder skated in spite of ignoring Congressional oversight related to the Justice Department’s ‘Fast and Furious’ gun running scandal which led to the death of an Border Patrol agent Brian Terry.

“Americans are getting pretty sick of the unequal application of justice in the country, and unfortunately, Wray’s obstruction of a congressional investigation furthers the growing belief that liberal politicians and their relatives are above the law.”

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

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June 1, 2023, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement in support of Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-Ky.) amendment to cut 5 cents out of every dollar spent dollar of federal spending excluding Social Security:

“Americans for Limited Government urges passage of Senator Rand Paul’s (R-KY) amendment to the Biden-McCarthy Debt Deal to cut five cents out of every dollar spent by the federal government, while restoring Congress’ Article One Constitutional control over federal spending. Senator Paul’s alternative leaves Social Security untouched while forcing our elected representatives to make real choices about how taxpayer dollars are spent.

“Americans are tired of empty balanced budget promises from politicians.  The Paul amendment lays a pathway to balance, something nowhere to be found in the debt ceiling bill passed by the House of Representatives yesterday in spite of bi-partisan opposition.”

Attachments:

“Debt Deal: Disaster or Disappointment?” By Rick Manning, May 30, 2023 at https://dailytorch.com/2023/05/debt-deal-disaster-or-disappointment/

“McCarthy says debt deal ‘largest spending cut’ in history. Is he correct?” By Robert Romano, May 31, 2023 at https://dailytorch.com/2023/05/mccarthy-says-debt-deal-largest-spending-cut-in-history-is-he-correct/

“House easily passes debt ceiling increase and spending caps 314 to 117, Senate passage expected — debt will still rise to more than $49 trillion by 2033” By Robert Romano, June 1, 2023 at https://dailytorch.com/2023/06/house-easily-passes-debt-ceiling-increase-and-spending-caps-314-to-117-senate-passage-expected-debt-will-still-rise-to-more-than-49-trillion-by-2033/

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

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May 26, 2023, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement praising the Supreme Court’s decision in Sackett v. EPA that overturned an Obama era regulation, the Waters of the U.S.:

“The federal government can no longer turn a drainage ditch into a regulated waterway as the Supreme Court decided in Sackett v. EPA that attempts by the Environmental Protection Agency exceeded their regulatory power.

“Thank goodness common sense is being restored somewhere in America.  No one in their right mind would consider a drainage ditch on a farm to be a regulable body of water under the Clean Water Act, yet federal regulators subjected a couple in Idaho to $40,000 a day fines over whether they could operate farming activity around a ditch.  Prior to the Supreme Court opinion, the EPA interpretation of the Clean Water Act effectively gave the federal government operational control of much of the land in America. Freedom lovers have been given another ray of hope that the U.S. Constitution and the liberties it guarantees still survive in American, even as the rotting administrative state continues to thrust itself into every aspect of our lives.  One would think that with the West Virginia v. EPA case and now the Sackett decision clearly cutting the bureaucracy’s reach that radical regulations would be on the downturn, but unfortunately the Biden administration continues to produce regulation after regulation disconnected from the laws passed by Congress and the Constitution in an attempt to direct the economic future of the country through red tape intimidation.

“Given the U.S. Supreme Court rulings, Congress should take action against agencies like the EPA which continue to do violence against the will of Congress by cutting funding to the regulation writers within that and other recalcitrant agencies.  With pending regulations seeking to end natural gas powered stoves, internal combustion powered vehicles and the electricity generating power plants which create about 60 percent of our nation’s electricity, ending funding for those who are actively defying the clear intent of the Court is Congress’ only responsible course of action.

“After all, the Biden strategy is to ignore legal rulings they don’t like and while using their interpretations of the law as a cudgel over the heads of anyone who disagrees with them, all in their battle for the ‘soul of America.’”

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

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