April 11, 2017, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement praising President Donald Trump for refusing to sign a statement endorsing the Paris climate accord at the G7 meeting:

“President Trump’s refusal to sign a statement endorsing the Paris climate accord is a positive step toward complete withdrawal from the agreement. The damage to the United States economy that enforcement of Obama’s Paris deal would make achieving the growth and prosperity that were at the heart of the President’s election campaign impossible. His actions today demonstrate his commitment to ending Obama’s radical environmental policies which resulted in the worst ten year GDP growth since the data has been collected including the Great Depression. Thank you, President Trump, for standing up for America’s economy and our workers against those who have embraced the Paris economic suicide pact.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 106 or at media@limitgov.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts.

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April 7, 2017, Fairfax, Va.–Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement praising the Senate for confirming soon-to-be-sworn-in Justice Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court:

“This confirmation is a huge victory for President Donald Trump, who kept his promise by appointing a constitutionalist to the bench. Thanks to the steadfast leadership and determination Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, the balance of power on the Supreme Court has been preserved with the confirmation of Justice Neil Gorsuch, who promises to uphold the text of the Constitution and the rule of law. This proves when the Senate majority is determined to act, they can pull together to respect the will of the people. It is our hope that newly minted Justice Gorsuch lives up to the intellectual legacy of Antonin Scalia who put the rule of law ahead of personal preference.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 106 or at media@limitgov.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts.

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April 7, 2017, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement on the latest jobs numbers:

“With 472,000 more Americans reporting they have jobs in the household survey — almost a million new jobs since January — the U.S. economy is going a long way to bringing back into the economy the roughly 9 million 16 to 64 year olds who either left the labor force or did not enter on a net basis since labor participation peaked in 1997. President Trump spoke often of underemployment on the campaign trail, so he realizes more than anyone that we’ve still got a ways to go. If those 9 million lost labor force were included in today’s jobs report, the unemployment rate would still be north of 9 percent. Growth still remains low, with the last 10 years being the worst in history from a growth perspective.

“With that in mind, it remains important that Congress support President Trump’s agenda for better trade deals, lower taxes and few regulations so that today’s gains can be sustained with an economy that grows robustly.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 106 or at media@limitgov.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts.

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April 6, 2017, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement urging caution by the U.S. before getting more involved in the civil war in Syria:

“There’s no authorization to use force against Syria and the Assad regime. This is an Article I question. Congress needs to debate that. And that debate must be based on the facts. Given the conflicting reports about whether it was sarin gas or chlorine used, it appears premature to determine what the next steps should be. Was this an attack by the Syrian military, or have terrorist groups like al Qaeda come into possession of chemical weapons? We need to know the answer to that before any decisions are made.

“Even if we do get clarity on the specifics of the attack in Idlib, the question remains whether spending our time, treasure and blood in Syria worth it? Is this in America’s interests? Does this put America first? That is the question every decision must be based on, the only premise on which we can act and no other. Taking military action as a first resort rarely turns out well. We’ve taken regime change in Iraq and again in Libya, turning both into active civil wars, and the jury’s still out in Afghanistan. May seem like a good idea, but we haven’t had much luck with it in the past decade. Regime change? To whom? Who would we be turning Syria over to? There’s little basis for civil society, religious freedom and stable parliamentary-style systems there. What comes next? For those who constantly clamor for war, the question is whether what’s left behind is better than what existed before, and the failure of regime change over the past two Administrations demands caution.”

Attachments:

“A rock and a hard place in Syria,” By Printus LeBlanc, April 6, 2017 at http://netrightdaily.com/2017/04/rock-hard-place-syria/

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 106 or at media@limitgov.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts.

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April 6, 2017, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement Senate Republicans for invoking the constitutional option in confirming Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court:

“Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley have stood firm in ensuring the will of the people who voted in 2016 was upheld, by letting the election be a referendum on the direction of the Supreme Court. The American people voted for the reestablishment of the Constitution and rule of law rather than the whims of unelected judges. We trust that soon to be Justice Neil Gorsuch will continue his outstanding record of putting the law ahead of personal preference.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 106 or at media@limitgov.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts.

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April 6, 2017, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement praising House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Devin Nunes for exposing unconstitutional surveillance of the Trump campaign and transition:

“The American people owe Devin Nunes a debt of gratitude for his willingness to take on the Democrat political spin machine. Nunes has exposed the unconstitutional, civil liberties destroying surveillance by the Obama administration of the Trump campaign and transition. While Chairman Nunes has chosen to temporarily step aside from investigating the Obama administration’s wrongdoing, we have faith that the committee’s majority will get to the bottom of this scandal and bring it to an honest and fair conclusion. If it turns out that Obama and his team were indeed directing a domestic spying operation on his political opponents, the American public deserves to know so that this can never happen again.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 106 or at media@limitgov.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts.

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April 3, 2017, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement reacting to separate reports that former National Security Advisor Susan Rice requested the unmasking of the identities of Trump campaign and transition team officials incidentally collected by intelligence agencies, per Bloomberg View’s Eli Lake, and that the overall surveillance dates back “for up to a year before [Trump] took office,” per Fox News’ Adam Housley:

“Susan Rice only had one boss, and that was former President Barack Obama. Only Obama could have authorized these unmasking requests to the intelligence agencies of the Trump transition and campaign by Rice. That those unmasking requests were fulfilled by intelligence agencies without any readily apparent intelligence value and reportedly went back to Jan. 2016, before there was ever any questions to do with Russia, gives a clear indication that this was surveillance of the opposition party by the Obama administration. Even after the election, this was still going on, with House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes revealing non-Russia-related surveillance against the Trump team was occurring.

“Coupled with the outing of surveillance of the identity then-incoming National Security Advisor Michael Flynn Jan. 12 in the Washington Post, revealing his conversation with the Russian Ambassador to create the appearance of collusion where there was none — a felony that Flynn was the victim of — these actions have severely damaged U.S. national security.

“Flynn’s outing undermined the collection of not just Russian sources but more broadly any diplomats in the U.S., degrading capacity, throwing away years of potential gathering. Plus, this whole ordeal has absolutely undermined diplomatic relations with Russia, making it more difficult and dangerous to achieve cooperation on critical proliferation concerns in Iran and North Korea, again undermining security. All to damage a political opponent in the opposition party, during the election, and then to cripple the incoming Trump administration, and in the process its ability to protect national security. Like Rice, whoever outed Flynn has a boss who wanted this information in the public domain.

“This raises the question of which other campaigns were surveilled in 2016, including Democrats’ campaigns like Bernie Sanders, because reportedly the surveillance began before a single vote had been cast.

“Rice should be put under oath by Congressional Intelligence and Judiciary committees to get to the bottom of this affair.

“In the meantime, Attorney General Jeff Sessions should immediately launch an investigation into U.S. intelligence agencies and former White House officials, and freeze any and all potential deletion of intelligence files, including those related to the unconstitutional, inappropriate surveillance of the Trump campaign and transition. The actions outlined are a direct threat to the Constitution and the basic liberties of the American people, threatening the essence of our nation, and undermining the consent of the governed.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 106 or at media@limitgov.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts.

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March 31, 2017, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement reminding Congress that former National Security Advisor Mike Flynn was the victim of a crime when his conversation with the Russian ambassador was transcribed and leaked to the press:

“Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn was the victim of a serious felony when his innocent conversation with the Russian ambassador was transcribed by our nation’s intelligence agencies, disseminated and then leaked to the press. It should at least be the subject of inquiry by Congress’ intelligence committees to ascertain who broke the law by putting that information into the public domain. It is understandable that the conversation would have been incidentally intercepted in the normal course of intelligence gathering, but deeply disturbing that it was leaked and used politically.

“By now, the committees should have had the opportunity to view the transcripts of Flynn’s conversation. If they do not believe there’s anything there out of the ordinary based on the substance of the conversation, then granting Flynn limited immunity from any silly process questions that might be conjured makes sense in order to clear the air on the larger, more important questions surrounding this surveillance of the Trump transition.

“Flynn has a right to clear his name, and Congress should want to hear his side of the story. It may help to get to the bottom of why somebody or somebodies in the Obama administration were trying to create an appearance of collusion with Trump, Russia on the DNC, Podesta emails on Wikileaks where there was none. The underlying constitutional crisis here is that a private citizen was exposed to U.S. government espionage which was leaked to ruin his career and life simply in order to score political points.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 106 or at media@limitgov.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts.

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Will Republican leaders fund Obama’s priorities or Trump’s?

March 29, 2017, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement urging Congress to include the supplemental spending bill to build the southern border wall in the FY 2017 continuing resolution due April 28:

“If the House and Senate leaders have already finalized the FY 2017 continuing resolution without including the White House-proposed supplemental as reports suggest, it will be extraordinarily disappointing if national priorities like building the southern border wall and rollbacks of Obama’s bloated budget are not included. When appropriators reveal their spending priorities for the second half of 2017, they will not have the threat of an Obama veto to explain away any aspect of the budget. Failure to fund for example the wall out of concern that it might offend Senate Democrats would be a slap in the face to voters who elected President Trump and gave Republicans majorities in both houses of Congress.

“Failure to include these priorities may back the new president into the uncomfortable position of having to veto GOP spending bills because they did not advance the administration’s agenda. If we continue on the same glide path as before on spending, we will be funding Obama’s priorities, not Trump’s. They need to include the supplemental. Build the wall.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 106 or at media@limitgov.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts.

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