Trump should fire McMaster over NSC leaks

Aug. 3, 2017, Fairfax, Va.–Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement urging President Donald Trump to fire National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster over inexcusable National Security Council leaks to the Washington Post of the content of Trump’s conversations with foreign leaders:

“Either the Washington Post is lying about their sources, or President Trump cannot even make a phone call or have a meeting with a world leader without it being monitored by the National Security Council. As if this were not bad enough, if the Washington Post is to be believed, National Security Council officials have been selectively leaking these classified conversations for political purposes to oppose the President’s foreign policy agenda. The biggest concern here is less about the content of the President’s conversations and more about the inability of the President of United States to conduct the business of the country without it appearing on the front pages of newspapers, undercutting U.S. interests.

“The only option President Trump has is to clean house at the National Security Council, starting at the top with General McMaster. The threat posed to the country by the National Security Council leaking requires immediate and swift action.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 100 or at media@limitgov.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts.

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ALG praises Senate for confirming Christopher Wray as new FBI Director

Aug. 1, 2017, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement praising the U.S. Senate for confirming President Donald Trump’s nominee to be FBI Director, Christopher Wray:

“The Senate has completed important work of confirming new FBI Director, Christopher Wray, whose appointment was unanimously supported out of the Senate Judiciary Committee. It is our sincere hope that Director Wray will clean up the mess at the FBI left behind by James Comey and his top deputies. It’s time to get the politics out of the FBI and get back to the core mission of protecting the American people and enforcing the law.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 100 or at media@limitgov.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts.

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House GOP proven ‘equally feckless’ as Senate on CBO

July 31, 2017, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement blasting House Republicans for failing to rein in the Congressional Budget Office, blocking an amendment by U.S. Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-Va.) that would have abolished the Budget Analysis Division, consisting of 89 employees and costing $15 million:

“In the midst of the Senate health care debacle, Republicans in the House of Representatives proved themselves to be equally feckless by voting down a proposal that would have set the stage for transforming the Congressional Budget Office from a policy-blocking entity whose analysis is never right, into a consolidator of independent think tank analyses creating neutral data for Congress to evaluate. An amendment offered by Rep. Morgan Griffith would have abolished the Budget Analysis Division, cutting $15 million and firing 89 employees, taking a small first in draining the swamp.

“The CBO’s false analysis of the impact of Republican health care changes contributed to the demise of repealing Obamacare. Unfortunately, 120 House Republicans chose to keep the status quo, reform-stifling Congressional Budget Office intact. This failure of House Republicans to fire the permanent ruling class in Washington, D.C. is just one more bit of evidence of how disconnected they are from the voters.”

Attachments:

“Missed It By That Much – The Obamacare Enrollee Lie,” By Rick Manning, June 29, 2017 at https://pjmedia.com/blog/missed-it-by-that-much-the-obamacare-enrollee-lie/

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 100 or at media@limitgov.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts.

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Another special prosecutor needed

July 28, 2017, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement agreeing with a letter from the House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) and committee Republicans to Attorney General Jeff Sessions calling for another independent prosecutor to be appointed:

“Attorney General Jeff Sessions was handed two important lifelines by the Senate and House Judiciary Committee’s respectively in the last two days.

“On the Senate side, Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley made it clear that there would not be room on the calendar for consideration of a replacement for General Sessions until 2018, a direct message to the President that he might go a full year without an AG if he acts against Sessions.

“On the House side, things got really interesting as the House Judiciary Committee majority issued a letter to Sessions urging the appointment of a second special counsel to investigate the actions of James Comey, Loretta Lynch, the Clinton email scandal, as well as the unmasking of Trump campaign officials in what appears to have been the political use of our nation’s intelligence resources.

“As a strong supporter of Attorney General Sessions, I strongly urge him to accept the House Judiciary Committee’s recommendation and appoint a second special prosecutor to investigate the gross malfeasance that occurred during the Obama Administration. America needs to know, once and for all, if our nation’s intelligence services were commandeered for political purposes and whether Hillary Clinton’s offsite housing and subsequent destruction of more than 30,000 emails constituted a criminal act.

“Lady Justice is supposed to be blind, and in our current hyper-partisan environment, Attorney General Sessions would be taking a huge step toward re-establishing the credo that no one is above the law, no matter how powerful, through appointing a second special counsel.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 100 or at media@limitgov.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts.

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Repeal not dead yet

July 28, 2017, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement noting the fact that the House-passed American Health Care Act has not actually been defeated in the Senate:

“For all the talk, the House health care bill is in fact still alive in the Senate. President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell just need to find a way to get one more vote, and that should be negotiable.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 100 or at media@limitgov.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts.

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Do the skinny repeal plus the Cruz Amendment

July 27, 2017, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement urging the Senate to bring legislation to the floor that repeals the individual and employer mandates, the medical device tax and including the amendment offered by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) that allows insurers to sell lower cost plans in states where they offer Obamacare-compliant plans:

“The people who choose to opt out of the Obamacare after the individual mandate is repealed should have lower cost market based alternatives available. With the Obamacare regulations in place, that’s impossible. Therefore, the Cruz amendment should be included in any package the Senate is considering, including the so called skinny repeal of the individual and employer mandates plus the medical device tax.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 100 or at media@limitgov.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts.

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Senate Six threaten GOP Senate future with vote against Obamacare repeal

July 26, 2017, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement blasting six Republican Senators who voted for repealing Obamacare in 2015 but who have now changed their votes:

“It is sad to see six Republican Senators, John McCain, Shelley Moore Capito, Dean Heller, Lisa Murkowski, Rob Portman and Lamar Alexander who voted in 2015 to repeal most of Obamacare have now decided to change their votes when it actually mattered and there’s a president in the White House who wanted to sign the bill. This betrayal of their constituents’ trust threatens to leave the failed Obamacare system in place.

“This is outright fraud. These senators have repeatedly lied to the American people about where they stood on one of the signature issues facing the nation.

“Obamacare has failed. Premiums are higher than ever and the options on insurance marketplaces are dwindling. In the meantime, the employer mandates still create a disincentive against hiring full-time employees and Medicaid expansion is bankrupting state budgets.

“The American people have become all too accustomed to politicians who say one thing and do another. The Senate Six have proven that the public’s cynicism about politicians is well-placed, for if they had just kept word, Obamacare would be history. The days ahead will prove whether the GOP majority in the Senate is able to keep their election promises. If they fail, fantasies of a 60-vote Republican Senate will be replaced by fears of a Democrat majority.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 100 or at media@limitgov.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts.

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Senate should confirm Christopher Wray as FBI Director immediately

July 26, 2017, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement urging the Senate to confirm Christopher Wray as FBI Director before the August recess:

“Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley has done his job in moving President Trump’s nominee for FBI Director Christopher Wray with unanimous positive recommendation. The next order of business after health care that the U.S. Senate should address is confirming Wray as FBI Director immediately. It’s time to get the temporary and politically tainted acting director Andrew McCabe out of the director’s chair so the FBI can begin the process of restoring its credibility with the American people.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 100 or at media@limitgov.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts.

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House Ways and Means should publicly take advertising tax ‘off the table’ for tax reform bill

July 26, 2017, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement urging the House Ways and Committee Chairman Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas) to take the advertising tax off the table in upcoming discussions on the tax bill:

“House Ways and Committee Chairman Kevin Brady wisely chose against the inclusion of an advertising tax in his initial tax reform proposals. Advertising is an immediate business expense and should continue to be allowed to be deducted as such. Other than looking for a pot of money, there is no economic rationale for changing the way advertising is treated in the tax code, and Brady should make this absolutely clear that an ad tax is off the table.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 100 or at media@limitgov.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts.

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House should still vote on 2018 budget by Chairwoman Black, cancel August recess

July 26, 2017, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement urging the House to vote on the budget offered by House Budget Committee Chairwoman Rep. Diane Black (R-Tenn.) that cuts mandatory spending by $203 billion over 10 years before going on August recess:

“It would be unthinkable that the House would not pass a budget resolution or even consider one prior to going on their August recess. How have they gone all the way to the end of July without dealing with the budget? The August recess should be cancelled and all the work of the Congress, including passing all the appropriations bills, should be completed.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 100 or at media@limitgov.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts.

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