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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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July 25, 2017, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement urging President Donald Trump to stand by his nomination to head the Export-Import Bank of the United States, fprmer U.S. Rep. Scott Garrett (R-N.J.):

“President Trump made an outstanding appointment to head the Export Import Bank in former New Jersey Representative Scott Garrett.  Garrett’s experience overseeing and indeed opposing the continuance of the Ex-Im Bank will allow him to work on ensuring that the Bank operates as intended under the law, while separating itself from the crony capitalism that has been the hallmark of its existence.

“It is to be expected that Boeing Corporation through its D.C. association proxies would be concerned about reforms that Garrett might institute given the widely held view that the Ex-Im Bank is Boeing’s personal source of government guaranteed loans for overseas sales, but that is simply too bad.  President Trump came to Washington to drain the swamp and his appointment of Garrett to run the Ex-Im Bank is emblematic of his pledge to attack corporate welfare. Scott Garrett is the right choice. Trump should stand by his nomination and Garrett should be confirmed by the Senate.”

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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July 25, 2017, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement praising the U.S. Senate for voting to proceed to legislation that would replace Obamacare:

“The Senate took the important first step needed to begin the process of repealing and replacing Obamacare. The next vote on the 2015 partial repeal language will demonstrate which Senate Republicans were serious about repeal and who was just playing politics. The Obamacare system has failed. There is absolutely no excuse not to sweep it away in its entirety and replace it with a market-based approach that will drive down consumer costs by finally creating real competition.”

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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