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.

###

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.

###

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.

###

March 28, 2017, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement praising President Donald Trump’s energy independence executive order:

“Although it does not call for rolling back the 2009 EPA carbon endangerment finding or pull the U.S. out of the Paris climate accord, the Trump executive order wisely calls for agency reviews of Obama-issued regulations restricting the use of coal electricity and other unnecessary impediments to utilizing the nation’s abundant energy resources. Americans for Limited Government is confident that such a review will provide ample basis for revising and rescinding these regulations ensuring that utility prices can come down for consumers.

“We urge the Trump administration to work with Congress in defunding as many of these regulations as possible in the upcoming continuing resolution and debt ceiling bills. The election of a new president does not absolve Congress of its Article I responsibilities to defund harmful regulations. Members need to provide President Trump with every tool and direction related to any regulations that need to be rescinded or reworked.

“It is our fervent hope that President Trump will in the future review the carbon endangerment finding and pull the U.S. out of Obama’s bad Paris climate deal.”

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.

###

March 24, 2017, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement praising the House for delaying the health care replacement proposed by House Speaker Paul Ryan:

“Americans for Limited Government praises the House for standing on principle and defeating the deeply flawed Ryancare proposal. We urge Congressional leaders to sit down with conservatives to craft a new free market alternative that lowers costs and does have the votes to pass. At a minimum, proposed legislation must repeal Obamacare, respect the states, protect patients who do not want to be locked into federally mandated insurance plans, allow consumers to go across state lines to buy plans and eliminate any and all government-mandated penalties for not holding insurance.

“The truth is Obamacare is still collapsing, and the only thing that has changed is that one alternative to it has been rejected. That is no reason for Congress to stop working on this issue. We urge members to come up with a fresh approach that can be supported by a majority of members of Congress.”

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.

###

March 23, 2017, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement urging House Speaker Paul Ryan to take a more expansive view of what can be done to repeal and replace Obamacare under budget reconciliation:

“Sen. Mike Lee did an unusual thing in Washington, D.C. He checked the reconciliation assumptions around the health care debate by going directly to the Senate parliamentarian. Stunningly, Sen. Lee discovered the fundamental premise of the Ryancare legislation that insurance regulation could not be overturned is false. This revelation leads to only one legislative conclusion. Ryancare falls far short of what can be done even under a restrictive view of reconciliation, and should be sent back to the drawing board.

“Many Americans have been questioning how Ryan could not have a plan in place to repeal and replace Obamacare that was fully vetted. The only conclusion is that Ryancare is the result of false assumptions and not doing your homework. The House of Representatives should have never attempted to construct legislation based upon mere assumptions of what Senate rules might allow, and instead, should craft a health care law that meets the needs the needs of the free market, respects states and makes health care accessible and affordable to all Americans.”

Attachments:

“Mike Lee: Senate parliamentarian told me it’s possible to push harder on repealing Obamacare regulations,” By Philip Klein, March 22, 2017 at http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/article/2618154

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.

###

March 22, 2017, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement blasting the 30 percent “continuous coverage” penalty in the health care replacement bill that, according to Kaiser Health News, “increases premiums for people who buy insurance if they have gone 63 consecutive days without a policy during the past 12 months. Their premiums would rise by 30 percent and that surcharge would last for a year”:

“Republicans promised to end the tyranny of the individual mandate but instead, House Speaker Paul Ryan has made it worse, by punishing those who lose their coverage because they lost their job or discontinued it because premiums got too high. This massive increase has a perverse effect of making it harder to get health insurance for those who drop for whatever reason, by hiking premiums of those who attempt to reenter the insurance market by 30 percent as a matter of law.

“This is unbelievably bad. And unlike the individual mandate, there isn’t even a hardship exemption.

“The House needs to stop what they are doing this instant and start over. The 30 percent continuous coverage penalty alone should be reason enough to go back to the drawing board with this bill. House Speaker Paul Ryan’s plan does not incentivize purchasing insurance by making it cheaper through market reforms, it punishes those without insurance by making it even more expensive when they want to go buy it.”

Attachments:

“GOP Scraps Individual Mandate But Sets Up New Penalty For Those Skipping Coverage,” By Anna Gorman and Jordan Rau, March 21, 2017 at http://khn.org/news/gop-scraps-individual-mandate-but-sets-up-new-penalty-for-those-skipping-coverage/

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.

###

March 22, 2017, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement urging 27 House Republicans to hold firm who are said to be opposed or strongly leaning opposed to the current Obamacare replacement now under consideration:

“It is now clear that the current health care replacement is not ready for primetime, and it is better to get the Obamacare repeal done right rather than done quick. We urge the members of the House who have expressed reservations about this legislation to hold firm. That will force a real negotiation that will improve the proposal and pass a repeal bill that respects the states and voters who don’t want to be forced into costly federal government mandated health plans any more. There is nothing wrong with improving this legislation, and no rush, frankly to get this done on Thursday. The House should be dedicated to a proposal that unites the Republican conference, not rushing a bill that falls far short of the campaign promises that brought them into the majority.

“The House GOP should hold Paul Ryan to his 2012 promise that ‘we can get 85 percent of this, for sure, repealed in reconciliation’ and ensure every bit of Obamacare that can be repealed via reconciliation is.”

Attachments:

“Repeal Obamacare via reconciliation, Speaker Ryan,” By Robert Romano Oct. 26, 2015 at http://netrightdaily.com/2015/10/repeal-obamacare-via-reconciliation-speaker-ryan/

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.

###