ALG launches http://stopbadtradedeals.org

March 9, 2016, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement previewing the March 10 unveiling of a new Americans for Limited Government poll by Pat Caddell on voter attitudes towards the international trade and the Trans-Pacific Partnership:

“The international trade issue played a dominant role in the Michigan primary vote last night, leading to Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders’ victories. Americans for Limited Government commissioned Pat Caddell to conduct a major survey that will explain the seismic shift in voter attitudes that has occurred around the trade issue and what it means for President Obama’s Trans-Pacific Partnership.

“Americans for Limited Government is also launching http://stopbadtradedeals.org so that the American people can voice their concerns with the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement directly to their members of Congress.”

Attachments:

Media Advisory: Pat Caddell poll on voter attitudes toward the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal to be released March 10 at National Press Club

When:              March 10, 2016 at 10 a.m.

Where:            National Press Club, Bloomberg Room

Who:                Pat Caddell, Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) and Rick Manning

Americans for Limited Government will be releasing the results of a comprehensive national poll conducted on our behalf by Pat Caddell examining voter attitudes toward the trade issue with an emphasis on economic security issues, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Senator Jeff Sessions will also be providing his reaction to the polling data along with Americans for Limited Government president Rick Manning.

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 including ALG President Rick Manning.

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March 8, 2016, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement previewing the March 10 unveiling of a new Americans for Limited Government poll by Pat Caddell on voter attitudes towards the international trade and the Trans-Pacific Partnership:

“The ground has shifted in the international trade debate, and Pat Caddell’s findings will force a wholesale re-evaluation of what we think we know about how voters view this important issue.”

Attachments:

Media Advisory: Caddell poll on voter attitudes toward the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal to be released March 10 at National Press Club

When:              March 10, 2016 at 10 a.m.

Where:            National Press Club, Bloomberg Room

Who:                Pat Caddell, Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) and Rick Manning

Americans for Limited Government will be releasing the results of a comprehensive national poll conducted on our behalf by Pat Caddell examining voter attitudes toward the trade issue with an emphasis on economic security issues, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Senator Jeff Sessions will also be providing his reaction to the polling data along with Americans for Limited Government president Rick Manning.

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 including ALG President Rick Manning.

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When:              March 10, 2016 at 10 a.m.

Where:            National Press Club, Bloomberg Room

Who:                Pat Caddell, Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) and Rick Manning

Americans for Limited Government will be releasing the results of a comprehensive national poll conducted on our behalf by Pat Caddell examining voter attitudes toward the trade issue with an emphasis on economic security issues, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Senator Jeff Sessions will also be providing his reaction to the polling data along with Americans for Limited Government president Rick Manning.

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Feb. 26, 2016, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement praising House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Bob Goodlatte for his hearing on Feb. 25 of the LEADS Act:

“Americans for Limited Government commends House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte for convening a strong, bipartisan hearing on the LEADS Act that blistered the Department of Justice for executive branch overreach and disregard for the rule of law. Congress must ensure that U.S. law enforcement may not use warrants to compel the disclosure of customer content stored outside the United States unless the account holder is a U.S. person.

“While at some level the American people may not be concerned about the content of foreign persons being subjected to warrants, they ought to be concerned that other governments abroad could reverse the roles and start compelling the same disclosure here. This common-sense legislation will stop that nonsense before it ever begins.

“We thank Chairman Goodlatte for beginning the process of reasserting Congress’ Article One powers and diligently protecting the Fourth Amendment against unreasonable intrusions.”

Attachments:

“LEADS Act stops DOJ cloud-based power grab,” By Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning, Feb. 26, 2016 at http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/technology/270373-leads-act-stops-doj-cloud-based-power-grab

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 including ALG President Rick Manning.

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Feb. 26, 2016, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement urging Senators Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) to stand with their party in the U.S. Senate against President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nomination:

“Our nation faces its greatest internal divide in more than 100 years, and the Supreme Court’s current composition reflects that division. Many of the issues that will define the next century are likely to be decided by whoever is the next member of the Supreme Court, and it is fitting that the American people should have a say in that process.

“The easy and cowardly path would be to rubber-stamp whoever the current lame duck President appoints. However, with fewer than eleven months remaining in his term and a hotly contested election in both parties, it does a grave disservice to the voters of the United States to consider a nominee from someone who will soon be a footnote in history.

“Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley have it exactly right. And Senators Collins and Kirk have it exactly wrong. This Supreme Court nomination will define the future balance of that institution. The whole point of the Republican Senate majority at this point in history, if any, is to stop Obama from fundamentally transforming America in his final year in office, and his Supreme Court nomination will unquestionably shift the balance of the court and the nation. If that is the will of the voters, let it be decided in November at the polls, not by a lame duck President.”

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 including ALG President Rick Manning.

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Feb. 25, 2016, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement urging members of the U.S. Senate to cosponsor legislation by Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) that will bring an end to so-called net neutrality regulations by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC):

“Sen. Mike Lee once again shows his commitment to reining the Obama administrative state’s regulatory onslaught and stranglehold on the U.S. economy. Lee’s offering a bill that will repeal FCC’s so-called net neutrality regulations and prohibits the Commission from issuing any similar regulations until such time that Congress authorizes it to act is the exact kind of application of Congress’ Article One responsibilities that all members of Congress should follow.

“In one of the most outrageous Obama Administration actions to date the FCC voted to do that which Congress denied through the Agency’s administrate rewrite of the 1934 Communications Act to treat broadband Internet as a utility under Title II. The whole process averted the constitutional law-making process, and Sen. Lee’s bill restores Internet freedom, while properly reasserting Congress legitimate constitutional power to make law.

“The fact is, net neutrality regulations guarantee higher rates, less competition, and a regulatory burden that stifles innovation in the technology industry. Sen. Mike Lee is to be thanked for taking on this tough issue.”

Attachments:

Bringing freedom back to the Internet, By Sen. Mike Lee, Feb. 25, 2016 at http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/bringing-freedom-back-to-the-internet/article/2584146

Restoring Internet Freedom Act, Sen. Mike Lee, Feb. 25, 2016 at https://getliberty.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Restoring-Internet-Freedom-Act.pdf

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 including ALG President Rick Manning.

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Feb. 24, 2016, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today joined with 21 free market, limited government leaders in urging Congress support House Concurrent Resolution 89, expressing the sense of Congress that it opposes a carbon tax being imposed on the U.S. economy:

“Americans for Limited Government is proud to join free market and limited government leaders from across the country in opposing the imposition of any carbon tax on the U.S. economy, whether by law or regulatory fiat. Taxing carbon-based energy increases the cost of doing business in the U.S. by increasing the cost of electricity, ships jobs overseas and punishes the American people with higher consumer costs. Low energy costs for the future is the key to America emerging from Obama’s economic malaise and reviving our job producing manufacturing sector. We urge members to adopt House Concurrent Resolution 89 to express its sense that it Congress opposes a carbon tax.”

Attachments:

Letter support House Concurrent Resolution 89, Feb. 24, 2016 at http://americanenergyalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Carbon-Tax-Coalition-Letter.pdf

The Honorable Steve Scalise
U.S. House of Representatives
2338 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515

February 24, 2016

Dear Majority Whip Scalise:

We write to collectively voice our support for House Concurrent Resolution 89, expressing the sense of Congress that a carbon tax would be detrimental to the United States economy.

As organizations that support free markets as a fundamental pathway to American prosperity, we oppose government policies – such as a carbon tax – that punish some and reward others in accordance with the government’s prevailing viewpoint on market ideals. Such marketplace manipulation represents a recipe for unintended consequences and self-inflicted economic damage. Too often, poor and middle class families bear the burden.

Indeed, independent studies demonstrate that a carbon tax would impose considerable harm on Americans. Such a tax will lead directly to higher electricity and transportation fuel costs for American families and businesses. This, in turn, will inexorably lead to increased costs for consumer goods across the board. Furthermore, a carbon tax would be regressive, imposing disproportionately high costs on middle- and lower-income families and thereby harming most those who can afford it least.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO), in its 2013 assessment titled “Effects of a Carbon Tax on the Economy and the Environment,” plainly states: “A carbon tax would increase the prices of fossil fuels in direct proportion to their carbon content. Higher fuel prices, in turn, would raise production costs and ultimately drive up prices for goods and services throughout the economy.”

A report from the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) echoes that finding, stating that “the increased costs of coal, natural gas and petroleum products due to a carbon tax would ripple through the economy and result in higher production costs and less spending on non-energy goods.” As a result of decreased economic activity, a carbon tax would eliminate up to 21 million job equivalents over the next four decades. It would also reduce workers’ wages: The NAM report goes on to say that “[f]or workers, a carbon tax would lead to lower real wage rates because companies would have higher costs and lower labor productivity.” The report estimates wages could fall by up to 8.5 percent.

The negative impacts of a carbon tax would be distributed regressively across America. Such a tax would disproportionately punish lower-income Americans because, as the CBO points out, “low-income households spend a larger share of their income on goods and services whose prices would increase the most, such as electricity and transportation.” In its modeled case of a $28 per ton carbon tax, CBO found that resultant costs would be more than 2 ½ times higher for the poorest one-fifth of American households than for the richest one-fifth.

Our nation’s citizens expect – and deserve – their duly elected lawmakers to institute policies that move our economy forward and allow all Americans an equal opportunity to succeed. A carbon tax would fail resoundingly on both of these fronts. Thank you for your leadership in introducing H. Con. Res. 89 in the 114th Congress, and we hope that this resolution soon gets the consideration before the full U.S. House of Representatives that it merits.

Sincerely,

Thomas Pyle, President – American Energy Alliance
Brent Wm. Gardner, VP for Government Affairs – Americans for Prosperity
Myron Ebell, Director of Center for Energy & Environment – Competitive Enterprise Institute
Adam Brandon, President and CEO – FreedomWorks
Phil Kerpen, President – American Commitment
Harry Alford, President and CEO – National Black Chamber of Commerce
Matthew Kandrach, Vice President – 60 Plus Association
Craig Richardson, Executive Director – Energy & Environment Legal Institute
David Williams, President – Taxpayers Protection Alliance
Jonathan Lockwood, Executive Director – Advancing Colorado
George Landrith, President – Frontiers of Freedom
Richard Manning, President – Americans for Limited Government
Seton Motley, President – Less Government
Tom Schatz, President – Council for Citizens Against Government Waste
Joseph Bast, President – The Heartland Institute
Amy Oliver Cooke, Executive Vice President – Independence Institute
Sabrina Schaeffer, Executive Director – Independent Women’s Forum
Tom Brinkman, Jr., Founder – Coalition Opposed to Additional Spending and Taxes
Marita Noon, Executive Director – Energy Makes America Great, Inc.
Heather Higgins, President and CEO – Independent Women’s Voice
Kristin Fecteau, Co-Founder – Coalition to Free America
Judson Phillips, Founder – Tea Party Nation

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 including ALG President Rick Manning.

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DOJ quietly ends investigation into Southern California Edison, no charges for replacing American workers with H1-Bs

Feb. 23, 2016, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement calling for a moratorium on the H1-B visa program in response to the Department of Justice concluding its investigation into Southern California Edison with no charges for replacing American workers with foreign imports:

“If Southern California Edison followed the law, an immediate moratorium should be placed on the issuance of any new H1-B visas, because its effect now is to replace American workers with lower cost imports in the most outrageous way possible. Many of Southern California Edison’s 500 laid off information technology specialists complained they had to suffer the indignity of training their replacements in order to remain eligible for a severance package. This is not about doing the jobs Americans won’t do, it is about replacing hard-working Americans. If this is the deal globalization is now offering the U.S. economy, it is time the Congress finally stand up for American workers and say no 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 including ALG President Rick Manning.

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Feb. 22, 2016, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement in response to the Department of Justice’s decision not defend the Election Assistance Commission in the case League of Women Voters v. Newby by consenting to an injunction against the Commission:

“Americans expect that only those eligible to exercise the right to vote will be participating in our 2016 national elections, yet the Obama Administration’s lackeys at Attorney General Loretta Lynch’s Justice Department are doing everything in their power to allow their new illegal alien power base to vote.

“The latest outrage is today’s Justice Department decision to not only deny the independent, non-partisan U.S. Election Assistance Commission the ability to legally defend themselves in federal court against a League of Women Voters lawsuit disputing their finding that Alabama, Kansas and Georgia’s state voter identification laws complied with federal law, but to actually support the plaintiff claims to the contrary.

“As Democrats whine that Senate Republicans are being unfair by unambiguously exercising their Constitutional right to not allow Obama to flip the Supreme Court in the last eleven months of his term, Lynch dutifully seeks to put her finger on the scales to taint the 2016 election process to pick Obama’s successor.

“Congress needs to provide immediate, directed funds to the Election Advisory Commission to defend their ruling. Moving federal funding from Lynch’s Civil Rights Division, an agency that sees itself as an adjunct of the Bernie Sanders wing of the Democratic Party, and into the Election Advisory Commission as part of any bill that is passed to provide relief to Puerto Rico, would be an important step in re-establishing both Congress’ Article One authority and the rule of law within Loretta Lynch’s Justice Department.”

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 including ALG President Rick Manning.

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