Oct. 17, 2013, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government vice president of public policy and communications Rick Manning today issued the following statement to President Barack Obama’s comment that “You don’t like a particular policy or a particular president? Then argue for your position. Go out there and win an election”:

“President Obama’s comment is an embarrassment to U.S. constitutional law professors everywhere, and reflects a unique lack of understanding of the United States constitutional system of government.

“The President should understand that every single House and Senate Republican won election to their office.  The House of Representatives has a majority of duly elected Republican legislators.  Americans chose divided government in 2012.  Obama’s refusal to acknowledge this fact is at the heart of his unwillingness to be part of the solution in D.C. and does a disservice to the nation.

“Elected Senators and House members have every right and indeed a responsibility to represent their constituents’ interests, and for this president to say otherwise underscores his apparent misunderstanding of how our government system works.

“Unfortunately, Obama’s imperial attitude revealed in this arrogant victory lap should come as no surprise given the statement attributed to him by the New York Times reported in 2011, ‘it would be so much easier to be the president of China.’

“It is a shame that Obama doesn’t appreciate America’s unique and brilliant republican form of government designed to protect minority rights while preserving majority rule.  America owes a debt of gratitude to members of Congress like Senators Ted Cruz and Mike Lee and Representative Tom Graves, who chose to lawfully and constitutionally fight the expansion of federal government power and reject the ‘Do what I tell you’ model advocated by the current occupant of the White House.

“Perhaps Obama should crack open those dusty unopened constitutional law books and do a quick review of our nation’s representative form of government.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at (703)383-0880 or at media@algnews.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts including ALG President Nathan Mehrens.

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Oct. 16, 2013, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Nathan Mehrens today issued the following statement urging the House of Representatives to defeat a Senate-proposed continuing resolution that will fail to defund Obamacare:

“One week ago, Speaker John Boehner characterized a vote on a continuing resolution that did not deal with Obamacare as an ‘unconditional surrender’.  Today, House Republicans will be voting on just such a bill.

“No Republican who votes for the Harry Reid surrender bill will ever be able to credibly claim that they truly oppose Obamacare, because when push came to shove, they chose to fund and implement it, even in the face of overwhelming evidence that the law is indeed a train wreck.

“Americans for Limited Government urges the House of Representatives to put down the white flag and reject Harry Reid’s surrender terms.  Failure to reject this bill destroys any leverage that House Republicans might hope to wield in the proposed future joint committee, as it will have been proven that the Democrats have no need to negotiate so long as they are willing to shut down the government and potentially breach the debt ceiling.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at (703)383-0880 or at media@algnews.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts including ALG President Nathan Mehrens.

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Oct. 16, 2013, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Nathan Mehrens today issued the following statement urging the House of Representatives not to wait for Senate action to move on legislation raising the $16.699 trillion debt ceiling:

“The House is under no obligation to wait for the Senate to act on the debt ceiling and then to simply rubber stamp whatever they come up with. House leaders can act first to raise the debt limit and guarantee that interest payments always be made no matter what when it is reached again in the future. This would remove the threat of default once and for all and guarantee the full faith and credit of the U.S. It would also separate the debt ceiling debate from the continuing resolution.

“The alternative is to wait for Senate legislation that nobody has read and likely will be laden with special interest handouts, Obamacare exemptions, reopens the government, and allows funding for the health care law to take effect. In short, the alternative is complete surrender.

“Any member that votes for such a ‘compromise’ that funds Obamacare, will own it.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at (703)383-0880 or at media@algnews.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts including ALG President Nathan Mehrens.

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Oct. 15, 2013, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Nathan Mehrens today issued the following statement in response to competing House and Senate proposals to pass a continuing resolution, raise the debt ceiling, and to fund Obamacare:

“There is now no disagreement between House and Senate leadership, between Republicans and Democrats, on the most critical issue facing the nation, and that is funding Obamacare.

“On the Senate side, Republican leaders have signed off on not only funding Obamacare, but exempting labor unions from some of its harmful provisions. Meanwhile, House Republican leaders similarly have agreed to allow funding for Obamacare to take effect, and to bail out General Electric and other corporate interests who are faced with the onerous medical device tax.

“The only apparent difference of opinion is which special interest should get an exemption from the health care law. When both houses are through negotiating, they’ll likely agree that both big labor and General Electric should be exempted. This comes atop big businesses getting a one-year delay on the employer mandate, members of Congress and their staffs getting a lifetime exemption from the law from the Obama administration, and other labor unions who also got a four-year waiver from the so-called Cadillac insurance plan tax.

“Apparently, when all is said and done, everyone except for the American people will have an Obamacare waiver.

“These carve outs for special interests once again prove why we need to get rid of health care law in full. Rather than playing the traditional D.C. carve out game, House Republicans need to go back to square one and demand that everyone be treated the same by defunding the entire law.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at (703)383-0880 or at media@algnews.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts including ALG President Nathan Mehrens.

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October 11, 2013, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Nathan Mehrens today issued the following statement responding to new Senate Republican offers to pass both a continuing resolution and a debt ceiling increase, meanwhile allowing funding for Obamacare to take effect:

“Senate Republicans in a panic move are attempting to make small changes to solve big problems in order to resolve the government shutdown and debt ceiling. At a time when even CNN’s Wolf Blitzer has come to the conclusion that Obamacare needs to be delayed in its entirety, Senate Republicans are proposing to allow it to be funded. All this, after Senate Republicans were making such a big deal about how they were voting to ‘defund’ Obamacare two weeks ago.

“As Americans receive notification of increases in their health insurance cost directly related to Obamacare, or are dropped from their employer plans entirely, it is becoming more and more clear across the country that the health care law needs to be stopped.

“Unfortunately, Senate Republicans like John McCain, Lindsey Graham, and Lamar Alexander still have no plan to stop Obamacare. Their white flag strategy will leave America stuck under the burden of Obamacare for generations to come. It is a shame that those elected to big things are choosing to play small ball and in fact their continued carping in the media has provided support to those who would see Obamacare implemented across the land.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at (703)383-0880 or at media@algnews.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts including ALG President Nathan Mehrens.

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Oct. 10, 2013, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Nathan Mehrens today issued the following statement in response to a Daily Mail report showing only 51,000 people have signed up for Obamacare via Healthcare.gov in its first week:

“With more than 85 million Americans who now qualify for Obamacare, whether through Medicaid or the insurance exchanges, at Healthcare.gov’s current pace, it will take approximately 32 years to sign everyone up for government-subsidized insurance.  This administration has spent billions of dollar preparing for the launch of Obamacare with co-ops, advertising, and stakeholders amongst those tasked with convincing America to sign up.

“The first week’s results prove that a bad product just can’t be sold no matter how much money is spent to fool the consumer.  With Wolf Blitzer urging that Obama accept the Republican proposal to open the government while delaying Obamacare’s implementation in full for a year, there is no excuse for the President to continue to his shutdown any longer. The incredibly low response rate is an embarrassment to this administration and the only way for this President to save face is to agree to the one-year delay.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at (703)383-0880 or at media@algnews.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts including ALG President Nathan Mehrens.

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Oct. 10, 2013, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Nathan Mehrens today issued the following statement calling attention to a Moody’s report that the U.S. will not in fact default if the debt ceiling is reached, which states, “We believe the government would continue to pay interest and principal on its debt even in the event that the debt limit is not raised, leaving its creditworthiness intact”:

“This bombshell from Moody’s suggests that the Obama administration is bluffing about a default on the $16.7 trillion national debt should the borrowing limit be reached. Jack Lew has testified the opposite to a Senate committee that debt payments cannot be guaranteed and a default is likely if the debt ceiling is reached. Is he bluffing? The single question that Lew should be forced to answer is why the Treasury has not reformed its bill payment system that the Inspector General revealed in 2012 is on a first in, first out basis rather than prioritizing default-stopping interest payments on the debt in the event the borrowing limit is reached.

“After the 2011 debt ceiling confrontation, the fact this has not been fixed is beyond belief. It is gross mismanagement at best or a deliberate attempt to put the default gun to the head of the U.S. economy to prevent spending cuts.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at (703)383-0880 or at media@algnews.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts including ALG President Nathan Mehrens.

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Oct. 9, 2013, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Nathan Mehrens today issued the following statement in response to a Wall Street Journal oped by House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan urging entitlement reforms in exchange for increasing the $16.699 trillion debt ceiling:

“The House majority needs to stay focused on defunding Obamacare via the continuing resolution. The problem with attempting to use the debt ceiling to achieve anything is Obama’s threat to default if Congress does not increase it that makes negotiating on it next to impossible. Everyone has a wish list they’d like to see implemented, but to get a deal done, the first thing to do is to take Obama’s loaded gun off the table.

“To counter the default threat, House Republicans might consider talking about why a default is unnecessary when we take in $250 billion of revenue a month, more than enough to pay $35 billion of interest owed to creditors and the Social Security and Medicare trust funds. How existing debt could be refinanced up to the limit. They might consider attaching a version of their legislation, the ‘Full Faith and Credit Act’ to a debt ceiling increase to guarantee no future president ever again has the ability to threaten default to prevent Congress from exercising its constitutional power over the purse.

“In the meantime, Obama’s intransigent threat to default when there’s enough revenue to make debt service payments in order to avoid negotiating with the House majority is unreasonable and ignores the will of the American people that reelected House Republicans in 2012. Voters chose the House to serve as a check against the administration. And the power of the purse through the continuing resolution and debt ceiling are the only meaningful checks they can use. The House is not a rubber stamp.”

Attachments:

“Why is Obama threatening an unnecessary default?” By ALG senior editor Robert Romano, Oct. 9, 2013 at http://netrightdaily.com/2013/10/deadbeat-president/

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at (703)383-0880 or at media@algnews.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts including ALG President Nathan Mehrens.

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Oct. 8, 2013, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Nathan Mehrens today issued the following statement noting the irony of Barack Obama calling delinquent mortgage borrowers “deadbeats,” comparing them to Congress questioning whether the nation can continue increasing the national debt by more than $1 trillion a year via the debt ceiling:

“The Obama Administration throughout its entire tenure in office has pushed for mortgage principal reduction policies, cramdowns, and refinancing — all for delinquent mortgage borrowers. Borrowers who he now openly labels as ‘deadbeats.’ Obama’s comments reflect his lack of understanding of how household budgeting works, which looking at this annual budget, makes sense, since he never proposes that budget be balanced ever again.

“So of course he wants to call Congress ‘deadbeats’ for questioning whether or not the nation can afford to increase the national debt $1 trillion a year and rising. He has no idea why folks might find themselves in dire straits and may be foreclosed upon because of economic hardship. He must believe the U.S. too is somehow impervious to financial distress, so why would he be worried about borrowing too much money? Anyone who questions the fiscal trajectory we are on must just be a ‘deadbeat,’ in Obama’s mind.

“Obama’s reckless fiscal policy that we can borrow as much as we want for perpetuity is reminiscent of how mortgage borrowers and lenders got themselves into trouble in the housing bubble, only now it is the fate of the entire economy that hangs in the balance.”

 Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at (703)383-0880 or at media@algnews.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts including ALG President Nathan Mehrens.

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Oct. 2, 2013, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Nathan Mehrens today issued the following statement blasting 17 House Republicans who say they would support a so-called “clean” continuing resolution that would allow funding for Obamacare:

“Supporting a continuing resolution that allows funding for Obamacare is the same as supporting Obamacare. These 17 House Republicans are undermining the negotiating position of House leadership in the middle of a major confrontation over what to do about the implementation of the health care law. It is unhelpful and they have attached themselves to the Reid-Pelosi wing of the Democratic Party by supporting Obamacare.”

Attachments:

“Here’s A Tally Of Which House Republicans Are Ready To Fund The Government, No Strings Attached,” By Jennifer Bendery, Oct. 2, 2013, at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/01/house-republicans-clean-cr_n_4024755.html

Rep. Pat Meehan (R-Pa.): “At this point, I believe it’s time for the House to vote for a clean, short-term funding bill to bring the Senate to the table and negotiate a responsible compromise.” [Press Release, 10/1/13]

Rep. Scott Rigell (R-Va.): “Time for a clean [continuing resolution].” [Official Twitter, 10/1/13]

Rep. Jon Runyan (R-N.J.): “Enough is enough. Put a clean [continuing resolution] on the floor and let’s get on with the business we were sent to do.” [Burlington County Times, 10/1/13]

Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.): A Fitzpatrick aide tells the Philadelphia Inquirer the congressman would support a clean funding bill if it came up for a vote. [Philadelphia Inquirer, 10/1/13]

Rep. Lou Barletta (R-Pa.): Barletta said he would “absolutely” vote for a clean bill in order to avert a shut down of the government. [Bethlehem Morning Call, 10/1/13]

Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.): King thinks House Republicans would prefer to avoid a shutdown and said he will only vote for a clean continuing resolution to fund the government, according to the National Review Online. [NRO, 9/30/13]

Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.): The California Republican told The Huffington Post he would ultimately support a clean continuing resolution. [Tweet by The Huffington Post’s Sabrina Siddiqui, 9/30/13]

Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.): “I’m prepared to vote for a clean [continuing resolution].” [The Huffington Post, 9/29/13]

Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.): A Wolf aide told The Hill that he agrees with fellow Virginia Rep. Scott Rigell (R) that it’s time for a clean continuing resolution. [The Hill, 10/1/13]

Rep. Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.): A Grimm aide told The Huffington Post that the congressman supports a clean continuing resolution. [10/1/13].

Rep. Erik Paulsen (R-Minn.): A local news anchor in Minnesota tweeted that Paulsen told him he would vote for a clean resolution if given the chance. [Blake McCoy Tweet, 10/1/13]

Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Va.): A constituent of Wittman’s sent The Huffington Post an email she got from the congressman indicating he would vote for a clean funding bill but hasn’t had “an opportunity to do so at this point.” [10/1/13]

Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R-N.J.): LoBiondo told The Press of Atlantic City he’ll support “whatever gets a successful conclusion” to the shutdown and a clean funding bill “is one of those options.” [The Press of Atlantic City, 10/1/13]

Rep. Randy Forbes (R-Va.): Forbes told The Virginian-Pilot that he supports the six-week clean funding bill that passed in the Senate. [The Virginian-Pilot, 10/2/13]
EDITOR’S NOTE: Below is a note we just received from Rep. Forbes’s Communications Director Dean Petrone clarifying Forbes’s position.
“Hey Guys- Saw your press release listing Randy as a supporter of a clean CR – Below is a press release we just sent out which better outlines Randy’s current position in regards to the CR fight. The Virginian Pilot article that cites Randy’s position is misleading at best and we have aggressively argued this point with their editors. The plan outlined below falls in line with what the Congressman has said all along – that fighting Obamacare is best done by stripping the funding appropriated for the IRS’s implementation of the ACA – this idea was met with enormous praise by both Lou Dobbs and Gov. Mike Huckabee earlier this week. In short, Forbes is offering a new, more effective strategy to undermine Obamacare, NOT stopping the Obamacare effort. Please share this release as you see fit.”

Rep. Jim Gerlach (R-Pa.): The congressman issued a statement saying he would “vote in favor of a so-called clean budget bill.” [Office of Rep. Jim Gerlach, 10/2/13].

Rep. Leonard Lance (R-N.J.): Lance’s chief of staff confirmed to The Huffington Post that he told a constituent on Wednesday that Lance has voted for clean government funding bills in the past “and would not oppose doing so again should one be brought to the floor.” [10/2/13]

Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho): Simpson told a Roll Call reporter Tuesday night, “I’d vote for a clean CR because I don’t think this is a strategy that works.” [Daniel Newhauser Tweet, 10/1/13]

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at (703)383-0880 or at media@algnews.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts including ALG President Nathan Mehrens.

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