July 11, 2013, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Nathan Mehrens today urged passage of legislation by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), the “Defund Obamacare Act,” and urged the House of Representatives to adopt similar language and attach it to a must-pass continuing resolution:

“The Cruz bill can be distinguished from other proposed ‘defunding’ efforts that merely target agency budgets but leave untouched insurance subsidies under the state exchanges, Medicaid expansion and other ‘mandatory’ entitlement spending required under the law. It acknowledges that changes to the law are necessary outside the appropriations process in order to actually defund it. Senator Cruz is to be applauded for this effort.

“The House of Representatives should adopt similar language and attach it to the must-pass continuing resolution this September to force a showdown on the issue. If the Obama Administration believes it can arbitrarily delay the employer mandate for a year, then the House should force an immediate debate on whether the rest of the bill should be funded as well. If Republicans are committed to stopping Obamacare before it takes effect in 2014, this may be their last chance.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at (703) 383-0880 ext. 103 or at media@algnews.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts including ALG President Nathan Mehrens.

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July 5, 2013, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Nathan Mehrens today issued the following statement responding to the latest job numbers:

“Today’s unemployment report is clear proof that doomsayers who predicted that the federal government spending cuts contained in the sequester would harm economic growth were spectacularly wrong.

“The report shows that the private sector gained 202,000 jobs, and taxpayer funded employment continues to fall.  This is great news, and an affirmation that the size and scope of government has been a drag on economic growth.

“Even with this good news, it is clear that business hiring is still in a wait and see mode as employment increases largely centered on temporary workforce hiring.

“Private sector hiring is clearly still in a wait and see mode with Obamacare implementation and a promised regulatory explosion slowing job opportunity creation.

“It cannot be lost that the damage done by Obama’s $14 trillion four year spending spree is not easily fixed.  It is unacceptable that after all the promises, deficit spending, and massive Federal Reserve money printing, the unemployment rate remains at 7.6 percent, with 16.9 million Americans either unemployed or underemployed.

“These 16.9 million who have been left on the sidelines of economic recovery need Congress to act aggressively in defunding those agencies that are killing jobs through Obama’s misguided regulatory agenda.

“This is a battle worth fighting, because every American deserves a shot at the American dream, and no one should be robbed of hope by the job destroying Obama regulatory state.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at (703) 383-0880 ext. 103 or at media@algnews.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts including ALG President Nathan Mehrens.

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July 3, 2013, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Nathan Mehrens today issued the following statement responding to the White House’s decision to arbitrarily delay implementation of the employer mandate under Obamacare:

“Americans for Limited Government strongly opposes the implementation of Obamacare, and welcome’s the President’s admission that the law is too unwieldy to put in place in the legal timeline that he fought for, and that he agreed to meet when he signed it into law.

“However, no president, not even this one, has the constitutional prerogative to just arbitrarily change the law of this country.  That is what separates a representative democracy from a third world dictatorship where the elected Congress is largely just meaningless apparatchiks.

“Obama’s audacious assumption that he can just set aside portions of a law through a blog post is extremely disturbing, because it cuts to the heart of his disrespect for the constraints on his presidential powers.  In America, a president cannot just announce that magically the law is being changed by promising not to enforce portions of it, and it is time for Congress to take action to protect the Constitution.

“Now that Obama has admitted that his health care law is not ready for prime time, Speaker Boehner and Majority Leader Reid should immediately pass legislation that delays implementation of the entire law not just for one, but for three years to ensure that bureaucratic bungling doesn’t collapse the health care system costing America’s most vulnerable citizens their lives.

“The danger to the American public, and the complexity of the implementation of the Obamacare law is too important to allow a cavalier Administration blog post to dictate its outcome.

“It is time for Congress, on a bi-partisan basis, to reassert its constitutional role, and save the nation from the health care train wreck that is bearing down on the American public in 2014.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at (703) 383-0880 ext. 103 or at media@algnews.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts including ALG President Nathan Mehrens.

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June 26, 2013, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government today delivered a letter to House Speaker John Boehner today signed by leaders of eight major organizations urging his “opposition to legislation that would drive up healthcare costs and line the pockets of trial lawyer by opening generic drug manufacturers to frivolous lawsuits.”

The letter signed by leaders of Americans for Limited Government, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, the Hispanic Leadership Fund, American Commitment, King Street Patriots, LessGovernment.org, Independent Women’s Forum and Congress On Racial Equality is particularly relevant given today’s Supreme Court decision in Mutual Pharmaceutical v. Bartlett.

One of the underlying cases for today‘s decision was the PLIVA, Inc  v. Mensing case in 2011 where the Court held that it was impossible for generics to change (much less strengthen) safety warnings to comply with state law and still comply with the federal law’s requirement that their labeling be “the same as” FDA-approved brand drug labeling.

Nathan Mehrens, president of Americans for Limited Government explained, “Attempts by the trial bar to open up generic drug manufacturers to liability because they followed U.S. Food and Drug Administration labeling standards are absurd on their face.  If Congress allows this to occur, those who depend upon low cost generics will likely see the prices skyrocket as attorneys across the nation go wild suing manufacturers for following federal law.”

The letter asks the Speaker to “actively oppose such legislation when it is introduced and stop any momentum that it might hope to gain.”

It is anticipated that legislation overturning Mensing will be introduced in both the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives.

Attachments:

Letter to House Speaker Rep. John Boehner, June 24, 2013, at http://getliberty.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Generics-Labeling-Legislation-Letter-6-26-13.pdf

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at (703) 383-0880 ext. 103 or at media@algnews.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts including ALG President Nathan Mehrens.

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June 25, 2013, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Nathan Mehrens today issued the following statement praising the success of the Voting Rights Act over the past 48 years in eradicating voting discrimination on the basis of race:

“The Supreme Court has declared victory on the Voting Rights Act. As Census data revealed in the latest election, voter turnout among the races has achieved parity. Thus the circumstances that once justified the Act are no longer valid, the Court held, precisely because the Act was so successful.

“The Voting Rights Act of 1965 implemented the 15^th Amendment provision empowering Congress to enact legislation enforcing the protection against voter discrimination on the basis of race. It was enacted during a time of literacy tests and other Jim Crow laws that have long since been banned nationwide. In effect today, the Act gave the Justice Department de facto veto power over nine state legislatures’ enactments of any changes to election law that states would otherwise have had the power to put into effect.

“To withstand scrutiny today, the government was required to show there was still significant discrimination at the ballot box. Lacking that, the intrusion into Tenth Amendment powers reserved to the states could no longer be sustained. This is a good day in American history, when the past of racial discrimination at the ballot box can finally be put behind us. The Voting Rights Act has succeeded in its primary aim.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at (703) 383-0880 ext. 103 or at media@algnews.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts including ALG President Nathan Mehrens.

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Constitutional separation of powers at issue.

June 24, 2013, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Nathan Mehrens today issued the following statement responding to the Supreme Court’s decision to grant certiorari in the NLRB v. Noel Canning case:

“The fundamental checks and balances that our founders put into the U.S. Constitution are at the heart of this case, and the Supreme Court is commended for taking up this important issue.

“The case revolves around a decision by President Obama to place nominees onto the National Labor Relations Board without the advice and consent of the U.S. Senate.  The nominees had only been recently nominated and within a month, the President placed them on the National Labor Relations Board using the claim that they were being appointed in an official Senate recess.

“The President’s action obliterated the foundational principle that the Senate has a responsibility to confirm or reject a nominee, a principle that has served as a means of protecting our nation from being ruled by the executive branch through administrative actions.

“The U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that the President’s recess appointments were unconstitutional due to the failure to follow the Senate confirmation process.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at (703) 383-0880 ext. 103 or at media@algnews.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts including ALG President Nathan Mehrens.

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June 20, 2013, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government vice president of public policy and communications Rick Manning today issued the following statement praising the failure of the $939 billion so-called farm bill in the House of Representatives that had included about $750 billion for food stamps alone:

“The failure of the farm bill is a boon to taxpayers, who were going to be on the hook for $750 billion for food stamps over the next decade. Increases in eligibility for the food stamps program in recent years has, combined with the current recession and high unemployment, led to an explosion of program participation. Now, more than 47 million Americans are on food stamps, yet the program has zero transparency, with neither taxpayers nor Congress having any idea what food stamps are even spent on.

“This should be a signal to Congress to at least separate the so-called farm bill in two. Farm subsidies and food stamps should each be considered on their merits. Both programs are in need of considerable reform.  It is time for Congress to begin considering what is in the best interests of taxpayers instead of constantly doling out corporate subsidies and expanding welfare without question.

“Americans for Limited Government thanks the 62 House Republicans who stood on principle against this wasteful legislation.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at (703) 383-0880 ext. 103 or at media@algnews.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts including ALG President Nathan Mehrens.

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