Obama nominee approved the use of a dangerous, combustible refrigerant to “save” the environment.

May 9, 2013, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government General Counsel Nathan Mehrens today issued the following statement praising eight Republican members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, Senators David Vitter, James Inhofe, John Barrasso, Jeff Sessions, Mike Crapo, Roger Wicker, John Boozman, and Deb Fischer for boycotting a confirmation hearing on Obama nominee Gina McCarthy to head the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA):

“Gina McCarthy in her capacity at the EPA the Office of Air and Radiation approved the use of DuPont’s R1234yf air conditioning refrigerant in U.S. vehicles, ignoring a massive European recall by Daimler Benz when the product caught fire in testing scenarios.

“Supposedly, this new refrigerant would cut down on greenhouse gas emissions, but even if that were true, the cost should not be endangering the lives of American families. Serving a questionable, radical environmentalist agenda should never come before protecting the health and safety of American citizens, including our children.

“We urge these eight members not only to boycott committee confirmation votes on McCarthy, but to wage a full filibuster and ensure she is never confirmed. Further, given Obama’s State of the Union threat to continue to pursue unilateral executive actions in lieu of climate change legislation — including regulating carbon dioxide and water as pollutants under the Clean Air and Water Acts — no nominee to the EPA should be confirmed until this rogue agency is reined in.”

Attachments:

Video of R1234yf exploding in Daimler Benz test, AutoBild.TV at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-PvUouMrH4&feature=youtu.be

“EPA nominee to get tough questions about why she approved new car air-conditioning refrigerant that caused ENGINE FIRES in Mercedes-Benz tests,” UK Daily Mail, April 10, 2013 at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2307265/EPA-nominee-tough-questions-approved-new-car-air-conditioner-refrigerant-caused-ENGINE-FIRES-Mercedes-Benz-tests.html

“McCarthy EPA Administrator nomination rejection urged,” Americans for Limited Government, March 4, 2013 at http://getliberty.org/mccarthy-epa-administrator-nomination-rejection-urged/

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at (703) 383-0880 ext. 106 or at media@algnews.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts including ALG General Counsel Nathan Mehrens, also a former Labor Department appointee.

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May 8, 2013, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government General Counsel Nathan Mehrens today issued the following statement urging Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to wage a filibuster against Obama’s choice to head the Labor Department, Thomas Perez:

“It is encouraging that Senator McConnell has weighed in so heavily in opposition to Mr. Perez’ nomination saying in a release today that Perez is a ‘committed ideologue who appears willing, quite frankly, to say or do anything to achieve his ideological ends. His willingness, time and again, to bend or ignore the law and to misstate the facts in order to advance his far-left ideology lead me and others to conclude that he’d continue to do so if he were confirmed to another, and much more consequential, position of public trust.’ We agree.

“There is simply no place in any Administration for a Cabinet official who has demonstrated total disregard for both the law and the Congress.  Americans for Limited Government thanks Senator McConnell for his strong statement and urges him to use all the powers of his office including the filibuster, if necessary, to lead the Senate in rejecting Thomas Perez as the next Secretary of Labor.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at (703) 383-0880 ext. 106 or at media@algnews.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts including ALG General Counsel Nathan Mehrens, also a former Labor Department appointee.

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May 8, 2013, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government Vice President of Communications and Public Policy Rick Manning today issued the following statement urging the House of Representatives to amend prior to acting on H.R. 807, the “Full Faith and Credit Act”:

“The Full Faith and Credit Act is based on very good intentions, which is to avert default and meet essential obligations should the statutory debt limit be reached. This in turn will insulate Congress from coercive political pressure from the White House to increase the debt ceiling under duress when there was enough revenue to cover the bulk of obligations. To be clear, that is a great idea that we wholly support.

“Unfortunately, even if Congress preferred that the White House handle payments prioritization beyond debt payments as they are constitutionally empowered to do, the bill does not even minimally bother to explicitly authorize and commit the President to doing so. Just look at how sequestration was implemented with air traffic control when specific guidance was not provided on how to manage the FAA’s accounts. Assuming good faith from this White House should the debt ceiling be reached to properly handle payments prioritization based on a broad reading of current law is not a sound financial decision. We already know what Obama will do.

“The current proposal will not stop Obama’s political fear mongering. It covers debt held by the public and debt held Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund and Disability Insurance Trust Fund that finance Social Security benefits. It says nothing about the $325 billion of treasuries in the Hospital Insurance Trust Fund and the Supplemental Insurance Trust Fund that helps pay for Medicare. Why not?

“Nor does it instruct the President on how to prioritize existing revenue. To insulate Congress from the accusation it is ditching Grandma and the troops, this legislation must provide a wider range of prioritization, expanding on the Toomey proposal in the Senate that also encompasses Social Security and active duty military payments, but going even further to also include Medicare and veterans’ benefits.

“Out of the $2.7 trillion of annual revenue the White House expects in 2013, only about $420 billion, or $35 billion monthly, will go to paying gross interest on the debt. In addition, there would also be enough revenue to pay out Social Security ($812 billion), Medicare ($504 billion), defense ($652 billion), and veterans’ benefits ($80.8 billion), with nearly $250 billion left over to pay for other essential items. We urge the House to amend the proposal to provide these protections.

“If the House GOP leaves the option of prioritization to the White House, Obama will easily claim, even if it is untrue, that he lacks the authority to prioritize other payments. Then, he will make payments on debt service to the stated trust funds and to the public, but deny payments to the other trust funds and essential services. Congress will get blamed for not providing more explicit instructions.”

Attachments:

“What is the GOP’s debt ceiling strategy?” by Robert Romano, ALG Senior Editor, May 8, 2013 at http://netrightdaily.com/2013/05/what-is-the-gops-debt-ceiling-strategy/

“Republicans taking default off the table” by Robert Romano, ALG Senior Editor, April 24, 2013 at http://netrightdaily.com/2013/04/republicans-taking-default-off-the-table/

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May 3, 2013, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement on the latest job numbers:

“There is little that can be learned about the direction of the economy from the tepid April unemployment report.  The modest job growth combined with the lowest labor participation rate since 1981 may be the new normal under Obama policies that punish job creation.  The good news is that in spite of these government headwinds exemplified by Obamacare’s costly penalties on hiring, the number of private sector jobs increased by 176,000 while economic growth sucking government jobs decreased by11,000.  The significant increase in temporary services hiring in the private sector shows that demand for labor is increasing, but employer uncertainty about the long term prospects of the economy are impinging a commitment to growth.

“With bi-partisan agreement in Congress that the upcoming Obamacare law is likely to be a ‘train wreck’ at a minimum, they should delay it’s  implementation for a two year period to provide more certainty for job creators that will allow them to move forward with plans for additional full time hiring.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at (703) 383-0880 ext. 106 or at media@algnews.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

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May 1, 2013, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government (ALG) President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement on the pending nomination of Rep. Mel Watt (D-NC) to head the Federal Housing Finance Agency, highlighting his past support of mortgage principal reductions for as many as 10.4 million borrowers who are $628 billion underwater on their mortgages, owing more on their homes than they are worth:

“Mel Watts’ ill-conceived support of mortgage principal reduction creates a giant red flag about his potential leadership of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. It is time for the Senate to reject appointees who would so cavalierly give away other people’s money.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at (703) 383-0880 ext. 106 or at media@algnews.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

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April 24, 2013, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson released the following statement on attempts in the U.S. House of Representatives to pass HR 1549, a bill designed to extend an Obamacare program that has run out of money:

“House Republicans should abandon their latest attempt to fix Obamacare.  Rather than increasing funding for the Pre-Existing Conditions Insurance Plan that in spite of having lower than expected enrollment has been overrun with costs, the House should use their Constitutional power of the purse to defund it entirely.

“The fact that House leadership has refused to even consider defunding Obamacare to stop the implementation of this Frankenstein-like monster federal health law reflects poorly on their commitment to repeal the law in its entirety.

“The health care system concocted by Obama, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi is going to fail under its own regulatory weight, and for House Republicans to attempt to prop up the system through piecemeal fixes at a time when even some labor unions are beginning to urge repeal, makes zero sense.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Robert Romano at (703) 383-0880 ext. 106 or at robert@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

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April 24, 2013, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement praising Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal for urging the Louisiana legislature to block Medicaid expansion under the new federal health care law in a recent oped, “Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion is bad for Louisiana”:

“If the Louisiana legislature listens to Governor Jindal, Louisiana taxpayers will save $337 million from 2014 through 2019, and federal taxpayers another $7.3 billion over the same period, according to a Kaiser estimate. They will be helping to defend taxpayers across the country from an unsustainable expansion of the entitlement state.

“While some governors have caved on this issue, Bobby Jindal has stood on principle, and for that, he deserves the thanks of every taxpayer in the nation. Hopefully the legislature will listen to him, but should members vote to expand Medicaid, we urge Governor Jindal to veto it.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Robert Romano at (703) 383-0880 ext. 106 or at robert@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

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April 23, 2013, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government General Counsel Nathan Mehrens issued the following statement on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) attempt to throw sand in the approval of the Keystone XL pipeline through issuing a comment to the State Department’s draft review of the project that complained that the report included “insufficient information” on environmental issues:

“The Senate has overwhelmingly made it clear that they want the Keystone XL pipeline built and they want it built now.  The EPA’s attempt to further delay this project on specious grounds is evidence of just how far this rogue Agency will go, and how little they care about what Congress thinks.  It is time for the Senate to send a clear message to the EPA that they need to get out of the way.

“It is time for the Senate to reject the nomination of Gina McCarthy to be the EPA Administrator.

“This would send a powerful message to the EPA to rein in their radical policies, but would also be doing what needs to be done by rejecting McCarthy who appears to be failing up through the ranks of the EPA.

“Absent the EPA’s meddling in the Keystone XL issue, there have been multiple other serious and legitimate reasons to reject McCarthy’s nomination.

“It was McCarthy who was tasked with maintaining the nation’s air radiation monitoring systems. After, the Japanese nuclear power plant failure, it was discovered that McCarthy had failed to do her job as the system suffered near catastrophic breakdowns directly due to her apparent incompetence.

“Anyone else would have been fired in the wake of this failure, but Obama is attempting to promote McCarthy to lead the entire EPA.

“McCarthy also is actively encouraging American automobile manufacturers to use an air conditioning refrigerant that has proven to be dangerous under the guise of helping combat global warming.

“Gina McCarthy is a radical, extremist intent on expanding the power of the EPA.  This latest incursion into the Keystone XL pipeline debate is further evidence of how far the EPA’s tentacles extend, and the Senate needs to send the Obama Administration a direct and powerful message by rejecting Gina McCarthy’s nomination to be the EPA Administrator.

“Failure to reject McCarthy may effectively abdicate the last opportunity for Congress to rein in this power grabbing Agency that is sucking the life out of the U.S. economy.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Adam Bitely at (703) 383-0880 ext. 126 or at media@algnews.org to arrange an interview with ALG General Counsel Nathan Mehrens.

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April 11, 2013, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement on the Obama budget’s economic expectations:

“The economic assumptions in the 2014 Obama budget are simply devastating. If true, nominal economic growth will never again reach its postwar historical 6.5 percent average rate of increase. Instead, it will only grow an average 4.8 percent a year this decade. This will have negative implications on the nation’s financial picture for a generation.

“The Obama economic team has already been proven wrong about everything. In 2009, it overestimated GDP by a whopping $1.046 trillion in its first term. It overstated revenues by $1.1 trillion. But for sequestration and the Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing and low interest rate bailouts, the debt would be much larger today.

“Yet, despite those bailouts, in 2013, the national debt will grow by 7.5 percent — above its 7 percent historical growth rate. If sequestration over the coming decade is cancelled and/or if inflation strikes, forcing interest rates to spike, and if the low growth assumptions going forward prove correct, by 2042, debt to GDP could rise to be as high as 189 percent, if not higher.

“Until the economy starts growing faster than the debt, we are skidding down a slippery slope to certain insolvency.”

Attachments:

“Obama’s amateur budget,” By Robert Romano, Senior Editor, Americans for Limited Government, April 11, 2013 at http://netrightdaily.com/2013/04/obamas-amateur-budget/

“What will the debt be in 2042?” By Robert Romano, Senior Editor, Americans for Limited Government, March 15, 2013 at http://netrightdaily.com/2013/03/what-will-the-debt-be-in-2042/

Interview Availability: Please contact Adam Bitely at (703) 383-0880 ext. 126 or at media@algnews.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

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