Feb. 6, 2013, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement condemning Ohio Governor John Kasich for pledging to expand Medicaid under the new federal health care law:

“Governor Kasich has pledged to expand Medicaid under the Obamacare statute, which lures states into the program with promises of federal assistance. Despite that federal spending, the expansion will still cost states at least $12 billion a year once the program is fully implemented, and billions more over the long-term.

“Ohio’s expansion alone will cost federal taxpayers $17 billion from 2014-2019, according to a Kaiser estimate. Except there is not enough revenue to pay for Medicaid expansion. So it will have to be borrowed. Thanks to Governor Kasich, the American people will be paying interest on Ohio’s Medicaid expansion for posterity.

“Overall, the burden being created by this massive expansion will add trillions of dollars to the national debt, as coverage will now be provided up to 133 percent of the poverty level. That means 23.8 million potential new enrollees. Which, at a current cost of about $4,950 per Medicaid recipient, will be a $117.8 billion annual, additional cost. And Governor Kasich is doing nothing to stop it.

“Compare that with Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett, who leads much more of a blue state than Ohio. Yet Governor Corbett is standing on principle, while Kasich is cutting and running. In Ohio alone, if Medicaid is expanded, there will be 667,000 new enrollees. That’s more than a half million new government dependents being created in one of the most pivotal presidential electoral states in the union.

“By implementing the Medicaid expansion, Kasich is forcing federal taxpayers to pay for what will ultimately prove to be an unsustainable expansion of the entitlement state. We call on the Ohio legislature to have the courage to correct his mistake, and refuse to go along with 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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Feb. 5, 2013, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement responding to pleas by the Obama Administration for Congress to delay the $53.8 billion automatic sequestration cuts to outlays, or the $85 billion to budgeting authority, due to take effect March 1:

“It is convenient that just two days after the New York Times publishes an editorial calling for sequestration to be eliminated, the Obama Administration is dutifully responding with calls for it to again be delayed.

“The fact is, sequestration has already been delayed in the fiscal cliff deal, costing taxpayers $24 billion. No more delays. Taxpayers were promised these cuts in return for increasing the debt ceiling by $2.1 trillion in August 2011. In the meantime, if the total $53.4 billion of new spending for 2013 from the fiscal cliff and Sandy relief are factored in, the $53.8 billion of actual sequester cuts due this year has already been pretty much offset.

“The Administration argues that cuts to government spending somehow hurt the economy, when in reality including spending as a component of GDP is a gross distortion of economic reports. When spending increases, GDP increases, and when spending decreases, GDP decreases, reflecting a Keynesian bias of the first order in favor of government spending. The fact that it has been done for decades by the Bureau of Economic Analysis does not justify the practice when its only use is for elected officials like Obama to justify more ‘stimulus.’

“After World War II, when defense spending was ramped down, GDP contracted by 1.1 percent in 1945, by a whopping 10.9 percent 1946, and then again in 1947 by 0.9 percent. Meanwhile, personal consumption and private investment was increasing substantially after the war ended. Was the economy contracting, or was spending simply cut? The fact is, the war ending and the substantial decrease of government spending were both boons for the global economy, which after the war the economy grew dramatically.

“Even if government spending is excluded as a component of GDP, in the fourth quarter of 2012 the private sector only grew by a 1.3 percent real rate. That is nothing to write home about. It is slow, tepid, and proves that record deficit-spending by the Administration every year is doing nothing to benefit the private sector, which employs 85 percent of the nation’s workforce.

“To truly help the private sector, the budget should be balanced, freeing up resources for the private sector. Health, labor, and environmental regulations restricting business expansion ought to be rolled back.  And sound money must be restored, bringing an end to the Fed’s quantitative easing programs. Sadly, the Obama Administration is interested in none of the above.”

Attachments:

“Government spending’s misleading impact on GDP,” By ALG President Bill Wilson, Oct. 28, 2012 at http://netrightdaily.com/2012/10/government-spendings-big-impact-on-gdp/

“The Fed can’t print growth,” By ALG President Bill Wilson, Feb. 1, 2013 at http://netrightdaily.com/2013/01/the-fed-cant-print-growth/

“Cautious hope keeping $85 billion sequester,” By ALG President Bill Wilson, Jan. 30, 2013 at http://netrightdaily.com/2013/01/cautious-hope-on-keeping-85-billion-sequester/

“Does the national debt matter?” By ALG VP of Communications and Public Policy Rick Manning, Feb. 1, 2013 at http://netrightdaily.com/2013/02/does-the-national-debt-matter/

“Is Hurricane Sandy funding subject to sequestration?” By ALG Senior Editor Robert Romano, Feb. 5, 2013, at http://netrightdaily.com/2013/02/is-hurricane-sandy-funding-subject-to-sequestration/

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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Feb. 5, 2013, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement demanding a correction for the New York Times for a Sunday, Feb. 3 editorial, “A million jobs at stake,” that claimed the $50.5 billion of “aid just approved for victims of Hurricane Sandy will fall under the sequester’s ax”:

“At Americans for Limited Government, we were quite shocked to ‘learn’ in a New York Times editorial that Congress had subjected the entire $50.5 billion of hurricane disaster relief that just passed Congress to sequestration. That, somehow, this spending was paid for with offsetting cuts elsewhere in the budget. But upon undertaking a thorough analysis of the legislation, in section after section, these appropriations were specifically exempted from sequestration under the Budget Control Act. If it were otherwise, it would be one of the greatest oversights by an elected body in recent memory.

“This either was pure propaganda, a willful, purposeful distortion, using hurricane victims as human shields yet again — this time to rail against sequestration cuts — or it was just shoddy journalism by the New York Times editorial board. Neither is worthy of the so-called paper of record. They should issue a correction, and apologize to the millions of victims who were affected by Hurricane Sandy in their readership area.

“This just confirms what others have said, such as Investor’s Business Daily, that the mainstream media has become little more than mouthpieces for the political left, the establishment in Washington, D.C., and the Obama Administration. Using hurricane victims as props to achieve an unrelated policy objective is just the newest low in a long line of demagoguery by the media, with Republicans in Congress set up as useful scapegoats. This is simply shameless.

“The fact is, amendments were offered by Rep. Mick Mulvaney in the House and Sen. Mike Lee in the Senate that would have paid for hurricane disaster relief, and they were both soundly defeated in Congress. These amendments should have been passed to help pay for the disaster relief — not to cut the disaster relief funding itself — which was simply another distortion by the Times editorial. The fact is, these amendments were not passed, and the spending not paid for. The Times needs to correct the record.”

Attachments:

“Is Hurricane Sandy funding subject to sequestration?” By ALG Senior Editor Robert Romano, Feb. 5, 2013, at http://netrightdaily.com/2013/02/is-hurricane-sandy-funding-subject-to-sequestration/

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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Jan. 30, 2013, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government president Bill Wilson reacted to today’s unemployment rate release by the Bureau of Labor Statistics which showed that the rate increased for the second month in a row to 7.9 percent as 126,000 more Americans reported that they were unemployed in January than in December.  Since the November election, the number of Americans reporting that they are unemployed has increased by more than 330,000 people or roughly the equivalent of the entire population of Cincinnati, Ohio.

“More and more Americans are suffering from unemployment as the national debt and our nation’s leaders failure to confront it, continues to drag down economic growth.  Even far left economist Paul Krugman characterizes Obama’s economy as having “depression conditions” and no other results could have resulted from a President who insists on higher taxes, more government spending and increased regulations that stifle job creation.

“It is even more instructive that Obama has abandoned all pretense of caring about creating conditions where private sector job creation can occur, as this past week he let his so-called Jobs Council expire into the dust bin of history.

“Congressional leaders need to step up and use the budget process to strike down job destroying regulations, defund rogue agencies like the EPA, and immediately cut the budget to return our nation to the economic hope and prosperity we enjoyed prior to the dramatic explosion of the size and scope of government that we have experienced over the past five years.”

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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Jan. 30, 2013, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement in response to the latest report by the Bureau of Economic Analysis showing the economy shrank at an annualized rate of 0.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012:

“The economy is once again shrinking despite White House and economists’ expectations of 1.1 percent growth for the quarter. And all in spite of renewed quantitative easing by the Federal Reserve, which will be pumping $1 trillion of new ‘stimulus’ into the economy every year perhaps for the rest of our lives. Half will go to buying government debt, and the other half to bailing out financial institutions still weighed down with dodgy mortgage backed securities from the financial crisis.

“None of which will boost growth, as can already be seen. A printing press is no replacement for real productivity, a lowered cost of doing business, and regulations that welcome company creation. Instead, we have a spiraling national debt backed only by the Fed’s useless paper trade, taxes that were just increased on small businesses, and a regulatory environment in health care, the environment, and labor that would make Soviet Russia blush. The result is sustained high unemployment and no growth. We’re in another depression.

“This is simply unsustainable. The only problem is that seemingly nobody in Washington, D.C. is listening. To get the economy back on track, we must get our fiscal house in order, roll back regulatory agencies in the nation’s capital that are holding back growth, and return to sound money. We got into this mess because of too much debt, and yet more of it from Congress, the White House, and the Fed will never get us out.”

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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Jan. 28, 2013, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement urging the House of Representatives not to reduce what remains of the $85 billion of sequestration cuts to budgeting authority due to take effect March 1 agreed to in August 2011:

“Sequester was originally supposed to be for $109 billion, but since then these cuts to budget authority have already been reduced to $85 billion during the fiscal cliff negotiations. They must not be reduced any further.  The House can attempt to find offsetting cuts for defense, but before they do so, they ought to take a close at Sen. Tom Coburn’s “Back in Black” proposal, which included $963 billion of easy, feasible cuts over ten years from the defense budget.

“In a study that swept across all departments and agencies, Coburn found in defense for example $10 billion for elementary schools or the potential to consolidate its worldwide grocery store chain that would save $9.1 billion. These are non-defense items snuck into the defense budget. He found $184 billion in potential health care savings alone. There is plenty that could be cut without undermining security.

“So, if sequestration falls on vital security programs, it will only be because the Obama Administration failed to prioritize the cuts to be made, despite having almost two years to prepare.

“In any event, the American people were promised these cuts in return for the last $2.1 trillion increase of the debt ceiling. To secure the votes for the most recent suspension of the debt ceiling until May 19, House leaders had to promise to maintain the sequester cuts. Now there is no excuse for not keeping the commitment.”

Attachments:

“Sequester must be maintained,” By ALG senior editor Robert Romano, Jan. 25, 2013 at http://netrightdaily.com/2013/01/sequester-must-be-maintained/

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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Jan. 25, 2013, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government today praised a decision by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling unconstitutional “recess” appointments made by Barack Obama to the National Labor Relations Board that did not occur during a congressional recess.

The decision also struck down a controversial ruling by the NLRB as being unconstitutional because the “recess” appointments that provided the Board its quorum were not constitutionally made.

According to the unanimous ruling, “Because none of the three appointments were valid, the Board lacked a quorum and its decision must be vacated,” upholding the 2010 New Process Steel 2010 case.

The case now heads to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Americans for Limited Government (ALG) general counsel Nathan Mehrens said the decision would have wider implications if upheld by the Supreme Court: “If it stands, all of the acts of the unconstitutionally appointed NLRB will be struck down.”

ALG President Bill Wilson hailed the decision as “a victory for a return to constitutional government the way it’s worked for the prior 200 years, reaffirming the advice and consent process.”

He added in conclusion, “As important as this is for the appointments in question, the wider implication is that it will prevent the White House from ever again engaging in illegal activity of this nature.”

Attachments:

“Obama’s Extraconstitutional NLRB Appointments,” By Rick Manning, Vice President of Public Policy and Communications, Americans for Limited Government, Jan. 9, 2012 at http://netrightdaily.com/2012/01/obamas-extraconstitutional-nlrb-appointments/

“NLRB ‘recess’ appointments an egregious power grab,” By Robert Romano, Senior Editor, Americans for Limited Government, Jan. 6, 2012 at http://netrightdaily.com/2012/01/nlrb-recess-appointments-an-egregious-power-grab/

ALG Urges Passage of Bill Repealing NLRB Adjudicatory Powers in Light of Unconstitutional Appointments, Jan. 5, 2012 at http://getliberty.org/alg-urges-passage-of-bill-repealing-nlrb-adjudicatory-powers-in-light-of-unconstitutional-appointments/

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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House Republican leadership turns power of the purse over to the White House

Jan. 23, 2013, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement blasting the House of Representatives for suspending the debt ceiling until May 19, 2013 through passage of H.R. 325:

“This is a partial repeal of representative government. Through the elimination of the debt ceiling, even just until May 19, the American people now have no say in the amount of debt the government contracts. The only say whatsoever representatives had on the some 60 percent of the $3.7 trillion budget that operates on autopilot, which includes Social Security, Medicare, and other forms of so-called ‘mandatory’ spending, was the periodic vote on increasing the debt ceiling.

“Now that it has been suspended, the debt ceiling may never be reinstated. All the Senate needs to do now come May 19 is again threaten default should the debt ceiling suspension not be indefinitely extended. Under those circumstances, House Republican leadership is likely to fold under even the slightest pressure.

“That said, Republican leadership has gotten what they want. Now the onus is on them to deliver the spending cuts that were promised. That means, in the continuing resolution debate in March, the 10-year pathway to a balanced budget must be included. That means, the ‘Full Faith and Credit Act,’ which would prioritize interest payments in the event the debt ceiling is ever reached, must be passed. That means the budget sequester passed in 2011 must be kept in place.

“And it means, come May 19, the debt ceiling must be reinstated. Otherwise, House Republicans will have ceded their constitutional authority over fiscal matters to the executive, marking an end to representative government in any true 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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Jan. 22, 2013, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement responding to the White House’s statement of support of a House Ways and Means Committee proposal to suspend the debt ceiling until May 19, 2013, H.R. 325:

“Not shockingly the Obama Administration has announced its support House Republican proposals to suspend the debt ceiling until May 19, knowing full well that once the debt ceiling is suspended, it likely will never be reinstated. In their attempt to avoid a confrontation over the debt ceiling, House Republicans have effectively given the Obama Administration a blank check and the capacity to meet their stated goal of eliminating the debt ceiling once and for all.

“It is time for congressional Republicans to reject the House Ways and Means Committee trial balloon, H.R. 325, and to take the steps necessary, including passage of the ‘Full Faith and Credit Act,’ to begin the process of restoring fiscal sanity in our nation, and the power of purse where it belongs in Congress.

“Unless House Republicans change the current path we are on, our nation’s national debt will have increased by more than $4 trillion during their four years in the majority. For a group that gained control of the House on the promise of deficit reduction, that will be an extremely difficult record to defend in 2014.”

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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