Stop the special interest raid on Medicare under the guise of ‘postal reform.’

Fairfax, Va. – This week the House of Representatives is expected to vote on H.R. 3076, legislation which raids our nation’s Medicare system to the tune of $5.6 billion over the next ten years according to the Congressional Budget Office. Americans for Limited Government President Richard Manning issued the following statement:

“This is disastrous.  Just six months ago, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reported that Medicare will be depleted in 2026 writing, “… current-law projections indicate that Medicare still faces a substantial financial shortfall that will need to be addressed with further legislation.

“This massive expense dump on Medicare will have the dual effect of accelerating the senior health care program’s bankruptcy, and increasing the costs associated with any rescue plan.

“Dumping U.S. Postal Service (U.S.P.S.) retiree health care obligations into Medicare will not only make the Medicare solvency crisis more difficult to solve. Pushing the effects of bad contracts negotiated with the postal workers union over the years onto the Medicare Trust Fund is cynical politics at its worse and must be stopped.

“The Government Accountability Office has already found in 2020, that, ‘USPS’s current business model is not financially stable” with almost $78 billion in the past 13 years.’  Shifting their retirement health care costs over to Medicare merely puts a band aid on the post office’s financial woes, but it puts a dagger in the heart of Medicare solvency with higher payroll taxes and cuts in Medicare benefits for retirees the inevitable outcome.

“Americans for Limited Government urges the House of Representatives to stop this special interest raid on Medicare under the guise of ‘postal reform.’”

For media availability contact Catherine Mortensen at 703.478.4643 or cmortensen@getliberty.org.

Feb. 4, 2022, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement on the latest jobs numbers:

“Over the past two months, the BLS establishment survey has shown gains of 1 million new jobs, but it is coming at the same time as red-hot 7 percent inflation, a collapsing 10-year, 2-year yield, 5.7 percent economic growth in 2021, and yet a projected GDP growth by the Atlanta Fed of just 0.1 percent for the first quarter, indicating the U.S. economy is headed into stormy waters. All Americans should hope that the establishment jobs gains will be sustained, but any prudent person should know that no business cycle lasts forever, and right now, some of the signs point to an economy that is overheating. At this juncture, it is almost guaranteed the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates next month, and the only question is by how much.”

For media availability contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 or media@limitgov.org.

###

Jan. 27, 2022, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement reacting to a Politico report that the Capitol Police have been conducting warrantless surveillance of Congressional staff and visitors:

“Politico reports that in fall of 2020, the Capitol Police began a process of investigating staff and visitors to members offices at the U.S. Capitol, and dramatically expanded their efforts after the first of the year, 2021.  These investigations include going through personal Congressional staff members’ social media accounts and investigating the owners of buildings and homes where members meet. This is warrantless surveillance. There are no criminal allegations being investigated, it’s a fishing expedition in violation of the Fourth Amendment. It also violates the First Amendment right to peacefully petition members of Congress, by creating a chilling effect on Congressional staff, advocacy groups and even personal friends of members.

“The effect of this intrusion is that any private citizen who hosts a fundraiser or even a private party where a member of Congress is invited could be subjected to a full-scale Big Brother investigation into every aspect of their lives. What’s more since the Capitol Police report to the Speaker of the House, they are effectively conducting political opposition research for the majority party.  Politico reports that friends of Florida Senator Rick Scott and House Minority Whip Steve Scalise have been subjected to these inquiries without the courtesy of the respective members being notified.

“The public has a right to meet with elected officials. For the Speaker to use the Capitol Police to monitor meetings of members of the opposition party is unconscionable.  Those responsible for implementing these programs within the Capitol Police should be fired, and Speaker Pelosi should be removed from her position for engaging in this practice.  House Democrats need to understand that a Capitol Police force that intrudes into the personal lives of Republican staff members while they are in control in January of 2023, will be reviewing theirs.  It is time to nip this abuse of power in the bud by ending it now.”

For media availability contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 or media@limitgov.org.

###

Jan. 25, 2022, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning responding to the Department of Labor’s decision to withdraw the OSHA emergency temporary standard rule requiring employers with 100 or more employees to require Covid vaccines, and replacing it with a proposed rule instead:

“OSHA’s announcement that they’re dropping the emergency regulation that requires employers with 100 or more employees to fire unvaccinated employees is little more than a shell game. What OSHA’s really dropping is the emergency designation while promising the same regulation through normal regulatory channels, including public comment periods. This demonstrates incredible hubris by the Biden Labor Department as the Supreme Court injunction against the OSHA vaccine mandate was built around the lack of Congressional authorization for their action. Nothing has changed. Congress still has not OSHA authorized to act, therefore OSHA still lacks authority to even propose the rule, and they know it.

“The Supreme Court should still finish the job by definitively stopping OSHA from moving forward with any regulation on this subject matter. The Commerce Clause, which OSHA is authorized under, does not allow for vaccine mandates, and OSHA has never had authority to compel employers to fire employees. OSHA’s job is to determine if somebody stacked boxes in the emergency exit, not to determine who gets to hold a job and who doesn’t, and the Court should remind them of that fact.”

For media availability contact Catherine Mortensen at 703.478.4643 or cmortensen@getliberty.org.

###

Jan. 13, 2022, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement praising in part the Supreme Court’s decision to leave an injunction in place on the OSHA vaccine mandates, but blasting its decision to allow similar mandates against health care workers to be enforced:

“The Supreme Court is right to stop the Biden OSHA vaccine mandate that would have potentially thrown millions of Americans out of work. The Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution is not a blank check for the federal government to regulate every aspect of Americans’ lives and it is a relief that the Supreme Court is recognizing that fact.

“On the other hand, it is disappointing that the Court ruled that hospital and other health care systems that take Medicare and Medicaid are subject to intrusive federal regulations that impact their ability to provide health services at a time when when have a health care labor crisis. By forcing doctors, nurses, social workers and other health care personnel to comply with a federal vaccine mandate, the Court is treating those workers as second class citizens by virtue of the important role they are playing in the pandemic. What’s more, Justice Elena Kagan’s comments that if you’re funded by the federal government, you should be controlled by the federal government, should galvanize efforts of Congress to remove Obamacare root and branch.

“President Biden has the power of the bully pulpit and can seek to lead using it. Instead, Biden attempted to strong arm the American people into compliance, wasting valuable months in a pandemic and using the overbearing power of the administrative state, all of which is a cautionary tale of why the fight for limited government is more important now than ever.  The OSHA mandate may be dead, but federal power over health care is very much alive.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-478-4643 or at cmortensen@getliberty.org .

###

All governors should protect their state investments from non-transparent Chinese entities and the evil which they perpetrate on the Chinese people.

Fairfax, Va. – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and some of his administration’s top officials moved this week to protect their state investments from non-transparent Chinese companies. Americans for Limited Government (ALG) President Richard Manning issued the following statement in support of Gov. DeSantis:

“Americans for Limited Government strongly supports Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s choice to pursue divestment of his state’s pension funds from Chinese assets.

“Chinese assets are not suitable for any pension fund investment due to their lack of transparency and the resulting inability of honest pension fund managers to determine their viability. What’s more, Chinese corporations are interconnected with the Chinese Communist Party, which engages in a barely-muted cold war against the United States.

“Finally, and perhaps most important of all, Chinese corporations, and China as a whole, encourage the use of slave labor for the manufacturing of goods. The Department of Labor has long recognized Uyghur Muslims and other religious and ethnic minorities who have been forced into state-sponsored labor and re-education camps by the Chinese Communist Party in Xinjiang and elsewhere across China. The 2020 report published by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of International Labor Affairs lists China 17 times as using children and slaves to make goods, many of which find their place on the shelves of U.S. retailers like Walmart. Artificial flowers, bricks, Christmas decorations, coal, cotton, electronics, fireworks, fish, footwear, garments, gloves, hair products, nails, textiles, thread/yarn, tomato products, toys are all listed as being made with child or slave labor in China.

“The Department of Defense has also condemned the vast concentration camp system in China said to be housing up to 3 million Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang province alone. In 2019, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs Randall Schriver told a Pentagon briefing, ‘The [Chinese] are using the security forces for mass imprisonment of Chinese Muslims in concentration camps,” justifying the use of the term because “given what we understand to be the magnitude of the detention, at least a million but likely closer to three million citizens out of a population of about 10 million.’”

“ALG urges every governor in the U.S. to follow Gov. DeSantis’s lead and protect their state investments from non-transparent Chinese entities and the evil which they perpetrate on the Chinese people and the world.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-478-4643 or at cmortensen@getliberty.org.