Aug. 3, 2012, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today responded to the Department of Labor’s unemployment report for July:

“The economic bad news of Obama’s failed economic plan keeps cascading down on the American people.  Today’s unemployment rate of 8.3 percent is shocking in that it is not higher.  With the nation’s economy staggering as it only grows by .125 percent each month, factory orders down in June for the second month in a row, and only 58.4 percent of the working-age population in the labor force, it is clear the American people are suffering.  Yet, Obama continues a campaign against the very job creators who our nation needs to ramp up hiring to lift our nation back to the heights we used to take for granted.

“It is incredible that after a ‘recovery’ that Obama says has worked, we still have an unemployment rate of 8.3 percent.  I’d hate to see what this president would consider a failure.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Rebekah Rast at (703) 383-0880 or at rrast@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

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Aug.1, 2012, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement urging both houses of Congress not to repeal the $62 billion of budget cuts scheduled to take effect in 2013:

“A year ago, the $2.1 trillion increase in the debt ceiling was accepted — the largest in American history — because of the promise of offsetting spending cuts. A supercommittee was formed to find the cuts, but if it failed, $62 billion of cuts were at least guaranteed for the 2013 fiscal year. That was what Congress agreed to, but now members claim they did not even know what they were voting on. Others claim the impact of a 1.6 percent overall cut to the federal budget will be devastating.

“What is devastating is the draining impact that the $15.8 trillion national debt, which will grow to $25 trillion by 2022, is having on the economy. The deeper we go into debt, the more capital is diverted away from the private sector and into the useless paper trade of U.S. treasuries.

“The only way to get a handle on that is to get on the path to balancing the budget, and that must include significant cuts to the budget. The fact is, since 2007, when the deficit was only $160 billion, spending has increased by over $1 trillion, and lo and behold, now we’re running trillion dollar deficits every year. We need to cut at least a trillion, and Congress cannot even handle $62 billion of cuts for a single year?

“Any member who votes to break the sequester cuts without any offsetting cuts in return will be breaking faith with the American people, who have voted time and again for no more debt. Enough is enough. If the Republicans accept the Keynesian premise that spending must always grow for the economy to grow, they will have lost all credibility.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Rebekah Rast at (703) 383-0880 or at rrast@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

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July 31, 2012, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today praised the House of Representatives for voting in favor of an amendment offered by Representatives Mick Mulvaney (R-SC) and Barney Frank (D-MA) that freezes defense spending at 2012 levels of $606 billion:

“Members are to be thanked for standing up for fiscal responsibility while protecting our nation’s defense at a time when former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike McMullen has declared the $15.8 trillion national debt to be the No. 1 threat to our national security. Besides a failure to meet our fiscal obligations, our worsening budget picture will mean that the U.S. will be unable to meet its security obligations around the world, destabilizing whole regions.

“For that reason alone, defense spending — and every other part of the budget including entitlements — must be on the table when it comes to restoring order to our fiscal house. We cannot afford to operate a global empire—no great power ever has without it eventually leading to decline. We must reconsider our role in the world, and find ways to assist our allies — including through arms sales — that does not necessarily require our presence.

“Our national security should not be based on an irrational belief in a printing press to meet our obligations when we are under threat or in peacetime. As has been seen throughout the financial crisis since 2007, we cannot place our faith in the banks to protect the nation’s best interests. Congress has to act responsibly to ensure that our security posture — and the rest of the budget — are on a sustainable trajectory. Right now we’re nowhere near that.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Rebekah Rast at (703) 383-0880 or at rrast@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

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July 31, 2012, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson and Free Market America Executive Director Ryan Houck today issued the following joint statement on the White House postponement of various federal regulations that will be detrimental to swing states, like Florida, until after the election.

The Washington Post lists some of these idling regulations “as cracking down on junk food at school bake sales, another banning children from dangerous work on farms and one setting federal standards for disposing toxic ash from coal-fired power plants.”

Another regulation would require water in Florida’s drainage canals to match the same EPA standards as its rivers and streams.

Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson:

“By delaying these regulations the Obama team is pointing out how harsh their election will be.  They think they are not poking the hornet’s nest before the election but in reality they are telling all voters in the affected states ‘re-elect Obama and this is the nasty, abusive rules that will be imposed on you.’

 “At the same time we see that these regulations are nothing more than loaded guns pointed at the heart of the U.S. economy. Obama is holding off on firing now because he knows the devastating effect they will have, and he doesn’t want to bear the political fallout.”

Free Market America Executive Director Ryan Houck:

“Postponing a bad idea does not qualify as a solution. The EPA’s nutrient rules for Florida would require that the water in roadside drainage canals match the same standards as pristine rivers and streams.  These nonsensical regulations will be as scientifically baseless and as economically devastating next year as they would be this year.

“The Administration should do the right thing and scrap their proposed federal regulations before they leave Florida with fewer farming jobs and higher utility bills.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Rebekah Rast at (703) 383-0880 or at rrast@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

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July 27, 2012, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today again responded to today’s report by the Bureau of Economic Analysis showing the economy slowed in the second quarter to only 1.5 percent growth:

“Gross Domestic Product numbers throughout 2008 failed to show that we were in a recession, when in reality the downturn had begun in the fourth quarter of 2007. And now, once again, the economy is visibly slowing down with only 1.5 percent growth, but are we already in another recession? At best, we’re at stall speed, but we may already be contracting.

“Our early warning systems are broken, and economists are left only to extrapolate that we are in serious trouble. Meanwhile, Obama is doing nothing to get the economy back on its feet again. His only plan is to raise taxes on job creators, wage his war on business, and spend us into oblivion.

“The ‘stimulus’ has failed, and yet all the talk is the Fed will try to administer another dose of quantitative easing, or money printing, that will do nothing to get us out of this ditch. It is time for new leadership. We need a return to sound money, fiscal responsibility, lower taxes, and a complete unraveling of the environmental, labor, and health regulations that are strangling growth.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Rebekah Rast at (703) 383-0880 or at rrast@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

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July 26, 2012, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today again urged the House of Representatives to cancel its lame duck session of Congress after the November elections, and pass a continuing resolution past the lame duck session before the August recess:

“To avoid a very bad deal at year’s end the House needs to act now, before the August recess, to pass a stopgap funding measure that also extends the current tax rates, the debt ceiling, and postpones the sequester cuts all through March 2013. Using the continuing resolution as leverage is perhaps the only way to get all of that done before the election, and to avoid an undemocratic lame duck Congress from answering these questions afterward.

“The alternative is to trust Barack Obama, Harry Reid, and John Boehner to do the right thing after November, when the American people will no longer be able to hold their representatives accountable for how they vote. Nobody believes that these three will produce a good deal for taxpayers.

“Senators Jim DeMint, Lindsay Graham, and Ron Johnson, along with House conservatives, are working together to persuade House Speaker John Boehner to act now and not to wait until after the August recess, which ends on Sept. 7. After that, Congress will only have three short weeks to act. It is better to act now before the recess, and then Republicans can take that time to make their case to the American people that it is they who should decide, through elections, how these questions will be answered in 2013.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Rebekah Rast at (703) 383-0880 or at rrast@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

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July 26, 2012, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson and Free Market America Executive Director Ryan Houck today issued the following joint statement praising the House of Representatives for rejecting H.R. 6168, an Obama Administration proposal to restrict off-shore oil drilling.

Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson:

“The Obama Administration has spent the past three and a half years attempting to choke the development of North American oil supplies, while bragging about increased supplies that were the direct result of policies implemented by the previous administration.

“The House of Representatives attempted to restore sanity to our domestic oil development by voting to roll back Obama’s attempt to destroy common sense offshore oil production.  Ironically, China is engaged in an aggressive drilling effort in conjunction with Cuba in the waters that Obama would deny U.S. access to.  Now, it is up to the Senate to get off the dime and start putting a secure American energy supply ahead of the radical environmental groups who would rather America fail than for us to create a vibrant domestic energy supply.”

Free Market America Executive Director Ryan Houck:

“For too long, energy policy in America has been heavily influenced by environmental extremism. While radical environmental interests continue to exert dangerous levels of control over the organs of environmental regulation, we nonetheless applaud the House of Representatives for taking a big step in the right direction by rejecting H.R. 6168 — which was nothing more than a thinly-veiled anti-energy plan to outsource American jobs.

“If implemented, HR 6168 — the Administration’s Offshore Plan — would have rendered 85 percent of America’s offshore energy resources inaccessible at a time of economic hardship and high gas prices.  Thanks to decisive action by the House, American consumers, taxpayers and workers all got a win today.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Rebekah Rast at (703) 383-0880 or at rrast@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

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July 23, 2012, Fairfax, VA—The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced Friday that it will “review” crushing new regulations on coal-fired power plants, which were originally set to be completed this year.  Under mounting pressure from communities that depend on coal production for good-paying jobs, the agency postponed completion of the new regulations until March 2013—after Election Day.

“These regulations should be revoked not reviewed,” said Ryan Houck, executive director of Free Market America.  “This rule will cost billions each year, drive away good-paying jobs and empty the pockets of consumers who will be stuck higher electric bills.  EPA’s top brass has even admitted on camera that these regulations would be ‘painful every step of the way’.  That’s true for the communities that count on coal production for jobs and for the consumers who count on coal to provide more than 40 percent of our nation’s electricity.”

Even EPA’s estimates indicate its rule will cost nearly $10 billion annually.  If the regulations take effect, new coal-fired plants will be required to deploy so-called carbon capture technology, which is not yet developed and has not been proven financially feasible.  Moreover, the standards set by EPA are impossible to achieve with existing technology.

Americans for Limited Government president Bill Wilson questioned the timing of the review, “Everyone knows that these regulations will bring about an economic disaster while yielding little environmental benefit.  With coal-producing states like Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia likely to decide the presidential election, this delay smells like an attempt by the president to defer an economic and political disaster until after Election Day.

“While the agency’s decision to review these catastrophic regulations is a step in the right direction, simply delaying the economic execution of an essential industry until after the election is not enough—these regulations should be rolled back in their entirety.”

Free Market America is a free market watchdog group that focuses on environmental issues.  In partnership with Americans for Limited Government, the group was launched earlier this year and is responsible for the viral video “If I wanted America to fail” a runaway hit that scored more than 2.4 million views on YouTube.

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July 19, 2012, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today in a statement praised 127 House Republicans for signing a Republican Study Committee letter urging immediate action by House Speaker John Boehner to not only repeal Obamacare, but to defund every aspect of it:

“On July 11, 239 House Republicans voted to repeal Obamacare. Inexplicably, however, only 127 members have committed to completely defunding it. We thank every member who has signed the letter urging Speaker Boehner to support every effort to defund Obamacare. But we are left to simply wonder why other members appear reluctant to actually do something to stop the implementation of the law by cutting off its funding.

“There should not be a single piece of legislation that passes which funds any part of Obamacare, and the House must demand that this liberty-robbing law not be implemented.”

House Republican members who signed letter:

Name	District
Brooks, Mo	AL-05
Griffin, Tim	AR-02
Gosar, Paul	AZ-01
Franks, Trent	AZ-02
Quayle, Ben	AZ-03
Schweikert, David	AZ-05
Flake, Jeff	AZ-06
Herger, Wally	CA-02
McClintock, Tom	CA-04
Denham, Jeff	CA-19
Hunter, Duncan D.	CA-52
Tipton, Scott	CO-03
Gardner, Cory	CO-04
Lamborn, Doug	CO-05
Miller, Jeff	FL-01
Southerland, Steve	FL-02
Nugent, Rich	FL-05
Stearns, Cliff	FL-06
Mica, John	FL-07
Bilirakis, Gus	FL-09
Young, C.W. “Bill”	FL-10
Ross, Dennis	FL-12
Mack, Connie	FL-14
West, Allen	FL-22
Adams, Sandy	FL-24
Westmoreland, Lynn	GA-03
Price, Tom	GA-06
Scott, Austin	GA-08
Graves, Tom	GA-09
Broun, Paul	GA-10
Gingrey, Phil	GA-11
King, Steve	IA-05
Labrador, Raul	ID-01
Walsh, Joe	IL-08
Manzullo, Donald	IL-16
Schilling, Bobby	IL-17
Schock, Aaron	IL-18
Shimkus, John	IL-19
Stutzman, Marlin	IN-03
Rokita, Todd	IN-04
Burton, Dan	IN-05
Pence, Mike	IN-06
Bucshon, Larry	IN-08
Young, Todd	IN-09
Huelskamp, Tim	KS-01
Jenkins, Lynn	KS-02
Yoder, Kevin	KS-03
Pompeo, Mike	KS-04
Guthrie, Brett	KY-02
Scalise, Steve	LA-01
Landry, Jeff	LA-03
Fleming, John	LA-04
Boustany, Charles	LA-07
Harris, Andy	MD-01
Bartlett, Roscoe	MD-06
Benishek, Dan	MI-01
Huizenga, Bill	MI-02
Amash, Justin	MI-03
Walberg, Tim	MI-07
Bachmann, Michele	MN-06
Akin, Todd	MO-02
Hartzler, Vicky	MO-04
Graves, Sam	MO-06
Long, Billy	MO-07
Luetkemeyer, Blaine	MO-09
Palazzo, Steven	MS-04
Jones, Walter	NC-03
Coble, Howard	NC-06
Myrick, Sue	NC-09
Berg, Rick	ND-00
Terry, Lee	NE-02
Smith, Adrian	NE-03
Guinta, Frank	NH-01
Garrett, Scott	NJ-05
Pearce, Steve	NM-02
Amodei, Mark	NV-02
Heck, Joe	NV-03
Buerkle, Ann Marie	NY-25
Chabot, Steve	OH-01
Schmidt, Jean	OH-02
Jordan, Jim	OH-04
Latta, Bob	OH-05
Johnson, Bill	OH-06
Austria, Steve	OH-07
Renacci, Jim	OH-16
Sullivan, John	OK-01
Lankford, James	OK-05
Kelly, Mike	PA-03
Marino, Tom	PA-10
Barletta, Louis	PA-11
Pitts, Joe	PA-16
Murphy, Tim	PA-18
Scott, Tim	SC-01
Wilson, Joe	SC-02
Duncan, Jeff	SC-03
Gowdy, Trey	SC-04
Mulvaney, Mick	SC-05
Noem, Kristi	SD-00
Roe, Phil	TN-01
Duncan, John	TN-02
Fleischmann, Chuck	TN-03
Black, Diane	TN-06
Blackburn, Marsha	TN-07
Fincher, Stephen Lee	TN-08
Gohmert, Louie	TX-01
Poe, Ted	TX-02
Johnson, Sam	TX-03
Hall, Ralph	TX-04
Barton, Joe	TX-06
Culberson, John	TX-07
McCaul, Michael	TX-10
Conaway, Michael	TX-11
Paul, Ron	TX-14
Flores, Bill	TX-17
Neugebauer, Randy	TX-19
Smith, Lamar	TX-21
Olson, Pete	TX-22
Canseco, Quico	TX-23
Marchant, Kenny	TX-24
Burgess, Michael	TX-26
Farenthold, Blake	TX-27
Bishop, Rob	UT-01
Chaffetz, Jason	UT-03
Sensenbrenner, F. James	WI-05
Duffy, Sean	WI-07
Ribble, Reid	WI-08
McKinley, David	WV-01

 

House Republican members who didn’t sign letter:

Name	District
Young, Donald	AK-00
Bonner, Jo	AL-01
Roby, Martha	AL-02
Rogers, Mike	AL-03
Aderholt, Robert	AL-04
Bachus, Spencer	AL-06
Crawford, Rick	AR-01
Womack, Steve	AR-03
Lungren, Dan	CA-03
Nunes, Devin	CA-21
McCarthy, Kevin	CA-22
Gallegly, Elton	CA-24
McKeon, Buck	CA-25
Dreier, David	CA-26
Royce, Ed	CA-40
Lewis, Jerry	CA-41
Miller, Gary	CA-42
Calvert, Ken	CA-44
Bono Mack, Mary	CA-45
Rohrabacher, Dana	CA-46
Campbell, John	CA-48
Issa, Darrell	CA-49
Bilbray, Brian	CA-50
Coffman, Mike	CO-06
Crenshaw, Ander	FL-04
Webster, Daniel	FL-08
Buchanan, Vern	FL-13
Posey, Bill	FL-15
Rooney, Tom	FL-16
Ros-Lehtinen, Ileana	FL-18
Diaz-Balart, Mario	FL-21
Rivera, David	FL-25
Kingston, Jack	GA-01
Woodall, Rob	GA-07
Latham, Tom	IA-04
Simpson, Mike	ID-02
Roskam, Peter	IL-06
Dold, Robert	IL-10
Kinzinger, Adam	IL-11
Biggert, Judy	IL-13
Hultgren, Randy	IL-14
Johnson, Timothy	IL-15
Whitfield, Ed	KY-01
Davis, Geoff	KY-04
Rogers, Hal	KY-05
Alexander, Rodney	LA-05
Cassidy, Bill	LA-06
Camp, Dave	MI-04
Upton, Fred	MI-06
Rogers, Mike	MI-08
Miller, Candice	MI-10
Kline, John	MN-02
Paulsen, Erik	MN-03
Cravaack, Chip	MN-08
Emerson, Jo Ann	MO-08
Nunnelee, Alan	MS-01
Harper, Gregg	MS-03
Rehberg, Denny	MT-00
Ellmers, Renee	NC-02
Foxx, Virginia	NC-05
McHenry, Patrick	NC-10
Fortenberry, Jeff	NE-01
Bass, Charlie	NH-02
LoBiondo, Frank	NJ-02
Runyan, Jon	NJ-03
Smith, Christopher	NJ-04
Lance, Leonard	NJ-07
Frelinghuysen, Rodney	NJ-11
King, Peter	NY-03
Turner, Bob	NY-09
Grimm, Michael	NY-13
Hayworth, Nan	NY-19
Gibson, Chris	NY-20
Hanna, Richard	NY-24
Reed, Tom	NY-29
Turner, Michael	OH-03
Tiberi, Pat	OH-12
LaTourette, Steven	OH-14
Stivers, Steve	OH-15
Gibbs, Bob	OH-18
Lucas, Frank	OK-03
Cole, Tom	OK-04
Walden, Greg	OR-02
Thompson, Glenn	PA-05
Gerlach, Jim	PA-06
Meehan, Patrick	PA-07
Fitzpatrick, Mike	PA-08
Shuster, Bill	PA-09
Dent, Charlie	PA-15
Platts, Todd	PA-19
DesJarlais, Scott	TN-04
Hensarling, Jeb	TX-05
Brady, Kevin	TX-08
Granger, Kay	TX-12
Thornberry, Mac	TX-13
Carter, John	TX-31
Sessions, Pete	TX-32
Wittman, Rob	VA-01
Rigell, Scott	VA-02
Forbes, J. Randy	VA-04
Hurt, Robert	VA-05
Goodlatte, Bob	VA-06
Cantor, Eric	VA-07
Griffith, Morgan	VA-09
Wolf, Frank	VA-10
Herrera Beutler, Jaime	WA-03
Hastings, Doc	WA-04
McMorris Rodgers, Cathy	WA-05
Reichert, Dave	WA-08
Ryan, Paul	WI-01
Petri, Thomas	WI-06
Moore Capito, Shelley	WV-02
Lummis, Cynthia	WY-00

Interview Availability: Please contact Rebekah Rast at (703) 383-0880 or at rrast@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

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July 19, 2012, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today urged the U.S. Senate to reject Obama nominee Erica Groshen to head the Bureau of Labor Statistics, citing her ties to a left-wing organization with communist roots and her radical views against small businesses.

“Confirming Erica Groshen would be a sure-fire way to substantially erode the public’s confidence that the data released by the agency are not ideologically skewed,” Wilson wrote in an oped published by Investor’s Business Daily today.

Americans for Limited Government released a report today detailing Groshen’s decision to “send at least one of her children to a camp that revels in its past as a ‘red diaper baby’ indoctrination center,” Wilson wrote in a letter to Senate members.

“This choice reveals much more about Ms. Groshen’s personal belief system. A belief system that the United States spent 50 years in a Cold, and sometimes hot, War to defeat,” Wilson wrote.

Camp Kinderland, where Groshen sent at least one of her children, was founded by members of the Communist Party in the 20^th century, sang Soviet anthems, saluted Soviet flags, and was investigated by Congress in the 1950’s for its communist ties. According to the camp’s website, “Camp Kinderland is true to the vision of its founders.”

Groshen’s actions to send at least one of her children to a camp with communist origins contradicts her claims in a Theislandnow.com interview where she stated, “I have a very non-political, non-partisan background,” Groshen said. “That’s the kind of work I’ve always done at the Fed and when I was briefly an academic. The BLS is just a continuation of that sort of career because that’s who I am. That’s what I do.”

The ALG report blasts Groshen, “Given the history of the camp one might wonder why a person who touted herself as non-political would send their children there.”

Wilson also highlighted a 1998 paper Groshen coauthored that stated, “Small may be beautiful in many arenas, but it is not beautiful for workers,” adding, “any public policy advantage awarded to small firms (such as labor or environmental standard exemptions) should provide cause for worry.”

“Groshen’s preferred method of alleviating this ‘worry’? Heavier regulation of small businesses — which is one of the very last things our economy needs right now,” Wilson wrote in his oped.

Small businesses supply just about half of all jobs in the U.S. — some 60 million — according to the Small Business Administration.

In his oped Wilson concluded, “The Senate should reject Groshen’s nomination and call on Obama to submit a choice more compatible with the objective role of this agency.”

Attachments:

Special Report from Americans for Limited Government on Erica L. Groshen, Nominee for Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics July 2012 at http://netrightdaily.com/2012/07/who-is-erica-groshen/

Interview Availability: Please contact Rebekah Rast at (703) 383-0880 or at rrast@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

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