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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July 18, 2012, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today urged the House of Representatives to cancel its lame duck session of Congress after the November elections, echoing the calls of South Carolina Senators Lindsay Graham and Jim DeMint for the House to pass a continuing resolution past the lame duck session:

“The House needs to give the American people a much-needed break after the November elections, no matter how they turn out, and force Washington, D.C., to quit governing by crisis. Cancel any plans for a lame duck session, and give the country a break from the political wars.

“The continuing resolution, taxes, and debt ceiling should all be extended, and the sequester cuts postponed, all through March 2013. This will give the American people the opportunity to debate these issues in the electoral context, and then afterward, an opportunity to breathe knowing that Obama and Congress will not do any more damage for the rest of the year.

“By failing to take the lame duck session off the table, the House would be accepting a narrative that it must act to implement the establishment’s agenda, and then only when electoral consequences have been removed from the equation. That is unacceptable to the American people, and it should also be unacceptable to every single member of the House majority who purports to represent them.”

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 16, 2012, Fairfax, VA—While well-healed environmental interests attempt to shut down oil, coal and natural gas production–which account for roughly 82 percent of domestic energy use–they are simultaneously working to prevent it from being shipped overseas as well.  Environmental interests, such as the Sierra Club, are actively campaigning to shut down all natural gas export terminals in the United States while City Councils in the Oregon cities of Eugene and Portland are preparing to vote on measures aimed at restricting coal exports as well.

“This is a disappointing demonstration of just how calloused fringe environmental interests truly are,” said Ryan Houck, executive director of Free Market America. “At a time when millions of Americans are searching for work, it’s senseless to attempt to shut down industries that create jobs and remain indispensable to our economy.”

Americans for Limited Government president Bill Wilson added, “It’s abundantly clear: If your job involves producing or moving energy and you don’t receive a Solyndra-style subsidy, radical environmentalists probably want to put you out of work. It would be a terrible shame if elected
officials on the West Coast bow to these environmental groups and flagrantly disregard the interests of American workers and the essential principle of economic freedom.”

Americans for Limited Government and Free Market America partner on free market issues that focus on environmental issues. The partnership was launched earlier this year and is responsible for the viral video “If I wanted America to fail,” http://www.freemarketamerica.org, a runaway hit that scored more than 2.4 million views on YouTube.

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 6, 2012, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson issued today the following statement in response to the U.S. Labor Department’s June unemployment report:

“The only really good news out of the just released unemployment report is that it wasn’t worse.  When you look behind the headline numbers of an 8.2 percent unemployment rate and the shocking admission that only 80,000 jobs were created last month, it provides further evidence that the employment situation is heading in the wrong direction.

“With a quarter of a million more Americans unemployed in the past five weeks, and almost 300,000 more Americans forced into part-time employment due to slack business conditions, this report should serve as a last nail in the coffin for anyone who has clung to the delusion that Obama’s economic policies have been anything but disastrous for working families and our nation as a whole.”

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 3, 2012, Washington, DC—Although traditional fuel costs $3.60 per gallon, the U.S. Navy has opted to power its so-called “Green Fleet” with a biofuel blend that costs $26 per gallon.   Apparently oblivious to staggering budget deficits, the Pentagon has funded the “Green Fleet”—which recently began its 6-week-long exercise in the Pacific—through its green fuels initiative.

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Arkansas Citizens for Taxpayer Rights chairman Ron Bartels and Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson respond

Fairfax, VA, July 3, 2012—Arkansas Citizens for Taxpayer Rights Chairman Ron Bartels was joined by Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson in commenting on the just-released study by Lyons College Professor, Dr. Bradley Gitz, Ph.D. showing that dedicated taxes are manipulated by politicians and increase the size and scope of government by issuing the following statements:

Ron Bartels reacted strongly to the study saying, “Professor Gitz’s study serves as a wake-up call to any Arkansan who believes these so-called dedicated taxes go to where the politicians promise they will go. Gitz shows clearly that once the tax gets entrenched, a number of so-called dedicated taxes have undergone mission creep to the detriment of the ma and apple pie causes they were sold to the public as funding. The beer tax is a perfect example of this phenomenon. It was originally sold to the public as necessary to help provide child care for working families and, over time, the child care for working families became forgotten and the monies were placed directly into the general fund.

“This type of bait and switch is common with flim-flam men and politicians, and in a twist on the old saying, it is time for the voter to beware, when being promised a dedicated tax, because it always turns out to be nothing more than a way to get deeper into someone’s pockets to fund bigger government at the public’s ultimate expense.”

Bill Wilson agreed stating, “The bait and switch is even more egregious because if these causes were so important to the politicians, they would already be fully funded through the proper prioritizing of expenditures.

Instead, Professor Gitz shows how politicians manipulate voters emotions to pass these tax increases for ‘worthy’ causes, but the money for the causes, like education, is often not increased by the amount of the tax revenues. Instead, the politicians just transfer the money that would have been allocated to that cause without the dedicated funds to other, less popular
items.

“This fund shifting shows that dedicated taxes are largely a lie, designed to put lipstick on the tax-increase pig.”

A copy of Dr. Gitz’ study titled, “Dedicated Tax Increases in Arkansas: Providing Public Goods or Growing Government?” can be found on the Arkansas Citizens for Taxpayer Rights<http://artaxpayerrights.org/> website.

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