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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June 28, 2012, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement reacting to the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold Obamacare:

“The U.S. Constitution died today.  The underlying hope and belief that our nation’s founding document protected individual freedoms from an ever encroaching government is a thing of the past based upon this ruling.  It is inconceivable how these nine lifetime appointed jurists could have decided to keep a law that is such a blatant intrusion into each of our lives, but the result of their decision is that individuals can no longer rely on the federal government power being limited by anything other than the political pressure their individual elected representatives feel.  Ultimately, the Supreme Court has opted out of the battle to retain our freedoms, and has thrown in entirely with those who advocated for unlimited government authority.  It is truly a sad day for our nation.”

Interview Availability: Americans for Limited Government (ALG) will be providing in-depth analysis of the legal, regulatory, and political fallout of the Supreme Court’s sweeping ruling. Please contact Rebekah Rast at (703) 383-0880 or at rrast@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson and other experts on Obamacare and the Court’s ruling, including ObamacareWatcher.org editor-in-chief, John Vinci, Esq. and ALG counsel Nathan Mehrens.

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June 27, 2012, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement urging the House Financial Services Committee chaired by Rep. Spencer Bachus to send HR 2313, a bill by Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, which would rescind what remains of a $108 billion expansion of credit to the International Monetary fund that has been used to bail out Europe:

“There is no longer any excuse for Chairman Bachus to hold back legislation rescinding the additional $108 billion of funding to the IMF that was approved by the Pelosi-Reid Congress in 2009. It’s been languishing in committee for months now. With France raising its minimum wage, Spanish banks seeking yet more bailout funds, pro-bailout parties taking charge in Greece, and the very future of the Eurozone in doubt, it is time for the U.S. to reclaim any unspent taxpayer dollars before they too are wasted.

“There is no doubt that unless Congress takes action U.S. taxpayers will continue to prop up Europe. Already, U.S. lending through the IMF has topped $32.7 billion, with bailouts in Europe accounting for most of that at over $24 billion.

“Nobody believes the IMF even has enough firepower to prop up all of Europe anyway. Not even the European Central Bank as presently composed does. And with Germany ruling out both Eurobonds and fiscal union, the only other solution will eventually be a break-up of the Eurozone. U.S. taxpayers should have no part in throwing good money after bad trying to prop up something that cannot be saved.

“Yet Chairman Bachus still has not sent legislation to the floor that would rescind the additional $108 billion of funding to the IMF. Why? His inaction on this legislation puts him in the camp of helping France increase its minimum wage, of propping up Spanish banks, and trying to save socialist Greece from its own excesses. This bill must be put to the floor immediately for an up or down vote, and then sent to the Senate, before any more money is poured down the drain.”

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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