June 6, 2012, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement praising the calls of Bill Clinton and Larry Summers to extend the 2001 and 2003 tax rates, going further by calling for the current rates to be made permanent:

“When the Obama White House loses allies like Clinton and Summers on an issue as central to Obama’s reelection campaign as taxes, there is blood in the water. This episode indicates that the smart money is beginning to price in an Obama defeat, and now Democrat members in Congress will likely be seeking to distance themselves from Obama.

“Congressional Republicans should take full advantage of this growing fissure in the Democrat party leadership, and demand not just that the current tax rates be extended for a year or two, but be made permanent. And the vote should be on its own merits in an up-or-down vote, not as a trade-off for another payroll tax holiday that will further bankrupt Social Security. Nor should it be tied to another continuing resolution that accepts up front trillion dollar deficits as far as the eye can see.

“The vote should simply be on making the current rates permanent, and members can choose whether they want to destroy the economy with the largest tax increase in American history, or give the economy the certainty of where rates are going to be for the foreseeable future. And then the American people will know who stands with Bill Clinton and Larry Summers and the overwhelming majority of Republicans in Congress, and who stands with Barack Obama and the radical fringe spending lobby.”

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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June 5, 2012, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government president Bill Wilson today issued a statement on the impact of the Wisconsin gubernatorial recall elections on the willingness of elected officials to vote to limit government:

“Big labor has gone all-in in their attempt to defeat Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker through a recall election, and in spite of spending tens of millions of dollars over the past year and a half, the election is too close to call on election day.

“Every freedom-loving Wisconsinite needs to vote today, because the outcome of this recall will determine the willingness of politicians across the nation to take on and defeat the seemingly all-powerful public employee unions.  Public employee unions have transformed public servants to the taxpayer’s masters in local, state and federal government, and if Governor Walker wins the recall vote, it will be the first step in restoring the consent of the governed.

“The recall is so important to Big Labor that they have gone all-in and put their national credibility on the line.  Incredibly, the unions oppose Governor Walker in spite of the fact that his reforms actually saved their member’s from layoffs that were scheduled to take place if they had not passed.

“Big Labor’s support for laying off its members over reasonable reforms is just one more bit of evidence that they are more in favor of maintaining power rather than supporting their members’ true interests.

“Today, the people of Wisconsin can send a shockwave to elected officials across the nation in favor of putting the taxpayer back in charge of the government budget process and wresting control from those unions who are driving our nation’s local, state and federal governments into bankruptcy.”

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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June 4, 2012, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement urging the House Financial Services Committee to move HR 2313 to the floor of the House for an immediate vote:

“It is not up to U.S. taxpayers to prop up a failed currency like the Euro, nor was the International Monetary Fund ever intended to be used to bail out economies as large as Europe’s. House Financial Services Committee Chairman Rep. Spencer Bachus is running out of time to send HR 2313 to the floor of the House, which would roll back $108 billion of additional commitments the U.S. made to the IMF in 2009.

“Already, U.S. lending to the fund has topped $32.7 billion, with bailouts in Europe accounting for most of that at over $24 billion. If the House does not wish U.S. taxpayers to be on the hook for propping up Greece, Portugal, Spain and the rest of the Eurozone, now is the time to withdraw what remains of the Pelosi-Reid-Obama European bailout fund.”

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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June 1, 2012, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today responds to the May unemployment report:

“Today’s Labor Department report on unemployment is devastating to Obama’s re-election chances.  His economy is dead in the water, and is not producing enough jobs to meet the needs of those entering the workforce.  Yet, all Obama has to offer is more of the same policies that have failed in Europe and are now failing in America.

Aside from nation’s payroll employment only increasing by a paltry 69,000, far short of the 150,000 needed to meet the monthly needs of the economy, the number of Americans who have been unemployed long-term is up to 5.4 million and almost one in four teenagers who want a job are unemployed.

The devastating result of Obama’s failed policies is seen in the despair of America’s workers who are losing their skills while they sit on the job sideline, and in the frustration of teenagers who are unable to gain the necessary experience to be productive in the future.

Truly, a sad legacy for a presidency that is long on rhetoric, but short on basic understanding of the free market principles that have built our nation’s middle class and have made our nation great.  Somehow, Obama must have missed those classes while debating theory in Harvard’s Ivory Towers with like-minded elitists.”

Attachments:

To read last month’s unemployment analysis, click here: http://netrightdaily.com/2012/05/april-jobs-report-rains-on-obamas-parade/

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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May 31, 2012, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today responds to New York City Mayor Bloomberg’s crusade against sugary drinks:

“New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s micromanaging Nanny State strikes again with an attempt to implement a ban on sugary drinks to combat increased obesity among city dwellers.  New York City residents better start saying goodbye to Slurpees, Starbucks’ Frappuccinos and Big Gulps as any sugary drink larger than 16 ounces might soon be banned from the city.

“The truth is Mayor Bloomberg has no business interfering with the diets of New York City residents.  This is just another example of the government overstepping its authority.  We’ve already seen many of these diet restrictions appear on a national level within Obamacare and the law’s strict rules banning vending machines from carrying certain beverages and the heavy cost burden that requires chain restaurants to post its calorie information on menus.

“Bloomberg has made New York City a rival to California as a lab rat of sorts for the latest Big Government intrusions that end up as federal government policies.  The Nanny State approach Bloomberg is willing to take shows how far they are willing to go to regulate every aspect of individual Americans’ lives — from cradle to grave.  We need to keep the government out of the kitchen.”

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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May 29, 2012, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government Bill Wilson today issued the following statement on the implications if Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker should prevail in a June 5 recall election:

“If the latest polls are any indication, Governor Walker is well-positioned to prevail in the June 5 recall. This will deal a big blow to big labor, which has spent millions attempting to oust Walker, as a voter verdict against ever-expanding big government. Asking public employees to pay their fair share of their own retirement and health benefits is a common sense policy, and has strong support among taxpayers.

“The people of Wisconsin, and of every other state, have a reasonable expectation that politicians, and government employees, will be responsible stewards of their tax dollars — particularly in an age when insurmountable debts threaten to leave our economy lost at sea. We need to be careful, lest these debts sweep the ship of state under the waves.

“A Walker win in Wisconsin will be a victory for taxpayers across the country, and particularly for the policy that demands responsibility and accountability from government workers. There is no entitlement to make taxpayers pay more for excessive benefits schemes that threaten to bankrupt every state in the Union.”

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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May 29, 2012, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement condemning the Seattle City Council for passing unanimously Resolution 31379 against local railroads responsible for transporting coal to the shore to be shipped overseas, opposing the development of coal-export terminals in Washington state

“The City Council is full of hot air. To fight what it calls the ‘serious impacts’ of the discredited man-made climate change hoax, the City Council has seen fit to pass a resolution condemning the Rocky Mountain coal industry and the railroads that deliver the coal to the Pacific for overseas export. They are declaring war in effect on these coal-producing states, as well as the workers who would be employed at the port to ship the coal. All this in a misguided attempt stop the burning of coal that will take place anyway.

“This is just another example of the sheer lunacy of the radical environmental agenda — the same agenda that decimated Washington State’s timber industry under the false assumption that they were saving spotted owls.”

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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May 24, 2012, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today sent a letter to the House Ethics Committee today questioning Michigan Representative Fred Upton’s use of taxpayer paid franked mail to tout his political rating by a national association to his constituents.

Wilson’s letter to House Ethics Committee Chairman Rep. Jo Bonner stated, “I am confident that between the political campaign war chest that a powerful committee chairman can easily amass, and his own personal wealth, Mr. Upton could afford to pay for his own political direct mail without need of taxpayer assistance. Given this confidence, this mailing is all the more offensive, as it reveals Mr. Upton’s sense of entitlement to the perks and benefits of office that are so repugnant to Americans across the political spectrum.”

The letter is in response to a mlive.com news report that Upton has come under fire for a taxpayer funded letter targeting sportsmen in his district touting his rating by the pre-eminent gun rights organization in the world.

“This taxpayer funded campaign mailer is a callous abuse of the congressional franking system which is designed to let constituents know what is happening in Congress and how they are voting.  To cross the line by including political determinations by third party groups in the midst of a reelection campaign is a despicable abuse of power,” Wilson continued.

The letter bringing the House’s attention to the abuse was sent to all members of the House Ethics Committee as well as to House Speaker John Boehner.

Attachments:

Letter to House Committee on Ethics, Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson, May 24, 2012 at http://getliberty.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Ethics-Letter-on-Upton-NRA-Mailing-5-24-12.pdf

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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May 23, 2012, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement on the possibility of Greece leaving the Eurozone:

“Running a deficit in excess of 9 percent of GDP, Greece is upside down and will only be able to return to sustainability if it exits the Eurozone. They never have followed the Eurozone’s budget rules, and they never will. The political class there has always used the temporarily cheap financing the currency provided as a subsidy for its own excesses.

“The only other way to accommodate Greece and other nations’ profligacy in Europe would be for the European Central Bank to monetize and refinance their debts for perpetuity, no matter how large they got. This would transfer wealth from Germany to southern Europe, and transfer inflation from south to north. It would be the end of fiscal sovereignty for all of Europe’s powers, but particularly for the greater ones, which would be forced accommodate the waste of their neighbors.

“That likely will not happen. For Greece’s own sake, switching back to the drachma and leaving the Euro is the only way out — even if it throws Europe into momentary turmoil. In the end there likely will be no escaping cutting spending, but at least it can be on Greece’s own terms, in its own currency, and with the liberty of her people intact.”

Attachments:

Greece sets June 17 for new elections, By ALG President Bill Wilson, May 23, 2012 at http://netrightdaily.com/2012/05/greece-sets-june-17-for-new-elections/

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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May 22, 2012, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement praising the U.S. Southern District of New York Court for enjoining enforcement of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that allowed for the indefinite detention of U.S. citizens for national security purposes:

“Judge Katherine Forrest has taken the first, necessary step of suspending enforcement of the section 1021 of the NDAA pending further review by federal courts, preventing the federal government from indefinitely detaining any U.S. citizen while the trial is taking place. The government’s arguments in this case rest on a very broad interpretation of the President’s war powers on the homeland. It is essentially claiming to already have the power to exercise war powers against citizens on the homeland.

“The Bill of Rights was designed to work under all circumstances, including wartime, and as such the authorization to use force in Afghanistan cannot supersede constitutional protections to due process. Nor can the government target citizens for activities otherwise protected by the First Amendment as violations of law or threats to national security.

“Judge Forrest must now go the extra step and find the NDAA’s overbroad detention policies to be an unconstitutional overstep by Congress. If the government has enough cause to hold a citizen indefinitely, it can make its case at a trial with a jury of one’s peers rendering a verdict. The reasons for indefinite detention would otherwise be prohibited by federal statute anyway, and subject to criminal penalties. Therefore the government has yet to articulate a reason why such authority is necessary, let alone constitutional.”

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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