August 11th, 2011, Fairfax, VA—House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is reportedly considering Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) to be a delegate to the joint deficit reduction committee. Today, Americans for Limited Government released a report entitled “Pay-To-Play Politics” which anoints Clyburn as the “King of Schemes.” President Bill Wilson released the following comments on the potential Clyburn super-committee appointment.

“James Clyburn’s propensity for pay-to-play politics disqualifies him from serving on any committee tasked with reducing spending,” Wilson said.me

“Clyburn has earmarked over $200 million over the past six years, making him the biggest congressional spender in South Carolina,” Wilson said. “That includes a $3 million earmark to teach children to play golf after the center had renamed itself to the ‘James E. Clyburn Golf
Center,’ and built a statue in his honor.”

“Clyburn’s role on the super-committee would be to protect what he spent decades fighting for: pork-barrel spending,” Wilson added.

Other earmarks included $54.4 million for South Carolina universities in return for tens of thousands of campaign contributions and even a transportation center named after Clyburn, $2.1 million for the city of Charleston that his cousin lobbied for who gave Clyburn $3,250 in campaign money, and $1.3 million to Palmetto Health in return for $9,500 in contributions.

That included $40 million to the South Carolina State University for the James E. Clyburn
University Transportation Center, where the congressman intends to house his official papers.

The U.S. Department of Transportation cut off funding, and a federal audit was unable to determine how tax dollars had been spent. Like federal auditors, a local paper had difficulty making sense of SCSU’s finances. Records were disorganized and difficult to track down.44
Clyburn’s transportation center was also investigated by the state Legislative Audit Council. Thirteen years after receiving the initial money, the center has still not been completed.

Wilson concluded, “Politicians who talk out of both sides of their mouths on ‘pay-to-play’ have no place on any committee that is supposed to be reducing the debt. James Clyburn has been nothing but a hypocrite on this issue for his entire career.”

Attachments:

“James Clyburn: Pay-to-Play Politics,” Americans for Limited Government Research Foundation, August 11th, 2011 atwww.getliberty.org/files/ClyburnPaytoPlay8-11-11.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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August 11th, 2011, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today condemned the appointment of Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) to be a delegate to the joint committee on deficit-reduction:

“This is like appointing Ben & Jerry’s to a committee on nutrition. James Clyburn has spent his entire career giving away earmarks in exchange for campaign contributions. Clyburn is pay-to-play’s king of schemes, and has earmarked over $200 million in just the past six years.

“Clyburn’s appointment tells the American people everything they need to know about the super-committee. Its mission will not be to cut trillions of spending; it will be to protect Congress’ pay-to-play schemes. What a farce.”

Attachments:

“Clyburn Considered for Super-committee, ALG Blasts Congressman’s Pay-to-Play Earmarks,” Americans for Limited Government, August 11th, 2011 at http://getliberty.org/content.asp?pl=10&sl=5&contentid=740 .

“James Clyburn: Pay-to-Play Politics,” Americans for Limited Government Research Foundation, August 11th, 2011 atwww.getliberty.org/files/ClyburnPaytoPlay8-11-11.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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August 10th, 2011, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today blasted Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for placing Senator Patty Murray on the deficit reduction committee:

“Senator Murray serves as the Chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, whose job is to raise money to maintain the Senate Majority. Murray’s inclusion indicates that Harry Reid is using the super-committee as a means to shake down political interests in exchange for protection in the budget process.

“The cynical misuse of this budget experiment virtually ensures that it will fail and fail spectacularly to reduce the debt and regain our Triple-A rating. It will be up to the media to closely scrutinize the actions both past and future of each of these committee members to ensure that typical Washington, D.C. pay-to-play politics will not rule the day.

“This is one reason why Americans for Limited Government opposed the super-committee concept from its inception. America cannot afford yet another backroom budget deal insulated from public scrutiny and full and honest debate. That is how we got downgraded in the first place.”

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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August 8th, 2011, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today responded to Barack Obama’s :

“Barack Obama is trying to reassure markets that somehow, his super-committee is going to seriously address the nation’s growing debt problem. And he’s calling for more tax increases on job creators, and yet more deficit-spending that will fail to get the economy going again and will only add to the debt. Obama has learned almost nothing from his failed policies that have led the nation to the edge of financial ruin.

“The debt is not out of control because we tax too little, it’s because we spend too much. The debt is growing much faster than the economy and Washington refuses to do anything about it — and that is the primary reason for the S&P credit downgrade.

“The reason the debt is growing so fast is because since FY 2007, the deficit has gotten completely out of control, rising from $160 billion to $1.5 trillion today. $1.1 trillion of the increased deficit was because of increased spending, and only $394 billion was because of less revenues even with the same tax rates in place. And then, the lost revenues were because of the downed economy, which Obama has failed to turn around.

“Failure to address the spending problem threatens the fiscal solvency of our nation. Barack Obama’s continued insistence to blame everything but the spending indicates that he is completely out of touch with the fiscal reality facing our nation. Congress should get back to town to seriously address the nation’s spending addiction.”

“S&P Downgrade Vindicates Tea Party Warnings,” by ALG Senior Editor Robert Romano, August 8, 2011 athttp://blog.getliberty.org/default.asp?Display=3561 .

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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Workers continue to leave the workforce

August 5, 2011, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson commented on today’s unemployment numbers, stating:

“Today the Labor Department’s announcement of the unemployment report showing 117,000 new jobs created is a testimony to America’s job creators who are fighting hard against the economic headwinds created by Obama’s bullheaded adherence to a failed 1930s economic philosophy.

“The drop in the unemployment rate to 9.1 percent though is a false signal as the drop is largely attributable to even more Americans giving up hope of getting a job and dropping out of the workforce. Since Obama has become president, Americans have been leaving the workforce in droves. For them, and the almost 14 million unemployed, Obama’s change has robbed them of hope.”

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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August 5, 2011, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson said the following about the U.S. credit rating being downgraded to AA+ by S&P’s:

“The reckless spending by Obama over the first two years of his presidency combined with his unwillingness to make the cuts necessary to stabilize our fiscal crisis has led to the first downgrade of U.S. debt in history. Congress needs to come back to D.C. now and finish the job they started with the debt ceiling increase by passing the cut, cap and balance legislation which would put us on a path to restore our nation’s credit rating.”

Interview Availability: If you would like to interview Bill Wilson, please contact Rebekah Rast at rrast@getliberty.org or (703) 383-0880.

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August 1, 2011, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today called Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s demands for the House of Representatives to return to Washington to work on the FAA reauthorization “a silly ploy.”

“The House acted on the FAA reauthorization months ago. It’s in the Senate. They can either amend it, or pass it as written. But the House is under no obligation to produce the bill that Harry Reid prefers just to avoid a conference committee situation,” Wilson said.

“This is an orchestrated government shutdown,” Wilson added, saying, “it is at odds with how the legislative process is supposed to function.” He said the issue centered on provisions in the House bill that would undo a May 11, 2010, ruling by the National Mediation Board (NMB) to repeal the so-called “Majority Rule.” Under more than 70 years of precedent that was overturned by the Board, it took a majority of an organizing unit voting “yes” to permanently organize a union.

Now, because of the NMB ruling, it only takes a majority of those voting, a considerably lower threshold. Wilson said the NMB’s decision clearly violates the law, and supported the House version of the FAA reauthorization.

According to Section 152 of the Railway Labor Act, “The majority of any craft or class of employees shall have the right to determine who shall be the representative of the craft or class for the purposes of this chapter.”

“The House has simply reaffirmed what the law already says, and rolled back the National Mediation Board’s arbitrary decision to make airlines and railways easier to unionize,” Wilson said, adding, “The Senate can take it or leave it.”

Wilson threw the ball into Reid’s court, saying, “The Senate is holding up the FAA reauthorization because it does not want to be seen as the shills for Big Labor that they really are.”

There is no emergency, he said, as essential government employees, like the air traffic controllers, are still working. “But Reid is holding thousands of furloughed workers hostage just to make it easier for Big Labor to unionize companies like Delta. Despite his preference, he can either pass or amend the House bill that has already been sent to him,” Wilson concluded.

Attachments:

National Mediation Board Rule Change Summary, Republican Senate staff, September 2010 atwww.getliberty.org/files/NMBRuleChangeSummary.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.

August 1st, 2011, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government today urged both houses of Congress to reject legislation to increase the $14.294 trillion debt ceiling, saying the deal “risks an unprecedented credit downgrade of the nation’s vaunted Triple-A credit rating, the continued weakening of the U.S. dollar as the world’s reserve currency, and higher interest rates.”

Wilson pointed to the weak economy as evidence the $900 billion in cut borrowing will not go far enough to restore the nation’s finances, writing that if the government’s projections for economic growth were wrong, the debt could grow to over $30 trillion by 2021.

The government projects the economy will nearly double in the next ten years. “But with anemic growth of 0.4 percent in the first quarter, and 1.3 percent in the second, we are nowhere near that pace,” he wrote in his letter.

“With assumptions so unrealistic, the mere $900 billion in savings under the bill will be easily erased by the slowing economy and lower-than-expected revenues,” Wilson predicted.

The legislation would also create a joint House-Senate committee to propose further “savings” that Wilson told members was an abdication of “the responsibilities of a representative government”.

He concluded, “The American people elected you to make these decisions, not convene another rigged commission whose findings will never be adopted.”

Attachments:

ALG Letter to Congress, August 1st, 2011 at www.getliberty.org/files/LetterDebtCeiling 8-1-11.pdf .

“The No Solution Deal,” By ALG President Bill Wilson, August 1st, 2011 at http://blog.getliberty.org/default.asp?Display=3545 .

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 29th, 2011, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government today issued a statement urging the House of Representatives to pass the “Cut, Cap, and Balance Act” again with even more cuts:

“There is no need for the House to pass anything today that the Senate simply wants to modify anyway. If the House feels it must pass something, it should just stand its ground and pass ‘Cut, Cap, and Balance’ again with even more cuts to 2012 than before. And urge the Senate to vote on it up or down. If Congress cannot get a balanced budget amendment now, cap spending, and make immediate cuts, we may never get our fiscal house in order.

“The bill should include a revenue prioritization when the debt ceiling is reached, instructing the Treasury to pay interest on the debt and otherwise refinance debt up to the limit. This will take default or withholding Social Security checks out of the equation, and begin an honest debate without a loaded gun in Obama’s hands.”

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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