ALG Blasts Representative Bill Owens for $2.5 Trillion ObamaCare, $154 Billion States Bailout Votes

October 12, 2010

October 12th, 2010, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government (ALG) President Bill Wilson today blasted U.S. Representative Bill Owens (D-NY23) for “being a reliable vote for Nancy Pelosi when it counted to get massive pieces of legislation across the finish line.”

“Bill Owens cannot hide from his record. Bill Owens voted for the $2.5 trillion ObamaCare three times, and even voted for a $154 billion bailout of bankrupt states like New York and California,” Wilson declared.

“Because of Bill Owens’ support of ObamaCare, Americans will lose their private health care options and increasingly be forced onto Medicaid, the costs of which will bankrupt the public treasury,” Wilson explained.

“The American people have lost their right to choose their own health insurance because Bill Owens supported ObamaCare,” Wilson added, pointing to the individual mandate that will force all Americans to purchase health insurance come 2014.

“When Nancy Pelosi needed him, Bill Owens was there to pass ObamaCare, within hours of being sworn in,” Wilson noted.

“The fact is, Bill Owens has been unable to stop anything in the Pelosi agenda,” Wilson noted. “Owens had a choice to stand with the American people against government overreach, but instead voted to take away their private health care options and to bankrupt the nation.”

“Bill Owens’ votes to bankrupt the treasury show all to see exactly who and what he is: an Obama-Pelosi groupie,” Wilson concluded.

Background:

Owens Voted “Yes” for ObamaCare, 1st time
http://clerk.house.gov/cgi-bin/vote.asp?year=2009&rollnumber=887

Owens Voted “Yes” for a $154 billion bailout of bankrupt states like New York and California
http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2009/roll991.xml

Owens Voted “Yes” for ObamaCare, 2nd time
http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2010/roll165.xml

Owens Voted “Yes” for ObamaCare Reconciliation
http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2010/roll167.xml

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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Filed Under: Press Releases

ALG Statement on Latest Unemployment Figures

October 8, 2010

October 8th, 2010, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued the following status on the worsening unemployment situation in the U.S.,with the rate remaining at 9.6 percent and underemployment rising to 17.1 percent:

“September marks the 17th straight month that unemployment has been at or above 9.4 percent—the longest period of time of sustained unemployment since the Great Depression. The Pelosi-Reid big government stimulus programs have failed. They have failed the working families of America miserably while saddling our children and grandchildren with a mountain of debt.”

Click here for your FREE broadcast quality download:

www.getliberty.org/files/Wilson_unemployment1.mp3

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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Filed Under: Press Releases

ALG Praises McConnell for Blocking Recess Appointments

September 30, 2010

September 30th, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government (ALG) President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement praising Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell for blocking Barack Obama from making any recess appointments during the upcoming campaign season:

“Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell deserves the thanks of all Americans for blocking Barack Obama from making any recess appointments while Congress campaigns for election in October. That’s up to 115 appointments that will still require Senate approval, and Obama will not be able to sneak into power while nobody’s watching.

“In many cases, as with judicial nominees Goodwin Liu and Robert Chatigny, these pending appointments are controversial, radical ideologues that will for a generation change the makeup of the federal government. This gives the American people an opportunity to put the brakes on Obama’s agenda to remake the nation in his image through judicial and regulatory decree. No more Donald Berwick’s and Craig Becker’s; the American people have had enough of these radicals.

“If Senate Democrats want these nominees to be appointed, they will now have to vote and stake their names and reputations to getting them across the finish line. But the American people can rest easy knowing that Obama will not be able to sneak them in during the dead of night, thanks to Senate Minority Leader McConnell’s courageous leadership.”

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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Filed Under: Press Releases

ALG House Members to Cosponsor Gingrey Resolution of Disapproval Against Unionization by Minority Vote

September 28, 2010

September 28th, 2010, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government (ALG) President Bill Wilson today urged members of the House to cosponsor a resolution of disapproval against a National Mediation Board rule that allows for union organization at railways and airlines with less than a majority of employees voting “yes.”

“Members of the House need to stand up for the rule of law and rein in this rogue agency. The National Mediation Board cannot just make up the law,” Wilson declared.

The resolution, H.J. Res. 97, offered by Representative Phil Gingrey, would undo a May 11th, 2010 ruling by the National Mediation Board (NMB) to repeal the so-called “Majority Rule.” Under the old rule, 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 called on House members to support Gingrey’s resolution.

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 language of the Railway Labor Act is clear: a majority of employees in an organizing unit have to vote to unionize. If Congress does not like that law, they can amend it, but the agency cannot just arbitrarily change it,” Wilson said.

Wilson noted that the Carter Administration had come to same conclusion in the 1970’s when it looked into the issue, which is that only Congress can change the rule. “This is not rule by elected representatives, it is rule by faceless bureaucrats doing whatever they want,” he said. “First it was the EPA with its carbon endangerment finding, and then the National Labor Relations Board moving in the direction of card check. This is rule by rogue agencies, not by representation.”

Wilson previously said the rule had been changed “most likely to allow a single union at Delta Airlines to win a unionization election they otherwise would not.” Wilson charged that the rule change most likely had been made to accommodate the merger of Delta Airlines and Northwest.

“Since the merged company is now only 40 percent union, the only way to get a union for Delta was to change the rules,” Wilson explained.

According to CNN Money, “Unlike its competitors, Delta employees have declined to join labor unions in the past, priding themselves on having great relationships with the company and enjoying the freedom to negotiate contracts with managers one on one.”

A similar resolution failed in the Senate with a final vote of 56 to 43.

Wilson has said that the old rule was justified because there is no decertification procedure under the Railway Labor Act. “Once a union is organized at an airline or railway, there is simply no way for it to be held accountable by workers. Lowering the standard for organization, without any means of decertification, is anti-democratic and simply a handout to the labor unions, tilting the playing field completely in their favor.”

“The National Mediation Board is not an independent agency that makes its own rules. It is bound by the Railway Labor Act, and Congress has a duty to overturn the Board’s decision to arbitrarily change what the law means. The rule of law depends on it,” Wilson concluded.

Attachments:

H.J. Res. 97, by Representative Phil Gingrey, September 2010.

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.

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Filed Under: Press Releases Tagged With:

ALG Demands Obama Dismiss Andy Stern from Debt Commission, Discontinue White House Meetings Amid FBI Investigation

September 28, 2010

September 28th, 2010, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government (ALG) President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement urging Barack Obama to fire former SEIU head Andy Stern from the National Debt Commission and to discontinue White House meetings with Stern amid an FBI investigation into the former labor head and other corruption at the union:

“Until such time that Andy Stern is cleared of all wrongdoing by the FBI, the Obama Administration must dismiss him from the national debt commission, and stop meeting with him. No other person has met with the White House as much as Andy Stern, and now we learn he’s at the heart of an FBI probe.

“Obama must avoid even the appearance of impropriety and immediately distance himself from Stern. Stern has no business sitting on a presidential commission while the FBI is investigating him, or meeting with top White House officials, including Obama.

“If the White House will not fire Stern, then members of Congress must urge Obama to do so. Congress has a vested interest in the findings of the debt commission not being tainted by a union corruption scandal, and assuring that White House appointments are properly vetted.”

Attachments:

A Stern Word on Obama’s Debt Appointment, March 2010.

SEIU’s Stern Tops White House Visitor List, Wall Street Journal, October 30th, 2009.

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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Filed Under: Press Releases

ALG’s TimesCheck.com Blasts New York Times Coverage of Tea Parties

September 27, 2010

September 27th, 2010, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government’s TimesCheck.com is decrying how the New York Times has covered the tea party movement this year.

“Somehow average Americans who pine for constitutional limited government and the ideals of the founding period are considered extreme and unhinged. Meanwhile, White House officials and career legislators who expand the national debt and subjugate free enterprise are viewed as mainstream. That’s the world, according to the New York Times,” said TimesCheck.com Editor Kevin Mooney.

Mooney pointed to a front page story that ran on Monday September 20th about Obama Administration officials who now speculate that their party’s fortunes could be uplifted by interlinking the GOP with the tea party movement. The sub-headline for that story read, “Democrats Could Cast Rivals as Being Taken Over By Extremists.”

“Although political analysts from across the political spectrum now anticipate significant Republican gains in the midterm elections, an anonymous source claims that the tea party movement can be used as a foil against Republican prospects,” Mooney explained, noting, “But that’s really just spin, not hard news reporting.”

Mooney continued, “The Times also offers up a blanket assertion that says voters will be turned off by candidates who offer up budget cuts and large scale reforms that rein in federal spending. This is a debatable proposition that lacks any authoritative voice.”

One day later, the Times took another swipe at tea party activists in a report appearing in the business section about a televised town hall chat President Obama held in Washington, D.C. Obama challenged small government advocates to offer up specific benefit cuts to match their rhetoric. The same report also included a response from White House officials to the previous front page story.

“The White House denied an article in The New York Times on Monday saying that Mr. Obama’s political advisers were considering national advertising to cast the Republican Party as having been all but taken over by the Tea Party movement,” the report says.

“The story that led The New York Times yesterday was flat out wrong,” said Dan Pfeiffer, the White House communications director. “The White House has never discussed, contemplated or weighed such an ad campaign.” Mr. Pfeiffer said the article “was based on the thinnest of reeds,” an anonymous source. The Times stood by the report.

Mooney said the White House “has a point and unless the Times can produce on the record sources, the two reports coupled together give the appearance of an agenda-laced, manufactured series of reports that takes aim against small government activists for perceived political benefit to Democrats.”

“There is nothing spontaneous or genuine about what appears in either report. The Times is creating its own ‘news’ in an effort to undermine a growing movement. They are projecting. It amounts to little more than wishful thinking,” Mooney concluded.

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Filed Under: Press Releases

ALG Urges Congress to Block Automatic Tax Hikes Now, Not Later

September 27, 2010

September 27th, 2010, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government (ALG) President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement urging Congress to make permanent tax cuts from 2001 and 2003 now before the elections, not after:

“The American people have a right to know where their representatives stand on the imminent tax increases at year’s end before the elections occur, not after. Nancy Pelosi is not holding any votes now because she knows the House would vote to block these onerous, automatic tax hikes. That’s not good policy, and it’s not even good politics.

“These automatic tax hikes are a trap, and the American people have a right to know now if Congress intends to allow this trap to be sprung. If Congress does nothing, its inaction will be rightly viewed as a vote in favor of increasing taxes on all Americans. This endangers the economy, and puts even more strain on job creators at a time when unemployment is persistently high at 9.6 percent and growth is slowing at an anemic 1.6 percent rate.

“Job creators need all the help they can get to turn this economy around. American entrepreneurs must know what future rates of taxation are going to be in order to make wise investment and hiring decisions that allow the robust U.S. economy to be unleashed. This uncertainty has found the economy caught in a web. Nobody is going to pull the trigger on hiring in this environment.

“It’s time to end the economic uncertainty surrounding whether or not the rates will rise or not. The current rates should be made permanent. But right now, job creators must assume the worst, which is that this Congress fails to fulfill its basic obligation to create an environment conducive to robust growth. Both the House and the Senate need to set aside partisan politics and give the American people an up or down vote to block all of these automatic tax increases, before it’s too late.”

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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Filed Under: Press Releases

ALG Blasts Senate for Defeating Isakson Resolution Against Union Organization by Plurality Rule

September 23, 2010

September 23rd, 2010, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government (ALG) President Bill Wilson today condemned the Senate for rejecting a resolution of disapproval against a National Mediation Board rule that allows for union organization at railways and airlines with less than a majority of employees voting “yes.”

Wilson said the rule has been changed to “allow a single union at Delta Airlines to win a unionization election they otherwise would not.” Wilson charged that the rule change most likely had been made to accommodate the merger of Delta Airlines and Northwest.

“Since the merged company is now only 40 percent union, the only way to get a union for Delta was to change the rules,” Wilson explained.

According to CNN Money, “Unlike its competitors, Delta employees have declined to join labor unions in the past, priding themselves on having great relationships with the company and enjoying the freedom to negotiate contracts with managers one on one.”

The final vote in the Senate was 56 to 43 against Isakson’s resolution of disapproval. The resolution was proposed by Senator Johnny Isakson, who in The Hill wrote, “The Obama administration’s decision to repeal this rule means that now a minority of the bargaining unit can organize — permanently — the entire organizing unit.”

“The National Mediation Board simply does not have the legal authority to make such a radical change without Congressional authorization,” Isakson stated in a press release. “With this rule change, a union could be permanently recognized without a majority of employees having ever supported representation.”

That is because on May 11th, 2010, the National Mediation Board repealed the so-called “Majority Rule.” Under the old rule, it took a majority of an organizing unit voting “yes” to permanently organize a union. Now, it only takes a majority of those voting, a considerably lower threshold.

“The NMB’s decision clearly violates the law. 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’,” Wilson said.

“Not a majority of those voting, but a majority of the entire workforce. This part of the law is very clear. If Senators don’t like that law, they can amend it. Instead they are okay with an arbitrary executive action to change the law willy-nilly,” Wilson said, noting that the Carter Administration had come to same conclusion in the 1970’s when it looked into the issue, which is that only Congress can change this rule.

Isakson wrote in The Hill, “[U]nder the Majority Rule, if a bargaining unit had 6,000 employees, 3,001 must have voted for a union to organize the unit. However, under the new rule, if only 1,000 of 6,000 vote, and 501 of those 1,000 vote yes, all 6,000 are permanently unionized, even if a majority of them become disenchanted with the union leadership.”

Wilson said that the old rule was justified because there is no decertification procedure under the Railway Labor Act. “Once a union is organized at an airline or railway, there is simply no way for it to be held accountable by workers. Lowering the standard for organization, without any means of decertification, is anti-democratic and simply a handout to the labor unions, tilting the playing field completely in their favor.”

Wilson said that the National Mediation Board had violated their authority under the Railway Labor Act. “By changing the rule regarding union representation elections, the NMB has committed an arbitrary action that the Senate has now condoned, ceding yet more of its rightful legislative powers to faceless bureaucrats.”

“First it was the EPA with its carbon endangerment finding, and then the National Labor Relations Board moving in the direction of card check. This is rule by bureaucracy, not by representation,” Wilson explained.

“The National Mediation Board has clearly stepped out of its statutory role as a neutral arbiter, and into being an advocate on behalf of union organizers. And the Senate has once again proven themselves to be Big Labor’s rubber stamp through its outrageous vote today,” 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.

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Filed Under: Press Releases Tagged With:

ALG Condemns Senate Judiciary Committee Vote for Radical Nominees

September 23, 2010

September 23rd, 2010, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government (ALG) President Bill Wilson today condemned the Senate Judiciary Committee “for once again moving four radical, unacceptable nominees, including Goodwin Liu, for the federal bench to the floor of the Senate.”

Wilson had urged the committee to reconsider their support for the nominees. “Goodwin Liu is an extraconstitutional thinker who believes that the eligibility requirements for ObamaCare and other ‘welfare rights’ are perfectly within the scope of courts to interpret,” Wilson had noted. “With him on the bench, a single-payer system could be just one court decision away. The American people cannot take that chance.”

“Liu also has an expansive view of the Commerce Clause, and does not even hold as an ‘absolute requirement’ that an activity even be economic in order for it to be regulated. Guess what? That encapsulates all activity,” Wilson explained.

A vote on Robert Chatigny’s nomination has been postponed at least a week after the committee lost a quorum. Americans for Limited Government has run ads condemning Judiciary Committee members for their previous support of Chatigny, including Committee Chairman Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin.

“We’ll be watching to see how members vote on Chatigny,” Wilson promised.

Also moved to the floor by the committee were former ACLU attorney Edward Chen, Louis Butler who Wisconsin voters have twice rejected for the state’s supreme court, and Jack McConnell, whose has been connected with the rogue group, ACORN.

Wilson concluded, “Once again, the Senate Judiciary Committee has moved these four radical judicial nominees to the floor for a vote. They’re so bad that Democrats did not even have floor votes on them last time, because their extralegal views would warp and distort the Constitution, undermining the rule of law. The American people do not want more radical ideologues on the bench.”

Attachments:

Senate to Reconsider Judicial Nominees Goodwin Liu and Robert Chatigny, Bill Wilson, September 22nd, 2010.

Goodwin Liu, Americans for Limited Government Nominee Alert, March 2010.

“Wonderland: The World According to Goodwin Liu,” Bill Wilson, March 24th, 2010.

“Why Goodwin Liu is Important,” ALG News Editorial, April 12th, 2010.

“Liu Guilty by Omission,” Robert Romano, April 8th, 2010.

ALG Nominee Alert, Robert Chatigny, March 2010.

Video: Oppose Confirmation of Serial Killer Apologist for Court of Appeals, June 22nd, 2010.

ALG Letter to U.S. Senate Against Judge Chatigny, June 21st, 2010.

“Editorial: Democrat Senate to Promote Rapist, Serial Killer Apologist to 2nd Circuit Court,” ALG News, June 21st, 2010.

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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Filed Under: Press Releases

ALG Pressures Senate Judiciary Committee on Radical Nominees

September 22, 2010

September 22nd, 2010, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government (ALG) President Bill Wilson today pressured the Senate Judiciary Committee to reject what he described as “five radical nominees,” including Goodwin Liu and Robert Chatigny, for the federal bench.

“Barack Obama’s radical nominees for the federal bench have been so bad that not even Senate Democrats have dared to put themselves on the record supporting them. That’s why they have failed muster the 60 votes needed for cloture. That’s why the nominees were returned to Obama. That’s why they haven’t already been confirmed,” Wilson said

“There is no obstruction except from within the Democrat caucus. Senate Republicans are under no obligation to support nominees or provide political cover for the other side of the aisle when key Democrat Senators don’t even support Obama’s nominees,” Wilson explained.

“Goodwin Liu is an extraconstitutional thinker who believes that the eligibility requirements for ObamaCare and other ‘welfare rights’ are perfectly within the scope of courts to interpret,” Wilson noted. “With him on the bench, a single-payer system could be just one court decision away. The American people cannot take that chance.”

“Liu also has an expansive view of the Commerce Clause, and does not even hold as an ‘absolute requirement’ that an activity even be economic in order for it to be regulated. Guess what? That encapsulates all activity,” Wilson explained.

“Robert Chatigny told the American people everything they needed to know when he did all in his power to prevent the execution of a convicted serial killer and rapist. He even overturned Connecticut’s sex offender registry law, only to later have his own decision reversed,” Wilson explained.

Americans for Limited Government has run ads condemning Judiciary Committee members for previously supporting Chatigny, including Committee Chairman Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin.

Also being voted on in committee on Thursday are former ACLU attorney Edward Chen, Louis Butler who Wisconsin voters have twice rejected for the state’s supreme court, and Jack McConnell, whose has been connected with the rogue group, ACORN.

Wilson concluded, “These five radical judicial picks renominated by Obama remind the American people of why judges matter. It is up to the Judiciary Committee to put the brakes on nominees whose extralegal views warp and distort the Constitution and thus undermine the rule of law. America does not need more ideologues on the bench.”

Attachments:

Senate to Reconsider Judicial Nominees Goodwin Liu and Robert Chatigny, Bill Wilson, September 22nd, 2010.

Goodwin Liu, Americans for Limited Government Nominee Alert, March 2010.

“Wonderland: The World According to Goodwin Liu,” Bill Wilson, March 24th, 2010.

“Why Goodwin Liu is Important,” ALG News Editorial, April 12th, 2010.

“Liu Guilty by Omission,” Robert Romano, April 8th, 2010.

ALG Nominee Alert, Robert Chatigny, March 2010.

Video: Oppose Confirmation of Serial Killer Apologist for Court of Appeals, June 22nd, 2010.

ALG Letter to U.S. Senate Against Judge Chatigny, June 21st, 2010.

“Editorial: Democrat Senate to Promote Rapist, Serial Killer Apologist to 2nd Circuit Court,” ALG News, June 21st, 2010.

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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Filed Under: Press Releases
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