ALG Launches ObamacareWatcher.org to Monitor New Regulations

August 19, 2010

August 19th, 2010, Fairfax, VA—With as many as 20,000 new regulations in the works for the implementation of Obamacare, Americans for Limited Government (ALG) Research Foundation has launched ObamacareWatcher.org to keep track of the most damaging ones.

“ObamacareWatcher.org aims to keep the public informed about what is being proposed on the bureaucratic level to implement the national health care system, and to make it easy for activists to submit comments on proposed harmful regulations that will restrict the choices individuals can make about their doctors and their health care,” said Don Todd, ALG’s Research Director.

According to a brochure promoting the ALG effort, the Foundation will “respond by providing substantive, thorough comments on regulatory proposals and leading the grassroots response.”

ALG President Bill Wilson said that aggressive participation in the regulatory process was “essential to keeping the public informed about how the bureaucracy will now be restricting their health care options, and giving them multiple avenues for directly affecting the regulatory process.”

“As the regulatory process unfolds, one of the goals in generating public awareness of the new rules is to build support for repealing Obamacare. When the public learns how much discretion has been given to faceless bureaucrats to make decisions about life and death, they will want the power over those decisions to be restored to doctors and patients,” Wilson said.

Wilson pointed to a recent rule by the Obama Labor Department where the Obama Administration admitted that up to 69% of all existing employer health plans will cease to exist by 2013, because they will lose their grandfathered status under the law and regulations. The interim rule sets the requirements for current health insurance plans to be grandfathered in under the law.

Secretary Solis admits that under the rule, “These interim final regulations will likely influence plan sponsors’ decisions to relinquish grandfather status.” Wilson called for the rule to be rescinded in comments submitted to the Department of Labor, which are now closed. Wilson added that this violated Obama’s pledge that “if you like your health plan you can keep it.”

Wilson noted that the new national health care system was already leading to rationing, pointing to a Washington Post reportthat Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials are considering rescinding approval of the expensive breast cancer treating drug Avastin due to questions on whether its benefits are worth the cost.

Avastin is used by for more than 17,000 women who are literally battling for their lives with end stages of breast cancer. Dr. Eric P. Winer, director of the Breast Oncology Center at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston who also serves as the Susan G. Komen for the Cure’s Chief Scientific Officer is quoted in the Post as saying, “This is not a worthless drug by any means. There is almost certainly a group of women who get a big benefit.”

“Should the FDA rescind approval of the drug as being beneficial to breast cancer patients, private insurers which rely on the FDA to determine which medicines to cover for different ailments will undoubtedly follow suit, leaving 17,000 women without coverage for the medicine that is their last hope of survival,” wrote ALG communications director Rick Manning in an oped.

Wilson concluded, “These new rules are just the beginning of the nightmare that Obamacare will spell for the American people. At ObamacareWatcher.org, we’ll be keeping meticulous track of how this new legislation will be implemented, and articulate the costs to the American people so they may make an informed judgment about whether it’s worth the price. Lives are on the line.”

Attachments:

“Obamacare Reg Watcher,” Vol. 1, Issue 1, August 2010.

Comments Submitted on Obamacare Labor Department Regulation, Americans for Limited Government, August 16th, 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 Warns Obama Treasury Against Explicit Government Guarantee of Fannie and Freddie

August 17, 2010

August 17th, 2010, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government (ALG) President Bill Wilson today warned against an explicit guarantee for government-owned mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which own or guarantee $5.5 trillion in mortgages, as “a foolish mistake that will only compound what has been the unmitigated disaster of government running the mortgage industry.”

“The American people have already seen what the government’s implicit guarantee of Fannie-Freddie securities caused over the past three years, which was a lack of risk aversion on the part of lenders and borrowers. Investors may want to take bets without having to be exposed to any downside risk, but that’s how we got into this mess. Let’s not repeat the same mistakes,” Wilson said.

Today, at a Treasury-hosted conference by financial industry leaders, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said “I believe there is a strong case to be made for a carefully designed guarantee in a reformed system, with the objective of providing a measure of stability in access to mortgages, even in future economic downturns.”

Wilson called Geithner’s stand “an about-face.”

That is because the Treasury Secretary’s statement today differed significantly from prior statements. In March he wrote to Congressman Scott Garrett that “By statute, all obligations and securities issued by the GSEs must include a statement that makes clear that such obligations and securities are not guaranteed by the United States and do not constitute a debt or obligation of the United States.”

Addressing the financial industry as recently as August 2nd, Geithner in a recent speech at NYU said not to anticipate “the false expectation that the government will be there in the future to rescue you.”

Wilson said “Government guarantees are not a false expectation at all, and now Geithner is out calling for an explicit one for virtually every mortgage in the country with the full faith and credit of the U.S.”

Wilson pointed to a new forensic study into the root, government causes of the financial crisis by former chief credit officer of Fannie Mae, Edward Pinto, as “yet more evidence of government’s complicity in the financial crisis, the Pinto study proves that government forced loose lending on the mortgage industry, weakened down payments and underwriting standards, and overleveraged Fannie and Freddie, all in pursuit of a misguided social policy to expand ‘affordable housing’.”

“Pinto has done the American people a great service in producing this volume, which is required reading for all lawmakers that wish to address the true causes of the financial crisis,” Wilson declared.

Wilson concluded, “Taxpayers cannot afford to double down on government’s catastrophic gamble into the mortgage market with an explicit guarantee of more losses. This will only place more pressure on the taxpayers and the national debt. If the government wants to explicitly guarantee these $5.5 trillion in obligations, then lawmakers should feel comfortable putting them on-budget. Add them to the national debt until the mortgages are paid back in full, or admit that taxpayers cannot withstand the burden and close Fannie and Freddie down permanently.”

Attachments:

“Government Housing Policies in the Lead-up to the Financial Crisis: A Forensic Study,” By Edward Pinto, August 14th, 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

Labor Department Health Care Regulation will force employees to switch health care providers

August 16, 2010

August 16th, 2010, Fairfax, VA—Calling a proposed Labor Department Obamacare rule, “the smoking gun showing that the Obama Administration lied when they claimed that people would be able to keep their health insurance and doctor’s choice,” Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson urged Labor Secretary Hilda Solis to rescind the rule in comments submitted to the Department of Labor today.

The interim rule sets the requirements for current health insurance plans to be grandfathered in under the law. Within the interim rule, Secretary Solis affirmatively declares that, “These interim final regulations will likely influence plan sponsors’ decisions to relinquish grandfather status.”

ALG President Bill Wilson’s comments reminded Labor Secretary Hilda Solis of President Obama’s rhetoric during the debate over passage of the law where he said, “if you like your health plan you can keep it,” promising that nothing in the health reform law would force businesses or consumers to change health plans or change their doctor.

In his submitted comments, ALG’s Wilson asks the Secretary, “how are people supposed to ‘keep it’ if ‘it’, i.e., their pre-existing plan, no longer exists?”

Solis admits in the Interim Rule that by the end of 2013 up to 69% of all employer health plans will lose their grandfathered status under the law.

Arguing that the decision on whether a health plan should be grandfathered under the law should be viewed expansively by the government to ensure that most Americans are allowed to keep the health insurance and see the doctor of their choice, Wilson urged Solis to rescind the Interim Final Rule, and to only include the statutory requirements found in the health care law as criteria for determining whether a health plan should be grandfathered.

Wilson concluded stating, “This Interim Rule is the smoking gun showing that the Obama Administration lied when they claimed that people would be able to keep their health insurance and doctor’s choice under the law.”

The comment period for the Interim rule ends today, and will be followed by a review of comments prior to issuance of final regulations.

Attachments:

Comments Submitted on ObamaCare Regulation, Americans for Limited Government, August 16th, 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

Labor Department Health Care Regulation will force employees to switch health care providers

August 16, 2010

Government estimates up to 69% of all employer health plans will cease to exist

August 16th, 2010, Fairfax, VA—Calling a proposed Labor Department Obamacare rule, “the smoking gun showing that the Obama Administration lied when they claimed that people would be able to keep their health insurance and doctor’s choice,” Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson urged Labor Secretary Hilda Solis to rescind the rule in comments submitted to the Department of Labor today.

The interim rule sets the requirements for current health insurance plans to be grandfathered in under the law. Within the interim rule, Secretary Solis affirmatively declares that, “These interim final regulations will likely influence plan sponsors’ decisions to relinquish grandfather status.”

ALG President Bill Wilson’s comments reminded Labor Secretary Hilda Solis of President Obama’s rhetoric during the debate over passage of the law where he said, “if you like your health plan you can keep it,” promising that nothing in the health reform law would force businesses or consumers to change health plans or change their doctor.

In his submitted comments, ALG’s Wilson asks the Secretary, “how are people supposed to ‘keep it’ if ‘it’, i.e., their pre-existing plan, no longer exists?”

Solis admits in the Interim Rule that by the end of 2013 up to 69% of all employer health plans will lose their grandfathered status under the law.

Arguing that the decision on whether a health plan should be grandfathered under the law should be viewed expansively by the government to ensure that most Americans are allowed to keep the health insurance and see the doctor of their choice, Wilson urged Solis to rescind the Interim Final Rule, and to only include the statutory requirements found in the health care law as criteria for determining whether a health plan should be grandfathered.

Wilson concluded stating, “This Interim Rule is the smoking gun showing that the Obama Administration lied when they claimed that people would be able to keep their health insurance and doctor’s choice under the law.”

The comment period for the Interim rule ends today, and will be followed by a review of comments prior to issuance of final regulations.

Attachments:

Comments Submitted on ObamaCare Regulation, Americans for Limited Government, August 16th, 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 Praises Texas for Fighting Off-Shore Oil Drilling Moratorium

August 12, 2010

August 12th, 2010, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government (ALG) President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement praising the state of Texas for challenging the Obama Administration’s moratorium on deepwater off-shore oil drilling:

“The state of Texas is leading the charge against the Obama Administration’s arbitrary decision to suspend deepwater off-shore oil drilling. After District Court Judge Martin Feldman enjoined the enforcement of the original moratorium as arbitrary and capricious, Interior Department Secretary Ken Salazar simply resubmitted almost the same exact moratorium with a few minor changes. No where along the way has the Interior Department consulted with affected states, as it is required to do under Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, including Texas.

“Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott deserves the praise of all Americans for refusing to stand by idly as the Obama Administration uses the Gulf oil spill as a pretext to restrict American energy production, and cost the oil industry jobs. The moratorium stands to cost Texas some $622 million in GDP, and $22 million in tax revenue, and puts as many as 190,000 jobs at risk should the moratorium continue indefinitely.

“Texas has also challenged the Environmental Protection Agency’s arbitrary finding that carbon dioxide, a biological gas necessary for the existence of life, is somehow a dangerous and harmful pollutant. The EPA’s endangerment finding itself endangers the future of the U.S. economy, which relies on carbon energy consumption to fuel transportation, heating, and other essentials, and Texas’ fight must be joined by other states.

“States must continue to push back against the overreach of the Obama Administration in federal court, whether against the off-shore drilling moratorium, the EPA endangerment finding, the individual mandate under ObamaCare, or the latest mandatory state participation in the $10 billion education fund.

“This isn’t merely a matter of overregulation by government. This is about a consistent pattern by the Obama Administration to usurp and destroy the states as legitimate institutions enjoying the consent of the governed. Texas Governor Rick Perry and Attorney General Greg Abbott are leading the charge to make certain that states will remain relevant in our federal system of government, and not run roughshod over. These usurpations will only continue unless the states reassert their sovereignty and remain determined to fight to protect the rights of their citizens.”

Attachments:

Brief Filed by State of Texas Against Off-shore Drilling Moratorium, August 11th, 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 Condemns House for Approving $26.1 Billion States Bailout, Urges States to Reject Funds

August 10, 2010

August 10th, 2010, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government (ALG) President Bill Wilson today condemned the House of Representatives for “voting for another $26.1 billion bailout for bankrupt states like New York and California, which simply refuse to cut any spending despite a lack of revenue.”

“The House has once again voted to forestall the day of reckoning for bankrupt states, which really do need to cut spending. While Americans struggle to balance their family budgets, government has become the only sector of the economy that has not faced cuts during this recession,” Wilson said, noting that “since Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid took over Congress in 2007 when the recession began, the federal government has added $4.3 trillion to the $13.3 trillion national debt.”

“The states already got $145 billion in the $862 billion ‘stimulus,’” Wilson added, saying that the bailout would disproportionately favor those states that spent the most money: “Out of the estimated 3.3 million public school teachers nationwide, teachers unions were expecting 160,000 layoffs this year — just 4.8 percent of all teachers. 38.1 percent of those layoffs are centered in just three states: 9,000 in New Jersey, 16,000 in New York and 36,000 in California.”

Wilson called on state governors and legislatures to reject the funds saying, “It is time to say, ‘thanks, but no thanks’ to endless federal bailouts that only put off the day when necessary cuts to state budgets must occur.” For Fiscal Year 2011, CNN reports that states face $180 billion in shortfalls.

Wilson said that “stimulus” already was distorting the budget process of several states, pointing to a Los Angeles Times report: “Many states had already counted on the extra federal aid in their spending calculations — raising the possibility of new budget crunches if the measure failed.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had pulled members of Congress away from the August recess for a special session to vote on the legislation, included $16.1 billion for state Medicaid funding, and $10 billion for public teachers spending.

The final vote in the House was 247 – 161.

Wilson called the $10 billion teachers funding “a vote to pad the public sector unions’ political coffers with at least $40 million to union bosses.”

“Members of the House members have been warned that the American people are simply sick of these endless bailouts. They do not want to pay to balance the budgets of states they do not even live in to save unsustainable government employees that will only have to be cut next year as the economy and revenues fail to recover,” Wilson explained.

Wilson also blasted members for limiting the use of the Section 956 foreign income tax credits for profits generated overseas.

“Nancy Pelosi’s House has voted to guarantee higher unemployment and to reduce future capital investment in the U.S. by eliminating the foreign income tax credit. Now jobs and business capital will simply be shifted overseas,” Wilson said.

“Phony small business groups have estimated that this tax increase will raise $37 billion in revenue from $149 billion in profits generated overseas, but they are wrong. That capital flow will not be repatriated into the economy, costing the economy $149 billion annually without generating any significant revenue,” Wilson explained, adding, “For that reason, this bill will only add to the debt.”

Wilson concluded, “The House has voted to side with bankrupt states and greedy public teachers unions, and to reject the concerns of taxpayers, who are being saddled with a mountain of debt that cannot possibly be paid.”

Attachments:

“House to End Recess Early to Bail Out Bankrupt States,” by ALG President Bill Wilson, August 5th, 2010.

“The Return of the States Bailout,” by ALG President Bill Wilson, August 2nd, 2010.

“The Reverse Smoot-Hawley Act,” by ALG President Bill Wilson, August 4th, 2010.

“Special Research Report from Americans for Limited Government on the Report, ‘Unfair Advantage,’” Americans for Limited Government, August 2010.

“Radical Left-Wing Non-Profits Aligned with Sen. Levin Falsely Posture as Small Business Advocates,” by Kevin Mooney, August 3rd, 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 Warns States of Mandatory Funding in $10 Billion Education Fund, Urges Them to Fight Provision

August 10, 2010

August 10th, 2010, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government (ALG) President Bill Wilson today warned governors of the fifty states that the $10 billion in state education spending included in legislation signed into law “is for all intents and purposes mandatory under the federal statute.”

Wilson pointed to Section 101(8) of H.R. 1586 which states that if a governor fails to apply for funding within 30 days, “the Secretary shall provide for funds allocated to that State to be distributed to another entity or other entities in the State … for support of elementary and secondary education, under such terms and conditions as the Secretary may establish.”

“This is completely unconstitutional, as it coerces states to accept the terms and conditions that come with the money. The federal government has no power to compel states to spend money on a mandatory basis, but that is exactly what this law does,” Wilson declared.

“The federal government is forcing states to keep funding through FY 2011, and through FY 2013 solely for the state of Texas, at pre-recession levels despite the obvious need for cuts at the state and local levels of government, and telling governors that if they do not apply for the funding, then the federal government will force them to accept it,” Wilson explained.

Wilson said Section 101(8) explained the statement issued by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s press secretary yesterday that “the Governor will apply for the education funding passed by the House today in order to ensure it is managed and distributed to local school districts by the State of New Jersey, and not the federal government.”

The statement continued, “Guaranteeing New Jersey is in control of these education dollars will ensure that these funds are used by all school districts to help restore some of the federal stimulus funds lost in this year’s difficult budget.”

Wilson said that Governor Christie’s position was “understandable since the federal government would otherwise come in and distribute the funds one way or another,” but added, “it forces New Jersey and other states to keep this level of pre-recession funding through FY 2011 when revenue will not likely recover next year.”

Governor Christie’s press secretary statement criticized the legislation for that exact reason, saying, “Governor Chris Christie believes that using this type of non-recurring funding for operating expenses is ill advised because it will disappear after one year”.

According to Katherine Cesinger, Deputy Press Secretary of Texas Governor Rick Perry, Texas has to provide the funding through FY 2013: “[H.R. 1586] mandates that the governor guarantee the Legislature will provide a certain level of state funding through 2013, a funding scheme prohibited by the Texas Constitution. It will be at least June 1, 2011, before the legislature passes and the Comptroller certifies the 2012-2013 budget.”

Yesterday, Governor Perry issued a statement saying, “We’ll continue to work with state leaders, including the attorney general, to fight this injustice.”

Wilson praised Perry’s vow to fight the bill: “Governor Perry deserves the thanks of all Texans for standing up to the federal government’s invasive meddling in state budgetary matters. Budget determinations are granted to the legislative and executive branches of Texas under its sovereign constitution, not to Barack Obama.”

According to Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, the terms of the bill force states to reallocate money away from other parts of the state budget directly to education: “The Bill as passed the Senate will force Mississippi to rewrite its current year (FY11) budget. Preliminary estimates of the Mississippi Department of Finance and Administration show that we will now have to spend between $50-100 million of state funds — funds that must be taken away from public safety, human services, mental health and other state priorities and given to education — in order for an additional $98 million of federal funds to be granted to education.”

Governor Barbour continued, “There is no justification for the federal government hijacking state budgets, but that is exactly what Congress has done.”

Wilson urged states to fight the measure, concluding, “This bill gives the federal government the power to administer state budgets and force unsustainable levels of funding on the states, a flagrant violation of the Tenth Amendment and state sovereignty. If states fail to push back against this usurpation, it will just be the first of many new federal mandates imposed on states by the Obama regime.”

Attachments:

“ALG Condemns House for Approving $26.1 Billion States Bailout, Urges States to Reject Funds,” August 10th, 2010.

“States Should Reject $26.1 Billion Bailout,” by ALG Senior Editor Robert Romano, August 10th, 2010.

“House to End Recess Early to Bail Out Bankrupt States,” by ALG President Bill Wilson, August 5th, 2010.

“The Return of the States Bailout,” by ALG President Bill Wilson, August 2nd, 2010.

“The Reverse Smoot-Hawley Act,” by ALG President Bill Wilson, August 4th, 2010.

“Special Research Report from Americans for Limited Government on the Report, ‘Unfair Advantage,’” Americans for Limited Government, August 2010.

“Radical Left-Wing Non-Profits Aligned with Sen. Levin Falsely Posture as Small Business Advocates,” by Kevin Mooney, August 3rd, 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 Responds to New Unemployment Numbers

August 6, 2010

August 6th, 2010, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government (ALG) President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement criticizing the new unemployment numbers released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics:

“Judging by the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ latest figures, showing steady 9.5 percent unemployment and 16.5 percent underemployment, plus the Bureau of Economic Analysis’ finding of only 2.4 percent estimated economic growth, America is in a weak recovery that is slowing down. We are risking a double-dip recession, and now is the time for pro-growth policies incentivizing private sector job creation, permanent tax relief, and a reduction of the burden posed by excessive government spending.

“Einstein said the definition of insanity doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Unfortunately, on Tuesday, Nancy Pelosi will be having the House vote on another $26.1 billion bailout of bankrupt states like New York and California. Democrats call it jobs ‘stimulus,’ but the only thing they are stimulating is more debt and higher taxes, crowding out the prospects for a robust private sector recovery.

“Barack Obama needs to stop making excuses a year and a half into his Administration for the fragile economic recovery. Stop telling the American people he inherited a mess. Leaders are judged by how they address crises. The question is, has he made it better, or worse?

“With today’s latest figures, in the least it is clear that things are not getting any better, and that they will continue to get worse as government just keeps spending money we don’t have.”

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 Condemns Senate for Clearing Way for $26.1 Billion States Bailout

August 4, 2010

Bill would also raise taxes on U.S. businesses that operate overseas, and helps public teachers unions raise another $40 million to donate to Democrats.

August 4th, 2010, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government (ALG) President Bill Wilson today condemned the Senate for voting to proceed to “legislation that promises to spend $26.1 billion to balance bankrupt state budgets like New York and California, and eliminate the foreign income tax credit that helps U.S. businesses to compete abroad and bring capital back home.”

The bill included $16.1 billion for state Medicaid spending, and $10 billion for public teachers funding, which Wilson said will help fund political spending by public teachers unions with “a minimum $40 million.”

“Harry Reid’s Senate today voted to increase unemployment and reduce future capital investment into the U.S. to pay teachers union bosses in a few key states,” Wilson said, noting that the bill will limit the use of the Section 956 foreign income tax credits for profits generated overseas, “money which now will simply not be repatriated into the economy.”

The cloture vote on the legislation was 61 to 38, with Republican Senators Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe joining all 59 Senate Democrats.

“The American people will be harangued over the next few weeks about what a wonderful thing the Senate has done when, in reality, we have drastically increased the burden on American workers, taxpayers, and businesses,” Wilson added.

“Out of the estimated 3.3 million public school teachers nationwide, teachers unions were expecting 160,000 layoffs this year — just 4.8 percent of all teachers. 38.1 percent of those layoffs are centered in just three states: 9,000 in New Jersey, 16,000 in New York and 36,000 in California,” Wilson noted.

“If you take those 160,000 teachers, and assumed only half are unionized — which is very conservative — with contributions to state and local unions averaging $300 per teacher, and another $162 per teacher to the National Education Association or $190 per teacher to the American Federation of Teachers, and the Senate just voted to give $40 million to the public teachers unions’ political coffers, which will be mobilized into campaign ads, direct mail, phone banks, you name it, all to elect Democrats,” Wilson concluded.

Attachments:

“The Reverse Smoot-Hawley Act,” by ALG President Bill Wilson, August 4th, 2010.

“Special Research Report from Americans for Limited Government on the Report, ‘Unfair Advantage,’” Americans for Limited Government, August 2010.

“Radical Left-Wing Non-Profits Aligned with Sen. Levin Falsely Posture as Small Business Advocates,” by Kevin Mooney, August 3rd, 2010.

“The Return of the States Bailout,” by ALG President Bill Wilson, August 2nd, 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 Blasts Phony Small Business Groups, Senator Levin’s Support of Foreign Income Tax Credit Limitation

August 3, 2010
Bill would raise taxes on U.S. businesses that operate overseas to pay for $10 billion bailout for state public teachers unions and $16.1 billion for state Medicaid funding.

August 3rd, 2010, Fairfax, VA—New research by Americans for Limited Government (ALG) has uncovered that Senator Carl Levin has teamed up four nonprofit groups that are posing as small business advocates “to deceive the public into believing that small businesses actually support double taxation on profits generated overseas,” said ALG President Bill Wilson.

Tomorrow, the Senate is expected to vote on legislation that would, in addition to spending $26.1 billion to balance state budgets, limit the use of the foreign income tax credit by U.S. companies that operate overseas.

Four groups, Business and Investors Against Tax Haven Abuse, American Sustainable Business Council, Business for Shared Prosperity, and Wealth for the Common Good, all support the legislation.  They published in July a 25-page report defending it, “Unfair Advantage: The Business Case Against Overseas Tax Havens”.

“[T]hose voices purporting to represent small business are in fact highly partisan, hyper-ideological partisans with a questionable agenda.  The extremist views these individuals have taken have no credible base of support among America’s job-generating small business community,” wrote ALG President Bill Wilson in his letter to the Senate.

According to the ALG report, the four groups are tied to the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS), “a radical left-wing think tank. IPS was founded in the 1960s; and for the past five decades, IPS has reliably churned far-left propaganda”. This includes “broadly supporting most communist regimes and revolutionary groups around the world”; opposing NAFTA and other free trade agreements; and forging ties with the Middle East Research and Information Project, a group that praised the 1973 Munich Olympics terrorist attack against 11 Israeli athletes.

IPS is funded by left-wing activist George Soros.

Wilson in his letter called the four groups’ attempt to appear to represent small business a “class-warfare ploy” that may be “integral to this cynical move [and] may have value in the ivory towers or radical discussion groups.  But I assure you the American people, including the millions of unemployed, long ago saw through it and recognize it for what it is; a sad, hypocritical attempt to deceive the public.”

“Senator Levin’s proposal is to raise taxes on U.S. businesses that operate overseas, thus driving jobs and capital into other countries,” Wilson said, adding, “That’s not in the interests of the American people.  Senator Levin cannot fool them by putting a phony ‘small business’ label on what is an anti-business measure.”

“In reality, these groups simply want to use the tax code to punish businesses that profit overseas where the corporate income tax rates are less than here,” Wilson said.

The bill will limit the use of the Section 956 foreign income tax credits for profits generated overseas.

According to a U.S. Chamber of Commerce letter to Congress, Section 956 “allows companies to repatriate cash to the United States in a tax efficient manner.” This prevents companies from paying taxes overseas on profits, then repatriating those profits and having them taxed again by the federal government.  The Chamber says that the Section has been “particularly beneficial during the recent economic downturn and ensuing credit crunch when it was necessary for American worldwide companies to repatriate significant funds in order to meet the financial needs of their U.S. businesses.”

Wilson continued, “The so-called ‘Unfair Advantage’ proposal proceeds from the presumption that raising taxes on foreign profits will not result in further pushing companies and jobs overseas, when the solution is to slash domestic corporate tax rates to make the U.S. more competitive in the global marketplace.” The U.S. has the second highest corporate tax rate in the world, behind Japan.

“No other country does what is being proposed in the Senate, which effectively extends the U.S. corporate tax rate all over the world — but only applying it to U.S. companies,” Wilson explained, warning that companies would simply not repatriate profits earned overseas, and that some U.S. companies may even simply become foreign companies as a result.

“All to spend $10 billion for state public teachers unions and $16.1 billion for state Medicaid spending in a single year, the Senate is willing to put at risk the 22 million jobs employed by U.S. companies that operate overseas and the capital flows these companies generate by contributing nearly half of U.S. exports,” Wilson concluded.

Attachments:

“Special Research Report from Americans for Limited Government on the Report, ‘Unfair Advantage,'” Americans for Limited Government, August 2010.

“Radical Left-Wing Non-Profits Aligned with Sen. Levin Falsely Posture as Small Business Advocates,” by Kevin Mooney, August 3rd, 2010.

“The Return of the States Bailout,” by ALG President Bill Wilson, August 2nd, 2010.

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Filed Under: Press Releases
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