Jan. 27, 2022, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement reacting to a Politico report that the Capitol Police have been conducting warrantless surveillance of Congressional staff and visitors:

“Politico reports that in fall of 2020, the Capitol Police began a process of investigating staff and visitors to members offices at the U.S. Capitol, and dramatically expanded their efforts after the first of the year, 2021.  These investigations include going through personal Congressional staff members’ social media accounts and investigating the owners of buildings and homes where members meet. This is warrantless surveillance. There are no criminal allegations being investigated, it’s a fishing expedition in violation of the Fourth Amendment. It also violates the First Amendment right to peacefully petition members of Congress, by creating a chilling effect on Congressional staff, advocacy groups and even personal friends of members.

“The effect of this intrusion is that any private citizen who hosts a fundraiser or even a private party where a member of Congress is invited could be subjected to a full-scale Big Brother investigation into every aspect of their lives. What’s more since the Capitol Police report to the Speaker of the House, they are effectively conducting political opposition research for the majority party.  Politico reports that friends of Florida Senator Rick Scott and House Minority Whip Steve Scalise have been subjected to these inquiries without the courtesy of the respective members being notified.

“The public has a right to meet with elected officials. For the Speaker to use the Capitol Police to monitor meetings of members of the opposition party is unconscionable.  Those responsible for implementing these programs within the Capitol Police should be fired, and Speaker Pelosi should be removed from her position for engaging in this practice.  House Democrats need to understand that a Capitol Police force that intrudes into the personal lives of Republican staff members while they are in control in January of 2023, will be reviewing theirs.  It is time to nip this abuse of power in the bud by ending it now.”

For media availability contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 or media@limitgov.org.

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Jan. 25, 2022, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning responding to the Department of Labor’s decision to withdraw the OSHA emergency temporary standard rule requiring employers with 100 or more employees to require Covid vaccines, and replacing it with a proposed rule instead:

“OSHA’s announcement that they’re dropping the emergency regulation that requires employers with 100 or more employees to fire unvaccinated employees is little more than a shell game. What OSHA’s really dropping is the emergency designation while promising the same regulation through normal regulatory channels, including public comment periods. This demonstrates incredible hubris by the Biden Labor Department as the Supreme Court injunction against the OSHA vaccine mandate was built around the lack of Congressional authorization for their action. Nothing has changed. Congress still has not OSHA authorized to act, therefore OSHA still lacks authority to even propose the rule, and they know it.

“The Supreme Court should still finish the job by definitively stopping OSHA from moving forward with any regulation on this subject matter. The Commerce Clause, which OSHA is authorized under, does not allow for vaccine mandates, and OSHA has never had authority to compel employers to fire employees. OSHA’s job is to determine if somebody stacked boxes in the emergency exit, not to determine who gets to hold a job and who doesn’t, and the Court should remind them of that fact.”

For media availability contact Catherine Mortensen at 703.478.4643 or cmortensen@getliberty.org.

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Jan. 13, 2022, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement praising in part the Supreme Court’s decision to leave an injunction in place on the OSHA vaccine mandates, but blasting its decision to allow similar mandates against health care workers to be enforced:

“The Supreme Court is right to stop the Biden OSHA vaccine mandate that would have potentially thrown millions of Americans out of work. The Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution is not a blank check for the federal government to regulate every aspect of Americans’ lives and it is a relief that the Supreme Court is recognizing that fact.

“On the other hand, it is disappointing that the Court ruled that hospital and other health care systems that take Medicare and Medicaid are subject to intrusive federal regulations that impact their ability to provide health services at a time when when have a health care labor crisis. By forcing doctors, nurses, social workers and other health care personnel to comply with a federal vaccine mandate, the Court is treating those workers as second class citizens by virtue of the important role they are playing in the pandemic. What’s more, Justice Elena Kagan’s comments that if you’re funded by the federal government, you should be controlled by the federal government, should galvanize efforts of Congress to remove Obamacare root and branch.

“President Biden has the power of the bully pulpit and can seek to lead using it. Instead, Biden attempted to strong arm the American people into compliance, wasting valuable months in a pandemic and using the overbearing power of the administrative state, all of which is a cautionary tale of why the fight for limited government is more important now than ever.  The OSHA mandate may be dead, but federal power over health care is very much alive.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-478-4643 or at cmortensen@getliberty.org .

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All governors should protect their state investments from non-transparent Chinese entities and the evil which they perpetrate on the Chinese people.

Fairfax, Va. – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and some of his administration’s top officials moved this week to protect their state investments from non-transparent Chinese companies. Americans for Limited Government (ALG) President Richard Manning issued the following statement in support of Gov. DeSantis:

“Americans for Limited Government strongly supports Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s choice to pursue divestment of his state’s pension funds from Chinese assets.

“Chinese assets are not suitable for any pension fund investment due to their lack of transparency and the resulting inability of honest pension fund managers to determine their viability. What’s more, Chinese corporations are interconnected with the Chinese Communist Party, which engages in a barely-muted cold war against the United States.

“Finally, and perhaps most important of all, Chinese corporations, and China as a whole, encourage the use of slave labor for the manufacturing of goods. The Department of Labor has long recognized Uyghur Muslims and other religious and ethnic minorities who have been forced into state-sponsored labor and re-education camps by the Chinese Communist Party in Xinjiang and elsewhere across China. The 2020 report published by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of International Labor Affairs lists China 17 times as using children and slaves to make goods, many of which find their place on the shelves of U.S. retailers like Walmart. Artificial flowers, bricks, Christmas decorations, coal, cotton, electronics, fireworks, fish, footwear, garments, gloves, hair products, nails, textiles, thread/yarn, tomato products, toys are all listed as being made with child or slave labor in China.

“The Department of Defense has also condemned the vast concentration camp system in China said to be housing up to 3 million Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang province alone. In 2019, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs Randall Schriver told a Pentagon briefing, ‘The [Chinese] are using the security forces for mass imprisonment of Chinese Muslims in concentration camps,” justifying the use of the term because “given what we understand to be the magnitude of the detention, at least a million but likely closer to three million citizens out of a population of about 10 million.’”

“ALG urges every governor in the U.S. to follow Gov. DeSantis’s lead and protect their state investments from non-transparent Chinese entities and the evil which they perpetrate on the Chinese people and the world.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-478-4643 or at cmortensen@getliberty.org.

Dec. 10, 2021, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement in response to the latest inflation numbers showing 6.8 percent increase in consumer prices the past twelve months, the highest since the early 1980s:

“6.8 percent inflation would have been unimaginable a year ago when the rate stood at 1.2 percent. This more than five-fold increase in consumer prices is a direct result of the destructive Biden economic policies and is largely driven by his war on energy and Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer’s big spending ways. The Federal Reserve’s recent decision to remove the description of ‘transitory’ inflation should tell everyone to buckle, because help is not on the way from Biden’s failed presidency.”

For media availability contact Catherine Mortensen at 703.478.4643 or cmortensen@getliberty.org.

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