Americans for Limited Government
Rolling Back Government on Every Front
Fairfax, Va. – With the country on course to see the highest voter turnout in more than a century, Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning issued the following statement.
“The American people came out in mass to show their support for the country they love. While the results remain to be fully decided, the voter turnout is clearly an affirmation of President Trump’s leadership.”
Fairfax, Va – U.S. Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Robert Menendez (D-NJ) this week introduced a bipartisan resolution to designate human rights abuses perpetrated by the People’s Republic of China against the Uyghur people and other ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) as genocide. The resolution would hold China accountable under the 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and begin the process to coordinate an international response to bring these abuses to a halt.
They were joined by Sens. James Risch (R-ID), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Ben Cardin (D-MD), and Jeff Merkley (D-OR).
Americans for Limited Government president Rick Manning praised this resolution as the latest development in the growing movement to condemn China’s human rights abuses.
“Standing together against Communist China’s human rights abuses of its own citizens is a bipartisan issue,” Manning said. “All Americans should agree with. The resolution by Senators Robert Menendez and John Cornyn designating the abuses of the Uyghur people as genocide is evidence that when it comes to China and slave labor concentration camps, forced organ harvesting, and religious persecution, Americans are in complete agreement.
“Now it is time to do something more than complain,” concluded Manning. “I call on our leaders in Washington to take action to divest all federal and state resources from Chinese assets.”
Americans for Limited Government is part of a national coalition seeking to divest all state, federal, and private pension funds from Chinese companies, many of which are engaged in child and slave labor or pose a direct threat to U.S. national security.
Last month, the Department of Labor took steps to combat these exploitive labor practices by releasing its biennial list of goods produced under conditions of forced labor. China topped the list at 17 goods – four more than any other country. The list and the Department’s “Comply Chain” and “Sweat & Toil” smartphone apps, help governments, companies, and consumers fight back against abusive labor practices and, by doing so, protect individuals impressed into forced and child labor because of their religious beliefs.
In August, a top State Department official warned college and university governing boards served notice that the value of Chinese stocks and bonds are likely to be decline as a result of U.S. government action and that they should, therefore, divest from China.
In May, the Department of Labor halted all investing of federal Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) assets in Chinese companies. The TSP is a retirement savings and investment plan for federal employees and members of the uniformed services.
To learn more go to divestchinanow.org
Background:
Since 2017, the Chinese Communist Party has detained an estimated 1.8 million Turkic Muslims, mostly Uyghurs, in internment camps without due process. Detained Uyghurs are tortured, coerced to disavow their religious beliefs and cultural practices, compelled to work in forced labor programs, and, in some cases, raped, subjected to involuntary sterilization, and forced organ harvesting.
As a direct result of the CCP’s targeted population control campaign against Uyghurs, the birthrate of the Uyghur population in the XUAR plummeted by 24% from 2017 to 2018, with birthrates in the Uyghur majority regions of Hotan and Kashgar decreasing by more than 60% from 2015 to 2018. In 2018, 80 percent of all net added IUD placements in China (calculated as placements minus removals) were performed in Xinjiang, despite the fact that the region only makes up 1.8 percent of the nation’s population.
Nearly half a million Muslim children in Xinjiang have been forcibly removed from their families, placed in state-run boarding schools, and subjected to indoctrination and inhumane treatment. Between 2017 and 2019, an estimated 80,000 Uyghurs were forcibly transferred out of the XUAR to work in factories across China which has raised concerns of forced labor being used in global supply chains.
Oct. 29, 2020, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement reacting to the latest Gross Domestic Product numbers that showed a massive 33.1 percent, inflation-adjusted, annualized boom in the third quarter, an all-time high:
“The record increase in annualized Gross Domestic Product shows conclusively that President Trump deserves full credit for the economic rebound with more than 14 million jobs already recovered. His willingness to accept responsibility for the forced economic downturn in the second quarter, and determination to make certain that as many people as possible were not permanently hurt due to the Covid response, has resulted in all-time high growth in the third quarter. While many politicians were cowering, afraid to make a mistake, President Trump boldly led America through a national emergency, approaching the problem as a businessman who’s had to make payrolls, and made certain that assistance went directly to those who were most adversely impacted, including small businesses, with an eye towards the V-shaped recovery he is now delivering.
“While the third quarter was fantastic, it is imperative that America not make the mistake of engaging in policies which increase taxes and regulations, and once again lock down our businesses, effectively strangling the recovery before it goes into full bloom. The choice for the future is stark: Trump’s hope and opportunity against Biden’s dark winter of despair. No choice has ever been as important in our lifetimes.”
Attachments:
“Great Again: Trump economy grows record 33.1 percent in third quarter amid rapid recovery,” By Robert Romano, Oct. 29, 2020 at http://dailytorch.com/2020/10/great-again-trump-economy-grows-record-33-1-percent-in-third-quarter-amid-rapid-recovery/
Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 or at media@limitgov.org.
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Fairfax, Va– Today Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of Labor Eugene Scalia thanking him for recognizing the plight of the oppressed Uyghur Muslims in China on International Religious Freedom Day. Manning also urged further action by the Trump administration to ensure that U.S. investors are not unwittingly funding Chinese human rights abuses.
“The Labor Department has a fiduciary responsibility to end all private retirement investments in dangerous Chinese investments by amending the current pending “Financial Factors in Selecting Plan Investments” regulation to disqualify all companies that do not adhere to the transparency requirements of Dodd-Frank and Sarbannes-Oxley, and to divest the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation from China as well,” wrote Manning. “Chinese assets and other risky non-transparent assets that enslave our fellow man have no place in America’s retirement portfolios.”
Scalia noted in his statement to the press that “many people around the world do not enjoy the freedom to practice their faith, but instead face persecution for their religious beliefs. We particularly recognize the Uyghur Muslims and other religious and ethnic minorities in China who have been forced into state-sponsored labor and re-education camps by the Chinese Communist Party.”
The growing push to divest U.S. retirement accounts from non-transparent, child and slave-owning Chinese companies gained momentum last week when Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) sent a letter to the Department of Labor requesting the federal government block human rights-abusing companies from American investment eligibility.
“Based on the ongoing threat investments in these companies pose to American retirement security, I ask you to consider expanding existing regulations on fiduciary duties under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) to include a prohibition on investment in certain types of Chinese investment vehicles by private retirement plans subject to ERISA,” Loeffler wrote.
“Loeffler’s support is a game-changer because of her background in the financial sector and Wall Street,” added Manning. “She brings tremendous credibility to this issue and I hope other national leaders will take notice and join us in the calls to divest from China.”
Last month, the Department of Labor took steps to combat these exploitive labor practices by releasing its biennial list of goods produced under conditions of forced labor. China topped the list at 17 goods – four more than any other country. The list and the Department’s “Comply Chain” and “Sweat & Toil” smartphone apps, help governments, companies, and consumers fight back against abusive labor practices and, by doing so, protect individuals impressed into forced and child labor because of their religious beliefs.
In August, a top State Department official warned college and university governing boards served notice that the value of Chinese stocks and bonds are likely to be decline as a result of U.S. government action and that they should, therefore, divest from China.
In May, the Department of Labor halted all investing of federal Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) assets in Chinese companies. The TSP is a retirement savings and investment plan for federal employees and members of the uniformed services.
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Oct. 27, 2020, Fairfax, VA – Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning issued the following statement in reaction to the latest revelations of Joe and Hunter Biden’s self-dealing and corruption:
“The Tucker Carlson interview with former Hunter Biden partner Tony Bobulinski is a credible full-blown indictment of Joe Biden. The former vice president illegally cashed in on his elected office. Equipped with emails, texts, recordings and other records, Bobulinski’s accusations are damning beyond belief of the elder Biden, who was known as the ‘Big Guy’.
“It is almost criminal that around 40 percent of Americans have already cast their ballots without the benefit of information that disqualifies Joe Biden from serving in the office of the president, and most assuredly guarantees a bi-partisan impeachment unless he resigns.”
Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 or at media@limitgov.org.
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Where’s Joe?
Oct. 26, 2020, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement blasting the Biden campaign for refusing to campaign:
“It is unprecedented in modern campaign history for a major party presidential candidate to effectively disappear from the campaign trail in the week leading to the election. While Joe Biden’s past campaign events with people in crop circle like containment for fear of catching any enthusiasm has been weird, the idea that Biden’s basement is the place where voters can be found is outright offensive. It’s clear that Joe Biden is afraid of a virus that the rest of us have to learn to live with and adapt to and afraid of explaining the large amount of evidence that indicts his family as being engaged in blatant pay-for-play while he was Vice President with China, a Ukrainian natural gas company and a former mayor of Moscow’s widow, among others. America wants a President who will fight to get the job, and if Joe Biden won’t ask for your vote now, why would he pay attention to you after the election?”
Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 or at media@limitgov.org.
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Oct. 23, 2020, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement blasting former Vice President Joe Biden for allegedly taking a 10 percent stake in a Chinese hedge fund deal via his son, Hunter Biden’s business dealings:
“Former Hunter Biden business partner’s statements that Joe Biden knew and profited off of his son’s foreign business deals corroborates the emails that were released to the New York Post showing the Bidens selling the VP office. Joe Biden is a crook. ‘The Big Guy,’ as he was known, allegedly received 10 percent of the multimillion dollar Chinese hedge fund deal, which gives almost total and indisputable creedance to the concern that the former Vice President is fully and completely compromised by the oppressive Communist Chinese regime. We challenge the formerly legitimate press corps of the United States to give this as much attention as they did as the fake news Russiagate.”
Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 or at media@limitgov.org.
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Competence versus false promises
Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement reacting to the presidential debate:
“President Trump clearly showed why he should be re-elected to a second term as he demonstrated a much stronger understanding of the issues and how government works than Joe Biden who has spent his life sitting in a Senate seat and for eight years as Vice President. The most compelling question asked all night was by President Trump to Biden when he asked, ‘So Joe, why haven’t you done it?’ The entirety of the Biden campaign pretends that Joe just dropped in from outer space and is now going to fix problems that he has spent the past 47 years either creating, ignoring or not recognizing.
“What was particularly stunning in the debate was the complete inability of Biden to defend his record in politics. He denied ownership of the 1994 mass incarceration act which he authored as Chairman of the Judiciary Committee. He was not able to come up with a single thing he did to help anyone during his entire tenure in the Senate, and wasn’t able to offer anything new even on the federal government response to the coronavirus other than what the President has already done. What’s worse, while Biden has said he would ‘listen to the scientists’ if they said to shut down the economy he would, tonight he ran away from that statement because it doesn’t poll well.
“The President’s vision of helping America recover from the coronavirus was also powerful and clear. A common-sense plan which protects the most vulnerable while ending the devastating impacts of the blanket shutdowns in largely Democrat run states.
“The President talked about continuing the historic recovery that will benefit every American without regard to the hyphens associated with them. It is a fact that in February of 2020 before the Chinese virus was fully unleashed upon America, blacks, Hispanics, Asians and women employment was at all-time highs. In spite of Joe Biden lying again about the trade deficit with China, it is fact that the trade deficit in 2020 is $31.7 billion lower than it was in 2016.
“Today, President Trump made me proud to be a supporter of his, and I believe that his straight talk and proven ability to get things done is needed now more than ever, particularly when his opponent has a lifetime of collecting government paychecks without earning them by getting anything productive done.”
Oct. 22, 2020, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement debunking former Vice President Joe Biden’s claim that the trade deficit with China is higher when it isn’t:
“The U.S. trade in goods deficit with China is $31.7 billion lower in the first eight months of 2020 than it was in the first eight months of 2016, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. Former Vice President Joe Biden is simply lying, just like he did in the first debate. The Trump administration has levied 25 percent tariffs on $250 billion of Chinese goods and another 7.5 percent on the remaining $300 billion of goods, and even got China to agree to a phase one trade agreement while leaving those tariffs in place. Trump got tough on China. Biden, in contrast, voted for permanent normal trade relations with China, and helped close a sweetheart deal with a 2013 Memorandum of Understanding with China that let 156 Chinese companies to be listed on U.S. exchanges with a market cap of $1.2 trillion. If Biden wins, it will just be same old Joe, making bad deals with China and selling out the American people.”
Attachments:
Debate Fact Check: Biden Wrong on China Trade Deficit, By Robert Romano, Sept. 30, 2020 at http://dailytorch.com/2020/09/biden-is-wrong-trade-in-goods-deficit-w-china-was-higher-in-2015-when-he-was-vp/
Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 or at media@limitgov.org.
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Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden told 60 Minutes he wants to appoint a bipartisan commission to reform the Supreme Court system.
Watch more of @NorahODonnell‘s interview with Joe Biden, Sunday. pic.twitter.com/wJmb8MatVg
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) October 22, 2020
Americans for Limited Government president Rick Manning had this reaction:
“Joe Biden’s Supreme Court proposal is seeking to solve a problem that doesn’t exist. The only reason Biden wants to change the Supreme Court is because he’s unhappy with the philosophical makeup of the court. No matter how you shine it up, Biden’s proposal is nothing more than an attempt to legitimize his court packing scheme.
“Remember, the Constitution sets up the process for approving Justices and the only recommendation that any commission could make without a constitutional amendment would be to change the number of Justices. This is court packing for political purposes and no commission can serve as Joe Biden’s hiding place from this basic fact.
“This is why Americans for Limited Government strongly supports Sen. Ted Cruz in his effort to amend the Constitution in order to keep nine Justices and prevent political manipulation of the court.”