May 8, 2020, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement on the latest jobs numbers:

“Almost 8.1 million people have left the workforce since February, another 17.3 million people have become unemployed in the same time period, totaling 25.4 million who had jobs but no longer do. This is what it looks like when you shoot your economy in the head over a public health issue, and this is why reopening America is job one for our political leaders. Additional bailouts for states, local governments, business and others do not replace the jobs that a free market economy creates. Further delays in reopening state and local economies will only make the economic disaster worse. And more intractable. America can no longer allow this China originated virus to destroy our economic and societal future. It’s time to get back to work and stop pretending that massive government bailouts can solve the problem.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 1 or at media@limitgov.org.

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May 1, 2020, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement praising President Donald Trump for moving to block federal pension system investment in China:

“News that President Trump will be doing everything in his power to prevent U.S. federal employee pension funds from being invested in Chinese companies, many of which are controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, is a big step in the right direction in reassessing our nation’s relationship with the Chinese regime.

“Many on Wall Street have been pushing hard for the integration of the U.S. and Chinese financial investment systems, but the simple fact is that Chinese Communist Party owned and controlled countries are neither transparent nor safe investments.  Under the law, pension investing requires a higher level of security to ensure that investments are suitable for retirement funds, and China controls their markets and companies within them.  This potential for state sanctioned manipulation makes investments in Chinese markets too risky for any pension fund.

“What’s more, the Chinese government’s choice to hide and lie about the human to human transmission of the coronavirus from the world directly led to the uncontrollable spread of the virus resulting in the death of more than quarter million worldwide demonstrates that they cannot be trusted with either public or private pension funds.

“Americans for Limited Government has just sponsored a WhiteHouse.gov petition  assuring President Trump that the American people will have his back as he moves forward with actions requiring accountability from China.  Specific actions recommended in the petition are: pushing an investigation into the facts behind the development, release and actions of the Chinese government that failed to contain the Coronavirus; ending U.S. dependency on China for pharmaceutical and medical devices and stopping China’s corrupting influence at U.S. universities.

“President Trump is wisely moving to protect federal employees pensions from being invested in fiduciarily unsound foreign investments, now he needs to take the next steps to make our medical supply lines secure and end Chinese academic influence.  The Chinese Communist Party has made it clear that they do not view America as a partner, but rather as an adversary.  President Trump needs to hear from Americans that they support his standing up to the Chinese Communists. Please let him know by signing the WhiteHouse.gov petition.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 1 or at media@limitgov.org.

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April 30, 2020, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement announcing a WhiteHouse.gov petition urging President Donald Trump to take immediate actions to hold China accountable for the COVID-19 pandemic.

“President Trump needs to immediately begin at least a three-pronged approach to hold the Chinese Communist Party accountable for allowing a deadly virus to infect the entire world resulting almost a quarter million deaths to date, “ Manning said.

“It is clear that the Chinese Communist Party engaged in a series of actions which result in this disease to engulf the world, taking down rival economies, while China attempts to take advantage of the crisis they created. This is why we have launched a WhiteHouse.gov petition letting President Trump know that the American people will have his back when he takes action.”

The petition urges the President to take three immediate actions on three critical areas: eliminate America’s dependence on China for manufacturing important pharmaceutical and medical products; restrict China’s influence on our nation’s universities, and create an investigative team to assess the Chinese Communist Party’s role in covering up the virus and allowing it to become a pandemic.

A group of conservative leaders signed a longer letter that was sent to the President outlining the challenges posed by the Chinese Communist Party and expressing strong support for actions that he might take in the future to meet them.

Manning asserted, “The United States welcomed China into an economic partnership in 2001 when China was given Permanent Normalized Trade Relations by the U.S.. Time after time, China has used that special relationship to abuse our national interest and their virus-related actions require immediate, strategic disengagement from the toxic Beijing regime.”

The WhiteHouse.gov petition is posted on the White House website.

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 1 or at media@limitgov.org.

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April 30, 2020, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement in response to the latest unemployment insurance initial claims:

“The unemployment claims surge is beginning to diminish and with multiple states partially re-opening their economies, it is likely that many of the 30 million who filed unemployment claims over the past six weeks will be brought back to work.  Congress needs to fix the changes made in the unemployment law which pays about half of those who have lost their jobs more money to sit on the sidelines than to go back to work.  The objective of the unemployment system is to provide a bridge for those who lose their jobs, in any next stimulus package must end the work disincentive payments. Re-Opening America Now means getting Americans back to work, and government policies which make it more profitable to sit on the sidelines than to earn a living are nothing more than deliberate attempts to keep America broken and dependent upon government.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 1 or at media@limitgov.org.

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April 27, 2020, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement blasting Twitter for temporarily suspending the account of Aytu BioScience:

“Twitter’s decision to take down a legitimate biotech company’s discussion about ultraviolet light therapy as a possible treatment for the China-originated virus is repulsive at its core. The simple idea that internet platforms should be the arbiters of information that is clearly being considered at the top level of the government brings into question whether platforms like Twitter should be declared liable under the Communications Decency Act, that has offered liability protections in the past. While Twitter eventually reinstated the account of this scientific research company, the very fact that Twitter’s non-scientists interjected their political opinion based on their dislike of all things Trump makes them no better or worse than the Huffington Post and they should be legally treated the same way.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 1 or at media@limitgov.org.

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April 23, 2020, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement on the latest jobless claims report:

“America cannot get back to work quickly enough as another 4.4 million Americans filed for unemployment this past week, bringing the five week total to more than 26 million Americans thrown out of work as much of the private sector was shuttered to achieve social distancing.  When combined with the 5.8 million unemployed prior to the shutdown, it is reasonable to assume that there are now more than 30 million out of work Americans, bringing the likely unemployment rate from 16.5 percent to 19 percent.  This triples the jobs lost during the last recession and is approaching Great Depression levels of unemployment.

“The real economic danger is that many of the small businesses forced to lay off their workers will remain shuttered once the economy is re-opened leaving vast numbers of those recently unemployed without job options moving ahead. This is why Americans for Limited Government has created the Keep America Working project with the new take action website:  www.ReopenAmericaNow.org

“For those with health concerns, it is important to remember that the poverty being created by this government-created recession is deadly.  The United Nations is now predicting that hundreds of thousands of children around the world will die as a direct result of the COVID-19 cure.  Others predict that suicides, drug addiction and overdoses along with deaths from other diseases will skyrocket as a result of the devastation caused by the Chinese virus cure. Getting back to work now in a smart way is the only way to balance the health and economic disaster engulfing the nation with public health concerns related to COVID, so we can get back on the path to prosperity. 30 million unemployed Americans demand an opportunity to get back to work, it is time to Reopen America Now.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 1 or at media@limitgov.org.

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April 21, 2020, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement urging states to reopen their economies as soon as possible:

“In nine days, many governors across the nation are making plans on how to reopen all or part of their economies. Predictably, some worry that moving away from strict social distancing policies will have negative health consequences. What these people miss is that these distancing policies bring forth known problems associated with extreme poverty, including increased suicides, depression and substance abuse. On the substance abuse front alone, we know that 70,000 a year were losing their lives to opioid overdoses alone, and that that number has been significantly cut over the past couple of years.

“We also know that there were 40,000 more suicides than expected during the Great Recession, and that the UN just released a report stating that hundreds of thousands of children will die due to the increased poverty created in the economic shutdown. Let’s be clear, this is not an easy situation, but when 5.5 million Americans are filing for unemployment claims on average the past four weeks, with no end in sight, the personal and national devastation wrought by the social distancing cure is not sustainable and the President and our nation’s governors must act to balance. The President took a great step forward in providing guidance on reopening America state by state, and it is expected he will continue to provide the best ideas available on ways private businesses can meet the needs of their employees and customers in these unique times.

“One relatively undiscussed result of the private sector shutdown is that local, state and federal governments will all see dramatic revenue losses from staying shut down too long at a time when their expenditures are increased. Recognizing this early, if states and local governments are unwilling to lay off non-essential government employees before the situation becomes critical, then aggressively reopening is the only alternative.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 1 or at media@limitgov.org.

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April 20, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement in response to the crash of global oil markets:

“While Speaker Pelosi enjoys her $13/pint ice cream, the world’s oil markets have completely crashed due to the destruction of the global economy of the China-originated virus. While it is debatable whether Pelosi is playing the role of Marie Antoinette or Nero, who fiddled while Rome burnt, it is inexcusable of her to engage in her dereliction of duty by not having the House of Representatives immediately convene to provide necessary relief for small businesses to allow them to survive this public health devastation.

“The current oil price drop puts hundreds of thousands of American energy jobs at risk. While this might seem to be a Green New Deal dream, it actually is an economic catastrophe, which can only be alleviated when governors restart their respective economies. When commuters hit the roads again, they can expect gas prices at levels not seen since before the OPEC oil embargo of 1973. Counterintuitively, this is also bad for our nation’s airlines who purchase fuel months in advance and were obligated to pay dramatically more per barrel months ago. Airlines consume a significant amount of America’s oil usage, and America restoring previously robust travel schedules will soak up some of the oversupply, but the main answer to restoring energy markets will be when Americans hit the road and get back to work, enjoying dramatically lower commuter costs.

“At the very least, Speaker Pelosi’s private jet commuting from San Francisco to Washington, D.C. can show the way for America getting back to work, even though the work she typically does is counterproductive. Maybe this time she can actually help out by passing a clean funding bill to save what remains of our nation’s small business economic backbone.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 1 or at media@limitgov.org.

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