Pelosi and Schumer put special interests against Main Street jobs

April 10, 2020, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement blasting House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer for once again trying to hold needed small business monies hostage in the middle of the coronavirus public health emergency and economic crisis:

“Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer are at it again. Facing more as many as 20 million Americans unemployed due to the health emergency, Pelosi and Schumer are demonstrating that they care more about getting goodies for their supporters than saving the jobs of those who are being thrown out of work through no fault of their own. The dynamic duo of doom doesn’t care about restarting America and restoring our national economy, and it has never been more clear through their efforts to stop additional monies from being lent to keep small businesses alive, and their employees on the payroll. You can count Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer to stand up for every left-wing constituency while blocking efforts to keep Main Street from becoming a ghost town.”

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

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Projected death toll dramatically lowered after anti-malaria drug approved

April 8, 2020, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement reacting to the IHME’s death toll projections being lowered to 60,415 from 81,766:

“Projections on the number of cases of COVID-19 are far less important than the actual deaths from the China-originated virus.  Now, the most influential projection of future deaths from the disease has lowered that guess again. Just one week ago on April 1, the death projection was 93,651, it was lowered on April 4 to 81,766 and just one week into April the projection is now at 60,415.

“While the public health care bureaucrats will attribute the precipitous drop in the all-important death projections to social distancing, the model assumed that social distancing would be implemented in its projections.

“What has significantly changed in the past week was President Trump’s successfully convincing the Food and Drug Administration to allow the anti-malaria drug, hydroxychloroquine  and other antivirals to be prescribed to treat the disease on March 31.  While correlation does not necessarily mean causation, it is significant that doctors across the nation have been given the go-ahead to use this treatment and many are reporting success that should not be discounted.  Those governors who are restricting the use of this medicine need to reevaluate that political decision in order to help save as many of the lives of their constituents as possible.

“President Trump has put the health of Americans first and has risked his economic legacy to protect American lives. Now, as the death projections continue to collapse, Americans for Limited Government urge the country to come behind President Trump as he looks toward restarting the economy. The great news that we are winning the war against the COVID-19 virus will hopefully lead to our economy re-opening around the country not suffering as a hot spot by May 1.”

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

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COVID-19 costs American workers at least 10 million jobs

April 3, 2020, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement responding to latest jobs numbers:

“Today’s Bureau of Labor Statistics unemployment rate dramatically understates the actual state of the workforce.  These reports are based upon mid-month surveys conducted on behalf of BLS, which do not reflect the full results of the last two new unemployment claims filed with state governments.  The 1.35 million person increase in the number of unemployed is at least 8.5 million short of the actual number of people thrown out of work by the government’s response to the COVID-19 as demonstrated by the weekly unemployment claims reports released yesterday.  This means that the actual COVID caused unemployment rate is likely between 9 and 10 percent and rising every day.

“A month ago, our nation enjoyed the fewest number of unemployed since the year 2000, in one short month due to the shutdown of the economy, we very likely have the most people unemployed than at any time in history.

“Earlier this month, the President rightly worried that the cure for COVID-19 could become worse than the disease.  The dramatic surge in unemployment is just the beginning of the cost of a cure that will only get worse as President Trump rightfully seeks to balance the public health concerns with the destructive impact of the hopelessness cause by joblessness.”

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

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Pelosi’s coronavirus response investigation is absurd

April 2, 2020, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government Rick Manning today issued the following statement blasting House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s decision to open up Congressional investigation into U.S. efforts to combat the Chinese coronavirus:

“Nancy Pelosi’s decision to investigate the coronavirus response in the midst of the battle to save American lives is absurd and blatantly un-American.  It is okay to question actions, but to open an official investigation that will drain resources from those who are working 24/7 trying to save American lives, and re-open our country as soon as possible is perhaps the most blatantly dangerous action I have ever witnessed by any elected official.

“It was bad enough when Pelosi attempted and succeeded to extort millions if not billions of dollars for unrelated left-wing causes like the Kennedy Center, public broadcasting and refugee resettlement, as well as pay raises for Congress while another 6.6 million Americans lost their jobs waiting for relief, but to open an investigation when the administration is running at full tilt trying to meet the emergency head on is going to cost American lives.  There is plenty of time later for second guessing by the perpetual impeachment machine in Pelosi’s House, one would have hoped that at least for now, the wayward Speaker would have had the decency to help pull the oars rather than create a political dance designed to distract those doing the hard work.”

Attachments:

Cartoon: Twisted, By A.F. Branco, March 23, 2020 at http://dailytorch.com/2020/03/cartoon-twisted/

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

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If NYT doesn’t think critical press briefings on Chinese coronavirus are news, then get some real reporters in there

April 1, 2020, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement reacting to New York Times’ Executive Editor Dean Baquet claiming that critical White House press briefings keeping the American people up to date on Chinese coronavirus are unimportant and that “they make little news”:

“In the New York Times’ world, blunders are news, gotchas are news, but actual information on how every American can help save lives in a time when the Chinese coronavirus is the only story is not news.  What a bunch of frauds. The White House should rotate the New York Times out of the White House press room twice a week in favor of someone who actually covers the news, and see how they scream that they are denied access.  Obviously, all the White House would have to tell the New York Times is that they don’t want to waste their time, since from their perspective the briefings don’t make news.”

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

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Speaker Pelosi’s failure to plan at fault for House delays in bill passage

March 27, 2020, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement urging Congress to adopt rules that allow members to vote from home during a national emergency:

“Last week, Speaker Pelosi knew there was going to be a major piece of legislation from the Senate that the House would have to vote on, but she failed to pass temporary emergency rules changes to let members vote from home. This failure of basic planning and administration is the reason the House had to come back to town to vote on sustaining the U.S. economy during this emergency. It is morally wrong for the House or Senate to turn their responsibility to represent their constituencies over to a Speaker who only represents San Francisco, and a Senate Majority Leader who only represents Kentucky, and to turn these bodies into rubber stamps. The people have a constitutional right to be represented. Pelosi’s failure to plan for this basic constitutional right may be endangering lives and livelihoods across the nation. While they’re in town, they could change the rules right now.”

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

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3.2 million jobless claims gives 3.2 million reasons to get back to work as soon as possible

March 26, 2020, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement in response to the latest jobless claims numbers:

“The devastation of the Chinese virus has washed across the nation. No, it isn’t in millions ill and hundreds of thousands dying, no, it is the despair of unemployment as the weekly unemployment claims skyrocketed from 270,000 last week to 3.2 million this week. After the free enterprise system created a record economy with more people employed in history and fewer unemployed than at any time since the turn of the century, the response to the Chinese virus shutdown has crashed it. But jobs are more than a place to go, they are the embodiment of how we achieve our dreams, either through what we create or build or through what we do with the money we earn.

“The threat of the Chinese virus to cause as many as a million and a half deaths drove the shutdown decisions, but today we were given 3.2 million reasons to get America back to work as soon as possible. President Trump is right to push ahead in his efforts to defeat both the virus and the economic devastation it is leaving in its wake.”

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

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Senate must stop and fix drafting error that makes it more profitable to be unemployed than to keep your job

March 25, 2020, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement urging the Senate to stop and fix a drafting error in the coronavirus relief bill that incentivizes unemployment over keeping your job by making it more profitable for workers to be laid off under the bill:

“The Senate must stop and fix the drafting error which inadvertently makes it more profitable for some to be on unemployment than to work.  It would be irresponsible to rely upon the Labor Department to issue a paper thin guidance or temporary regulation to try to fix the bill, when anything they do could be swept away in less than a year.  The law itself must be fixed, because regulations flow from laws, and the courts assume that the lawmakers meant what they passed into law.

“Senators Tim Scott, Ben Sasse, Rick Scott and Lindsey Graham have earned our sincere thanks for spotting the error and having the courage to slow down the process and demand that it be corrected.  Now the Senate needs to fix it, pass it, and send it to the House of Representatives.”

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

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Pelosi hijacks Senate virus economic relief bill

March 23, 2020, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement blasting Congressional Democrats delaying passage of a Senate virus economic relief bill:

“Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s hijacking the Senate CARES Act in an attempt to extort everything from misguided election law changes to green new deal demands. It is clear that there is no honor in the Democrats who would rather throw our economy into a deep recession, than pass an emergency measure designed to provide a necessary safety net for our nation’s economy.  Pelosi and Schumer’s ploy is akin to a doctor stopping in the middle of an operation and re-negotiating rates.  Having already gotten their priorities met in the first and second bites of the apple, they now are seeking to derail the legislation which sets the restoration of the economy in place.  While many Democrats of Pelosi and Schumer’s age look at the presidency of FDR as the good ole days, it is rare that any of them actually attempt to throw our nation into a depression as their legacy.

“Senator McConnell should force them to vote every single day and once GOP Senators who have been in self-quarantine are able to come to the floor to vote, they should pass a rule that ends the filibuster when the nation is under a national emergency and pass the CARES Act and send it to Pelosi.  Let’s see if vulnerable Democrats will risk national economic destruction and personal political suicide to follow their leftist leader off of a cliff.”

Attachments:

Senate Dems hold economy hostage after demanding everything close to slow down Chinese coronavirus, By Robert Romano, March 23, 2020 at http://dailytorch.com/2020/03/senate-dems-hold-economy-hostage-after-demanding-everything-close-to-slow-down-chinese-coronavirus/

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

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Senate Democrats must quit playing politics and get serious to protect 30 million small businesses

March 22, 2020, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement in response to the failed vote in the Senate to provide relief to the U.S. economy including 30 million small businesses in the unprecedented economic shutdown response to the Chinese coronavirus outbreak:

“It is abhorrent that Senate Democrats are attempting to hold our nation’s economy and 30 million small businesses hostage in their neverending quest to turn crisis into political opportunity.

“The magnitude of the health emergency and the proposed Senate response emphasize how serious Senate Republicans are taking this crisis. No Republican was elected to spend trillions of dollars to revive an economy deliberately shut down to save a million American lives, and yet they have stood up and done what they believe is necessary to ensure Americans can get by while they wait in their homes for the virus to pass. We continue to believe that all spending should targeted to the specific needs created by the emergency, and any attempt to make permanent spending increases should be rejected.

“What’s more, any attempts to fundamentally change our nation’s health care system including the creation of any one size fits all medical billing system that lays the groundwork for socialized medicine should be rejected. These rate setting proposals fundamentally change the ability for the very heroes in the health provider community to be paid a fair price for their labor and it would be a punch in their guts to enact legislation now that punishes them while they are working tirelessly to save American lives.

“While Americans for Limited Government is uncomfortable with the amount of spending authorized, and the changes to the unemployment laws that dramatically expand the program having the likely unintended impact of encouraging businesses to lay off employees, rather than fight through the crisis, it remains important Congress come together. Democrats must stop their putting politics ahead of the lives and livelihoods of the American people.

“America is the greatest country in the history of mankind. We will survive this national challenge, and by passing legislation providing a safety net to allow the small business foundation of our economy to hit the ground running once we’re past this crisis, we will come back rapidly and stronger than ever.”

Attachments:

“Trump virus response calls for covering payroll for every small business in America with $300 billion,” By Robert Romano, March 20, 2020 at http://dailytorch.com/2020/03/trump-virus-response-calls-for-covering-payroll-for-every-small-business-in-america-with-300-billion/

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

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