Dec. 3, 2019, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement in response to President Donald Trump’s decision to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum from Brazil and Argentina:

“It is unfortunate that Argentina and Brazil have engaged in currency manipulation to such an extreme extent that the Trump administration was compelled to impose additional steel and aluminum tariffs on those two countries. But President Trump has to put America first when considering U.S. trade relationships abroad and currency devaluations on this scale cannot be tolerated.  The real story in Brazil is about soy beans, where the Chinese have purchased the growing, transporation and shipping supply lines in an attempt to fully exploit Brazil’s agriculture resources. It is our hope that President Trump and Brazilian President Bolsonaro can create a mutually beneficial trade agreement.”

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

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Nov. 27, 2019, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement in response to the upward revision of GDP for the third quarter from 1.9 percent to 2.1 percent growth:

“The Trump economy continues to grow in spite of the best efforts of Speaker Pelosi with the latest upward revision to 2.1 percent inflation adjusted growth in the second quarter. But Nancy Pelosi Adam Schiff who would rather play partisan, sham impeachment games than do the business of the people. It is time for the House to pass the USMCA fair trade agreement as negotiated and take the cheap labor anchor off of Americans backs.”

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

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Nov. 21, 2019, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning sent a letter to Transportation Secretary Chao informing her that the Washington, D.C. government is using a speed camera along 295 to shake down motorists in an alleged work zone. He requested that Chao take action to end this abuse of drivers.

Manning wrote, “Earlier this year, the D.C. government arbitrarily lowered the speed limit from 50 mph — which was already low — to 40 mph along a six-mile stretch of 295.  Although there is no sign of construction — no workers, no construction equipment, and no cones — the D.C. government asserts that the area is a construction zone. The D.C. government intends to keep this absurdly low speed limit in place until December of 2021. Conveniently, there is a speed camera located along this stretch of highway that enforces the speed limit 24 hours a day/7 days a week. Those who miss the speed limit sign are subject to tickets costing as much as $800. Since its installation, that single camera has generated over $30 million in revenue.”

The letter continues, “Many have complained about the speed limit on this highway and about the speed camera, but the Democrat-run D.C. government refuses to listen. The greedy local politicians clearly do not care about the hardship their highway robbery scheme is inflicting on the families of unsuspecting motorists. Of course, with Do-Nothing Democrats controlling the House, we know that they will continue to do nothing to solve this problem.”

Manning concluded his letter by stating, “For these reasons, we ask you, as the senior federal transportation official, to do whatever you can under law to put a stop to this unconscionable abuse of power in the federal district.”

To view online:

Attachments:

Letter to Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, Nov. 25, 2019 at https://getliberty.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/ChaoLetter-11-25-19.pdf

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

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Nov. 25, 2019, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement in response to House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff’s statement on CNN that “I want to discuss this with my constituents and colleagues before I make a final judgment on this…”:

“Adam Schiff attempted to walk back his demand for impeachment this weekend on CNN in one of the most transparent political act of capitulations in recent memory. Schiff and his Democratic cohorts have been attempting to impeach and delegitimize President Trump since before the 2016 election. And for the past three years have sought to undermine President Trump at every turn. The damage Schiff has done to our nation is incalculable through his abuse of the very serious impeachment clause in the United States Constitution. Now there is talk in Washington of pushing for a meaningless censure of the President in the House of Representatives while putting President Trump on double not-so-secret probation for a future impeachment.

“Three things are clear. Democrats don’t have the votes for impeachment in the House. The American public is telling Speaker Pelosi to start passing legislation like the proposed USMCA, budget cuts and border security. And, the administrative state’s coup against the President has been rejected once exposed to open hearings. It’s time for Congress to stop their efforts to undo the results of the 2016 election and focus on the business of the American people.”

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

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Nov. 22, 2019, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement in response to a Nov. 18 letter from Sen. Ron Johnson detailing a conversation he had with President Donald Trump on Aug. 31 when the President said there was no quid pro quo on military assistance, long before the anonymous CIA so-called whistleblower complaint ever became public:

“According to Senate Homeland Security Chairman Ron Johnson, he directly asked President Trump on Aug. 31 if there was a quid pro quo for Ukrainian military assistance to be released. The President told Johnson, ‘No way. I would never do that. Who told you that?’ This was the day before Vice President Pence met with Ukrainian President Zelensky, after which out-of-the-loop U.S. Ambassador Sondland ‘presumed’ and suggested a quid pro quo to a Ukrainian presidential aide that became ground zero for the whole quid pro quo confusion.

“The simple fact that President Trump told Chairman Johnson on Aug. 31 long before the so-called whistleblower complaint was ever made public that there was no quid pro quo and alluded to the probable release of the aid, stating ‘We’re reviewing it now, and you’ll probably like my final decision,’ indicating he would support it, which he did on Sept. 11, effectively ends every conspiracy theory laden timeline that Adam Schiff has concocted. Every person who testified to Schiff’s committee was asked about a quid pro quo, and every witness who thought there was one, and Senator Johnson too received their second-hand information from Sondland, who was demonstrably wrong. The idea that the President craftily shifted his position when the political heat rose, is blown away by the fact that he told Johnson our policy position was no quid pro quo, demonstrating that the hold on the aid was truly an evaluation of whether Ukraine’s corruption made the aid ill-advised and what Europe could to provide more on its end. The impeachment egg that Schiff and Pelosi find on their face can be directly traced to patient zero Ambassador Gordon Sondland, fueled by their partisan desire to impeach Trump at all costs making them willing to believe anything without verifying the facts.

“The impeachment inquiry is damaging our nation, and this clear exoneration of President Trump should be used by Speaker Nancy Pelosi to stop this partisan sham and get back to work.”

Attachments:

“Sondland: ‘No one told me directly that the aid [to Ukraine] was tied to anything. I was presuming it was.’” By Robert Romano, Nov. 22, 2019 at http://dailytorch.com/2019/11/sondland-no-one-told-me-directly-that-the-aid-to-ukraine-was-tied-to-anything-i-was-presuming-it-was/

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

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Nov. 22, 2019, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement in support of Katharine MacGregor to be confirmed as the next Deputy Secretary of Interior:

“Americans for Limited Government urges the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources to move the nomination of Katharine MacGregor forward with a positive recommendation.  Her career has been dedicated to sound and balanced resource management policies, and she will be an incredible asset to meeting the vision of the Interior Department to promote energy security and critical minerals development, increase access to outdoor recreation opportunities for all Americans, enhance conservation stewardship, improve management of species and their habitats and to uphold trust in the Department of Interior. The Department of Interior manages approximately one-fifth of all land in the United States, and the American public will be well served through Ms. MacGregor’s leadership in this important stewardship mission.”

Attachments:

Letter to Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, Nov. 22, 2019 at https://getliberty.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/KatharineMacGregorLetter11-22-19.pdf

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

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Nov. 21, 2019, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement in response to former National Security Council official Fiona Hill’s characterization of Ambassador Gordon Sondland’s activity as a “domestic political errand”:

“Fiona Hill’s description of Ambassador Gordon Sondland’s activity as a ‘domestic political errand’ should remind everyone that it is time for Speaker Nancy Pelosi to begin doing a few domestic political errands of her own. She can start by passing USMCA as negotiated. She can then follow up by cutting the monstrously large federal spending bill by 10 percent in order to keep the budget deficit under $1 trillion. If she really gets ambitious, she could pass the MERIT Act, which would allow the federal government to fire lazy, incompetent or recalcitrant employees. It’s time for Pelosi and the House Democrats to start tending to the domestic political errands that the voters elected them to do.”

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

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Nov. 20, 2019, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement in response to reports that Ukraine has expanded the criminal investigation of Burisma and that the investigation has been underway for almost two years:

“Ukraine’s confirmation that the Burisma investigation has been expanded has made three things abundantly clear. First, President Zelensky and others have unequivocally said they felt no pressure by the U.S. to investigate the corrupt natural gas firm Burisma or anyone associated with that firm. Second, Ukraine officials have made it clear they had no knowledge military assistance to Ukraine was under scrutiny until an Aug. 29 Politico report broke the news. Third, today’s report that Ukraine prosecutors are expanding their  investigation into Burisma, and that the investigation has been ongoing for almost two years, alleging millions of Ukrainian funds had been stolen by the company is proof that unless President Trump has a time machine, he did not initiate the probe.

“The Pelosi-Schiff impeachment sham rests on a charge of coercion or bribery for something we now know was already taking place, and which those who were purportedly coerced felt no pressure because they were aware that the Burisma investigation had been underway for more than a year. Pelosi and Schiff may go down in history as Congress’ equivalent of Abbott and Costello, with the exception that their confusion and misunderstanding doesn’t lead to hilarity, but rather calamity.”

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

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Nov. 20, 2019, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement urging Congress to push the continuing resolution and Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) reauthorization off until March 15, past the New Year:

“It is absurd that Congress would pass a continuing resolution into the heart of the Christmas season, setting up a vote on an omnibus bill right before the holiday. Congress should do the right thing and give federal workers peace of mind through the holidays, by extending government funding through March 15.

“A longer time window will also give Congress an opportunity to review the findings of the Justice Department on Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act abuses that occurred in the 2016 elections, when the Trump campaign, the opposition party, was placed under surveillance by the Obama administration in an election year, and give time to put in place real reforms so that political spying never happens again. We have to make sure we get this right, and rushing to reauthorize FISA would be foolish when we’re still waiting on these findings.”

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

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Nov. 20, 2019, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement in response to U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland’s testimony that “never received a clear answer” as to why the military aid to Ukraine was suspended:

“The Sondland testimony is nothing more than kicking over the same rocks that already been turned over in his prior testimony. The simple fact remains that Sondland mistakenly ‘presumed’ by his own testimony that the release of military aid to Ukraine was conditioned to a public statement by Ukraine on investigating corruption. He says, ‘No one told me directly that the aid was tied to anything.’ Sondland then acted as patient zero spreading this notion throughout the foreign service and to Ukraine even though he admits in his own testimony no one told him that any quid pro quo related to the aid existed.

“To sum up, Sondland’s presumption about military aid is the root of the entirety of the Democratic case, but nobody told him to condition the aid as he per his testimony ‘never received a clear answer’ as to why the military aid to Ukraine was suspended. The actual quid pro quo for a meeting which Sondland references had already been dismissed as the meeting which the Ukrainian government wanted on Sept. 1 (which Trump was going to attend until a hurricane hit the U.S.) was already happening without any public statement having ever been issued, as other diplomats have testified.”

 

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

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