Oct. 25, 2019, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement urging every Senator, whether Republican or Democrat, to support S. Res. 378, calling for the House to “consistent with long-standing practice and precedent, prior to proceeding any further with its impeachment investigation into President Donald J. Trump, vote to open a formal impeachment inquiry and provide President Trump with fundamental constitutional protections”:

“Half the Senate is now on record condemning the circus-like witch hunt being conducted against President Trump in the House of Representatives. With only three Republicans not yet signing onto the Graham resolution, what is surprising is that Sens. Joe Manchin, Kyrsten Sinema and Doug Jones have not raced their GOP colleagues to Graham’s desk to be included. The people of West Virginia, Arizona and Alabama need to contact their Senate delegations and make it clear that they expect their Democrat elected Senators to join their Republican colleagues and stand up for due process rights. Fair play is not a partisan principle, and it’s time for Manchin, Sinema and Jones to recognize.”

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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Oct. 24, 2019, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement urging the Senate to sponsor and pass a resolution condemning the House impeachment process as lacking due process:

“Nine Republican Senators remain silent through their failure to cosponsor Sen. Lindsey Graham’s resolution condemning the House impeachment process as lacking due process. It may be simple staff oversight. However there is no excuse for anyone to accept a process that denies fairness to the President of the United States. It is time for Senators Dan Sullivan, Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins, Michael Enzi, Cory Gardner, Lamar Alexander, Rob Portman, Johnny Isakson and Mitt Romney to at least agree that House Republicans should be afforded the ability to call witnesses and the transparency of open hearings. There are some who say that no one is above the law. The House proceedings are treating the President of the United States as if he is below the law, and that should be unacceptable to everyone. It’s time for Sen. Romney and those who haven’t signed on to join Sen. Graham and 43 other Republican colleagues in condemning an abjectly unfair process that sets a dangerous precedent.”

Correction: At the time of this statement, Senator Burr had signed onto the resolution and Senator Sullivan had not. The statement has been updated to reflect this.

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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Oct. 22, 2019, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement praising Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham’s criticism of the House impeachment inquiry as “sham” and “I’ve never seen a situation in my lifetime as a lawyer where somebody’s accused of a major misconduct who cannot confront the accuser, call witnesses on our behalf, and have the discussion in the light of day, so the public can judge. If this continues in the House, this complete sham, I will do everything I can to make sure it doesn’t live very long in the Senate”:

“Bravo to Sen. Lindsey Graham for pointing out the inherent unfairness and lack of due process of the House impeachment farce. Sen. Graham was one of the House impeachment managers during the Clinton impeachment in the late 1990s, and knows what an honest inquiry looks like. His courage in stripping away the veneer of legitimacy from Pelosi’s political ploy brings some sanity into this Democratic fantasy land. It is our hope that Sen. Graham will use his position as Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman to call the so-called whistleblower to testify and shine a light on the House’s hidden investigation that’s designed to overturn the 2016 election, because the Democrats know that without this desperate measure, President Trump will win reelection easily.”

Attachments:
“Sen. Lindsey Graham must call the anonymous CIA so-called whistleblower to testify if the House impeaches President Trump,” By Robert Romano, Oct. 22, 2019 at http://dailytorch.com/2019/10/sen-lindsey-graham-must-call-the-anonymous-cia-so-called-whistleblower-to-testify-if-the-house-impeaches-president-trump/

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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Oct. 17, 2019, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement in opposition to H.R. 3, “Lower Drug Costs Now Act of 2019”:

“Nancy Pelosi’s Drug Pricing bill, H.R. 3, would be a disaster for those praying for the next medical cure, as it punishes those who are making and democratizing the latest medicines.  Currently, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is specifically prohibited from negotiating prices with drug companies for the very reason that they have market power to force manufacturers to drive prices below break-even points with the result being higher prices for non-government health care dependent users.

“Pelosi’s ulterior motive with H.R. 3 is to create this exact disparity while using the lower cost that those on government health care pay for medicines as a universal health care talking point.  The reality is that Pelosi knows that her bill will inevitably result in a system where those who, like her, are extremely wealthy will continue to get the latest medicines, while those are not, will not.  In fact, the natural outcome of the Pelosi bill is for pharmaceutical companies to avoid mass distribution of new, more effective medicines until they have a generic alternative, and this loss of revenue generated by these new medicines will cut bottom line research and development costs.

“If Pelosi wants to cut the cost of medicines, she should pass legislation streamlining the approval process.  Various studies have shown that the average time for a medicine to go from invention to the drug store is twelve years with average cost estimates ranging from $1 billion to $2.6 billion according to a Tufts University study.

“Creating cures and treatments for cancer, Alzheimer’s, diabetes and other deadly and debilitating diseases is not cheap, but decreasing the time to market would significantly lower the underlying costs and as a result prices as drug companies will want their product to reach as many people as possible and know that higher costs are a barrier for many in using their health inventions.

“Yet Speaker Pelosi through H.R. 3, would not only make it unprofitable for certain popular drugs, but would create a pricing disincentive to broadly market a medicine to Medicare and Medicaid patients that could become one of the 125 most costly medicines to CMS, putting the drug into the CMS lottery of pain, where the loser has their new, successful cure made unprofitable with the stroke of a bureaucrat’s pen.

“Anyone who is evenly mildly sentient would know that four outcomes are guaranteed to occur under these circumstances: 1) research and development will slow dramatically particularly for medicines that target diseases disproportionately afflicting the elderly, 2) prescription drug costs for those who use private health insurance or purchase their drugs out of pocket will escalate dramatically to offset the extorted and artificial lower costs provided to Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, 3) companies will seek to avoid marketing new medicines and covered treatments to physicians, hospitals and medical groups which have a significant Medicare and Medicaid clientele and finally, 4) Nancy Pelosi, one of the richest women in the world, will still get her meds even if you cannot.”

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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Oct. 16, 2019, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement thanking House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) for his Oct. 8 statement that “it is time for the Senate to inquire about corruption and other improprieties involving Ukraine” and inviting Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani to testify:

“The House of Representatives has engaged in one of the most outrageous abuses of power in our nation’s history through its pretend impeachment effort that is merely an excuse to conduct a secret, partisan investigation against the President dependent upon media animus toward Donald Trump to drive selectively leaked information derived from testimony that is not subject to bi-partisan scrutiny and questioning.

“It is with this backdrop in mind that Chairman Graham’s promise to begin honest, open hearings into the origins of the false Russia collusion issue focused on facts which many in the previous administration will likely find embarrassing is a breath of fresh air.  Allegations out of Ukraine and indeed from former Vice President Joe Biden’s own book and statement before the Council on Foreign Relations certainly raise alarm bells about whether Biden’s actions toward Ukraine to have presidents and prosecutors general removed have been above board.

“Perhaps even more importantly, the apparent actions of the foreign service, including the former ambassador to Ukraine Yovanovitch, to stop anti-corruption Ukrainian officials from traveling to the United States to provide evidence of malfeasance of U.S. officials in their country to the U.S. Justice Department warrant investigation to determine if they were illegal, unseemly or perhaps justified.

“Chairman Graham, thank you for opening this investigation, providing the minority rights to ensure real participation and debate, as it is important to show the nation what a fair inquiry looks like, in contrast to the travesty that continues in the House.  While I have little hope that the bevy of Democratic presidential contenders on your Committee will avoid trying to turn hearings into a circus, in the end everyone will know who was the ringmaster and who were the clowns.”

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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Oct. 16, 2019, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement urging the House to support a motion to censure House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) offered by U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.):

“From the beginning, Adam Schiff has abused his power as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee through his false reading of what he wished President Donald Trump had said to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, rather than what President Trump actually said, and ought to be censured. Schiff’s deliberate fairy tale has done damage to the credibility of the House of Representatives and there’s no place for a chairman of a committee as important as the Intelligence Committee to demonstrate such a complete disregard for the truth.

“Every member of the House who believes in due process should support Rep. Biggs’ motion to censure Schiff, who is conducting a proceeding in secret behind closed doors without transparency, without the ability of the accused to have counsel present and without the right to cross-examine witnesses, overturning the precedents of every impeachment inquiry in modern history. Without due process, this inquiry lacks legitimacy and is nothing more than another witch hunt because Democrats couldn’t beat President Trump at the ballot box.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 1003 or at media@limitgov.org to arrange an interview.

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