Trump should make tariffs permanent in light of reported faithless Chinese negotiations

Oct. 15, 2019, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement in response to a report from Bloomberg stating that China may be already breaking the trade deal agreed to over the weekend, changing the terms and demanding removal of tariffs:

“Bloomberg is reporting that once again China is attempting to move the goal posts on a trade deal. The latest phase one deal with China would include the purchase of $40 billion to $50 billion of agriculture, a monetary accord, intellectual property provisions and opening Chinese markets to the financial services sector. Predictably, China has already begun to change the terms of the verbal agreement, according to Bloomberg, which reports it will only buy the agriculture in return for removal of tariffs. They did the same thing in May. If true, President Trump should immediately reaffirm that the existing tariffs on all Chinese goods are permanent, and suspend negotiations, with new tariffs above and beyond the current levels. Setting this permanent floor on tariffs will send a clear message to multinational Chinese exporters that need to diverse and move supply chains to the United States out of the Middle Kingdom. Any sense that exporters can wait out the Trump tariffs should be put to bed once and for all.

“China has repeatedly proven that they are neither honest nor even willing trade partners, and as a result, if the Bloomberg report is correct, their access to U.S. markets needs to be restricted until they prove otherwise.”

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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ALG joins conservative organizations calling for Ken Cuccinelli to be nominated as DHS Secretary

Oct. 14, 2019, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement joining with conservative leaders urging President Donald Trump to nominate former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli for Department of Homeland Security Secretary:

“Americans for Limited Government joins dozens of other conservative leaders in urging President Trump to name former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.

“The joint letter sponsored by the Conservative Action Project praises Cuccinelli as ‘uniquely qualified to navigate the complexities of the numerous statutes and regulations DHS is tasked with enforcing.  He understands law enforcement priorities and the importance of securing the nation’s homeland.  Additionally, he brings an outsider’s perspective to a bureaucracy of nearly 250,000 people, and will offer fresh insights in processes and redundancies in need of streamlining of a huge federal agency.’

“It is clear that President Trump will be seeking a leader for Homeland Security who shares his vision of the need to enforce our nation’s laws and secure the border, General Cuccinelli is the right person for the job.”

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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ALG urges passage of U.S. Rep. Gosar’s Higher Education Transparency Act of 2019

Oct. 10, 2019, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement in support of the Higher Education Transparency Act of 2019 (H.R. 2244), which is sponsored by U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.):

“In recent years, China has been spreading dirty money around the world trying to buy support — or at least silence opposition. As the saying goes, the best disinfectant is sunlight; and that’s why Congress should pass Rep. Gosar’s Higher Education Transparency Act without delay.  The bill would require colleges and universities to make public the agreements that they have with foreign sources who provide language or cultural education to their students. College students, parents, and taxpayers deserve no less.”

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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Pelosi’s impeachment is about entrapping Trump officials

President Trump is right in protecting those who work for the executive branch and him from a transparent attempt at entrapment.

Oct. 9, 2019, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement in support of White House Counsel Pat Cippolone’s letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) calling out the impeachment inquiry as lacking basic due process protections for the accused and witnesses:

“We spent three years with the Mueller investigation where people who supported Donald Trump were prosecuted had to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on lawyers on completely fictitious grounds, a conspiracy theory that the Trump campaign worked with Russia, and to subject Trump officials to similar costs and liabilities without them being afforded basic legal protections is a travesty of justice. It is clear that there are no grounds for impeachment and that this Speaker-driven kangaroo court is designed to create those grounds through claims of obstruction of justice. This is not dissimilar to Mueller’s witch hunt, whose investigation was what generated the prosecutions on process crimes unrelated to the original inquiry. America deserves better than a politically driven attempt to remove the President from office and President Trump is right in protecting those who work for the executive branch and him from a transparent attempt at entrapment.”

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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ALG applauds Sen. Grassley’s college financial aid transparency bill

Oct. 4, 2019, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement in support of the Understanding the True Cost of College Act (S. 888) being offered by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa):

“College financial aid award letters are unnecessarily confusing — especially for first-generation college students. For example, colleges use various terms to describe the same things, frequently omit the cost of attending their school from the letters, and sometimes even avoid using the word ‘loan’ when describing a loan. Parents and students deserve better than this. To address this problem, Sen. Chuck Grassley introduced the Understanding the True Cost of College Act. This bill would require colleges to use standard terms on a uniform financial aid offer form that would include information on total costs, financial aid, and loans, among other things. With better information, students and parents should be able to make better decisions, which should reduce the number of borrowers defaulting on college loan debt — and possibly help rein in out-of-control college costs.”

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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Fair Sugar Policy Act is fair in name only

Oct. 7, 2019, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement in opposition to the Fair Sugar Policy Act:

“The hallmark of the Trump trade agenda is fair and reciprocal trade. The Fair Sugar Policy Act misses this mark and reverts to the failed policies of unilateral trade disarmament. The only way to eliminate sugar or any other agricultural subsidies and trade restrictions fairly is to do so reciprocally with other nations. The Foxx-Davis-Shaheen-Toomey legislation would unilaterally remove supports for American sugar farmers, opening U.S. markets up to be flooded. This will kill domestic production of sugar, not foster it.

“Fortunately, U.S. Rep. Ted Yoho has introduced zero-for-zero legislation that will end all sugar subsidies contingent on other nations ending theirs, creating a truly free market. Any unilateral attempt to disadvantage American sugar producers is guaranteed to fail as U.S. interests are put second to global sugar subsidizing countries.”

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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If Ukraine reopened Burisma-Bidengate in 2018, how could there be a quid pro quo in July 2019?

Oct. 7, 2019, Fairfax, Va.–Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning issued the following statement on House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry in light of reporting from The Hill in April, months before the July 25 Trump-Zelensky call, saying that both Burisma and former Vice President Joe Biden were already actively under investigation and that they were requesting mutual legal assistance from the U.S.:

“Based on public statements to The Hill in April by then-Ukrainian Prosecutor General Lutsenko and his office that their investigation into Burisma and Joe Biden was reopened in 2018 long before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was ever elected in April 2019, then there could not have been a quid pro quo in the July 25, 2019 conversation between President Donald Trump and Zelensky. Ukraine says it began its investigation in 2018 after Biden bragged to the Council on Foreign Relations in Jan. 2018 that he had Lutsenko’s predecessor fired and wanted Attorney General Barr to look at it. While it is unclear if Biden was bragging or telling the truth, Ukraine’s government well before the Trump-Zelensky call was actively investigating both Burisma and the firing to see if there was any corrupt activity. They were asking for our help, and Zelensky reaffirmed it in his conversation with Trump, asking the U.S. for mutual legal assistance in the investigation.

“Anyone who actually wants to find out what happened in the Trump-Zelensky phone call must put it into this context of the April 2019 reporting from The Hill’s John Solomon, which quotes Lutsenko and his lead prosecutor on the case at the time, as requesting help from Attorney General Barr, and the transcript, which quotes Zelensky specifically requesting assistance. When put into this context, Adam Schiff can come up with as many coached, so-called whistleblowers as he likes, but the facts refute all of them and completely undermines any pretext for Nancy Pelosi’s impeachment. The facts are so obvious that even Sen. Mitt Romney should be able to figure them out.”

Attachments:

“It was Ukraine that reopened the Burisma-Biden probe in 2018 and sought U.S. mutual legal assistance to look at it, not the other way around,” By Robert Romano, Oct. 7, 2019 at http://dailytorch.com/2019/10/it-was-ukraine-that-reopened-the-burisma-biden-probe-in-2018-and-sought-u-s-mutual-legal-assistance-to-look-at-it-not-the-other-way-around/#comment-4643329611

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

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ALG shares Sen. Barrasso’s concerns about new biofuel mandates

Oct. 3, 2019, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement agreeing with Sen. John Barrasso’s (R-Wyo.) concerns about the new biofuel mandates “will do more harm than good”:

“Senator John Barrasso is right to be concerned that the new biofuel mandates issued by the Environmental Protection Agency will do more harm than good.

“Let me be clear.  Anyone who puts E-15 gasoline in their engines is asking for trouble as the higher ethanol content provably harms engines.  Just as troubling is that the increased biofuel mandates continues the Obama administration’s policy of picking energy winners and losers, with the ultimate losers being the American public.  This corn farmer corporate cronyism will have the effect of doing long-term harm to our oil refinery capacity as the administration chose not to cap the costs of artificial credits (RINS) that are created to promote ethanol production.  While the administration did the right thing to exempt 31 small and medium sized refineries from the federal Renewable Fuel Standard mandate, through this EPA action, they have inadvertently undone much of the value of that action.

“Once again, King Corn has flexed their muscle and America will burn corn while many in the world go hungry.  What a shame.”

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

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ALG applauds Sen. Hawley’s effort to protect taxpayers and hold colleges accountable

Oct. 3, 2019, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement regarding Sen. Josh Hawley’s Skin in the Game Act (S. 2124):

“Alarmingly, nearly one-fourth of federal Direct Loan borrowers were delinquent or in default at the end of last year — in spite of the very low unemployment rate. When federal student loans aren’t repaid, the balances just add to the national debt. Fortunately, taxpayers have someone looking out for their interests; this past summer, Sen. Josh Hawley introduced the Skin in the Game Act. This very simple bill would require colleges that participate in the federal Direct Loan Program to pay half of the remaining loan balances when alums default on their student loans. Colleges have done virtually nothing to rein in out-of-control costs, often do too little to ensure students graduate on time, and offer far too many junk degrees that are not worth the cost — all of which contribute to delinquency and defaults. Perhaps this legislation would encourage colleges to finally begin to take the student debt crisis seriously.”

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

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Unemployment rate hits 50-year low at 3.5 percent as 6.1 million jobs created since 2017

Oct. 4, 2019, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement on the latest jobs numbers:

“Almost 1 million more people are employed in the past two months in the household survey, with the unemployment rate now at a 50-year low at 3.5 percent, debunking the political and financial punditry who played Chicken Little just two months ago crying, recession, recession, recession. A total of 6.1 million jobs created since Jan. 2017 when President Trump was sworn in. With more people employed in America than at any time in history, and fewer unemployed at any time since the year 2000, it is no wonder that the Democrats are searching the globe for reasons to stop Donald Trump’s presidency, because America’s economy is strong and they can’t run on issues that affect the well-being of the average American.”

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

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