Aug. 29, 2019, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement reacting to the Justice Department OIG report on James Comey’s unauthorized disclosure of classified information:

“Edward Snowden and James Comey’s excuse for the unauthorized disclosure of classified information is that they love their country. Whereas Snowden had to flee to Russia to escape the FBI that Comey was to lead in just a few short months, Comey for his part is demanding an apology from all those who had the audacity to report exactly what he did. If there was any justice, Snowden would have a law professorship at William and Mary teaching ethics and Comey would be wearing orange. Hopefully, Attorney General William Barr will ensure that the faith of the American people in equal justice under the law will be restored by handling this matter like they would any other low-level FBI or government employee or contractor. Comey is not too big to jail.”

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

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Aug. 29, 2019, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement urging the Trump administration to end California’s waiver on fuel economy standards:

“The state of California has for too long been provided special treatment on setting fuel economy standards for the nation’s automobiles. These waivers have allowed California to have almost a coercive impact on the vehicles available in the rest of the United States and it’s time for that to end. The Trump administration has wisely put the Obama era demand that manufacturers produce expensive and less safe vehicles on hold. Ironically, many vehicle manufacturers are currently failing to meet the existing standard, let alone one that would require an almost complete retooling of the autos which would be available for purchase. Next week, four car manufacturers will be meeting with California officials to agree on continuing to pursue the Obama CAFE timeline. That is their prerogative. However, the rest of the nation should not be saddled with the less safe and more costly vehicles that will result. While some companies like Volkswagen are busily green-washing their horrific environmental records, the Trump administration’s common sense proposed regulation focuses on consumer needs for safe and affordable vehicles.”

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

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Aug. 27, 2019, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement blasting former New York Federal Reserve President Bill Dudley’s urging that “Fed officials should consider how their decisions will affect the political outcome in 2020”:

“The myth of the Federal Reserve’s political neutrality has been busted by former New York Federal Reserve President Bill Dudley’s non-plussed urging of the Fed to take 2020 political calculations into account when setting monetary policy in order to defeat President Trump in the election. Now that the illusion of a politically neutral Fed has been annihilated, President Trump’s recent focus on the failure of the central bank to take into account competitive devaluations by China and Europe to boost exports, and of exchange rates is vindicated. The audacity the non-elected central bank seeking to impact election outcomes and fiscal policies is only exceeded by the 2016 attempt of the nation’s intelligence agencies and Justice Department to stop the election of Trump and their subsequent efforts to unseat him. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell needs to denounce Dudley’s remarks immediately and forcefully if the central bank is to retain any shred of credibility.”

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

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Aug. 27, 2019, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning, who served as a member of the Donald Trump Labor Department transition team and as member of the George W. Bush administration Labor Department, issued the following statement in support of President Donald Trump’s nomination for the Secretary of Labor, Eugene Scalia:

“Eugene Scalia will be a great Secretary of Labor in the Trump administration. His extraordinary background in employment law, experience in the George W. Bush administration and general temperament will serve the President well as he continues his quest to boost labor participation and enhance employment opportunities among working aged adults across our nation. The Senate should move rapidly to confirm Mr. Scalia’s nomination.”

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

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Aug. 23, 2019, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement praising President Donald Trump’s implementation of tariffs and sanctions on China:

“President Trump attempted to take his foot off the accelerator on the Chinese tariffs by delaying the 10 percent tariffs on the remaining $300 billion of goods until December to give negotiators more time to make a deal. Unfortunately, promises by Chinese President Xi to stem the illegal fentanyl trade were broken, resulting in sanctions from Trump and the U.S. Treasury Department on Aug. 21. Xi’s response was to raise tariffs on the U.S. on $75 billion of goods including U.S. agriculture and oil, which were then forcefully and rightfully met by Trump with tariff increases for their exports to the U.S.

“Chinese and U.S. negotiators are scheduled to meet next week and President Trump will be meeting with other leaders at the G7 about China. Hopefully they will find a basic common ground that accomplishes three things: ending China’s opium war against the U.S. using fentanyl, protecting intellectual property and ending competitive currency devaluations by China. In the past, Chinese and U.S. negotiators have agreed on all three of these points. Let’s hope Beijing will finally sign off so the world can begin to embrace fair and reciprocal free trade and the scourge of fentanyl can be shelved forever, saving tens of thousands American lives every year.”

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

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Aug. 23, 2019, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement praising the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals for granting a partial stay of an injunction in the Qualcomm-Federal Trade Commission case:

“Sanity has been restored by the Ninth Circuit through their granting of a partial stay of an injunction by a local northern California federal judge who sought to dismantle a patent licensing model that is the basis of intellectual property protection.  The short-term ramifications are that San Diego-based Qualcomm will be able to depend upon jointly negotiated revenue streams from companies that utilize their chips and technology, as they develop the Internet of the future through their 5G chip.  It would have been disastrous for our nation if the ramifications of a local Obama judge’s ruling had been left intact before Qualcomm was able to exercise their appeal rights.  On a day when rhetoric between the Chinese and U.S. government’s have ratcheted up, it is clear for anyone to see that our nation and indeed the world cannot find itself at the mercy of an Internet that runs on manipulatable software and hardware provided by Chinese Red Army proxies like Huawei.

“Thank goodness that the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals put both our national and the world’s interests ahead of a local federal judge’s desire to destroy the intellectual property licensing system which provides the private research capital to develop future technologies.”

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

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Aug. 22, 2019, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement in response to alarmist reporting from Marketwatch and the Drudge Report implying the economy lost 500,000 jobs last year:

“The unemployment data we get every month is based on two surveys, one of households and the other of businesses, to determine who is working and where they are working. As part of those surveys, the Bureau of Labor Statistics annually revises their datasets based on more complete information that comes in later. This is a part of the normal comings and goings of the agency, and it is irresponsible for Marketwatch and Drudge to ring alarm bells when they should know better. These survey revisions do not change whether people have jobs or where they have jobs in the aggregate, it changes the assumptions that are made in the survey, and they certainly do not show job losses.

“It is normal for the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ to revise the benchmarks for the non-seasonally adjusted establishment employment survey, modifying the assumed population levels from the initial survey, which then gets finalized the following year and the data smoothed out across the dataset into its reported seasonally adjusted form. For example, for the March 2018 revision, the preliminary estimate showed the establishment survey had 43,000 more jobs than initially reported, but by the time the survey was finalized, it ended up showing 16,000 fewer jobs than initially reported.

“The worst scenario from these standard revisions, assuming the preliminary estimate holds, would be to simply bring the establishment survey more in line with the household survey, both which are really, really good, showing the Trump economy has produced about 5.2 million jobs since Jan. 2017 instead of the 5.7 million initially reported in the establishment survey. Instead of producing 223,000 jobs a month in 2018, it might have instead produced 185,000, but we’ll find out for sure in February when the final number is posted. That doesn’t mean we lost any jobs and Marketwatch and Drudge’s click-bait headlines to the contrary do their readers’ a disservice.

“In fact, 2018 produced the strongest economic growth reported since 2005, and unemployment seen during the Trump administration is the lowest it has been in the past 50 years.”

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

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