March 5, 2019, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement urging President Donald Trump to veto a resolution blocking his emergency declaration on the southern border:

“The Senate vote on a resolution blocking President Trump’s emergency declaration on the border is little more than a show vote. President Trump should immediately veto the legislation knowing that it will be sustained in both houses. The President has absolute constitutional authority to protect our nation’s borders, and if that’s not enough Congress has delegated additional limited authority to the executive branch that clearly supports his emergency order. If Congress wants to rescind powers that it gave decades ago they should pass separate legislation doing that. It is time for both the Republicans and the Democrats in Congress to come to grips with the fact that Donald Trump is President and stop trying to create a different set of rules for the Trump presidency than have been applied to any other chief executive prior to his tenure.”

Attachments:

“If Congressional GOP votes to overturn national emergency declaration to build wall, they will prove President Trump is right about the swamp,” By Robert Romano at March 5, 2019 at http://dailytorch.com/2019/02/if-congressional-gop-votes-to-overturn-national-emergency-declaration-to-build-wall-they-will-prove-president-trump-is-right-about-the-swamp/

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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March 5, 2019, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement in response to the 81 letters sent to witnesses from the House Judiciary Committee demanding testimony in its investigation of President Donald Trump:

“House Democrats’ subpoenapalooza demonstrates how desperate they are to avoid talking about the Green New Deal that destroys every semblance of individual liberty, the murdering of newly born children and the crimes of FISAgate. Besides they have to provide a reason for billionaire Tom Steyer to keep pumping millions of dollars into their reelection campaigns.”

Attachments:

“House Democrats declare Trump obstructed justice but admit ‘we do not now have the evidence’ to impeach,” By Robert Romano, March 5, 2019 at http://dailytorch.com/2019/03/house-democrats-declare-trump-obstructed-justice-but-admit-we-do-not-now-have-the-evidence-to-impeach/

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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March 4, 2019, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government was joined by nine major energy and limited government leaders in urging the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to “engage in comprehensive (Public Utilities Regulatory Policy Act) PURPA reform” in a jointly signed letter released today.

The letter explains that “In the wake of a national energy crisis, PURPA was signed into law in 1978 to encourage, among other things, more renewable energy, at ‘equitable retail rates for electric consumers.’ But over four decades since PURPA’s passage, the nation’s energy landscape has changed profoundly, including the development of regional, wholesale, competitive electricity markets, and the fact that the U.S. has reduced oil-fired electric generation, the central motivation behind PURPA, to just 1 percent of all generation in 2015, down from 16.5 percent in 1978.  Yet in the face of this, PURPA’s stale, static federal mandates remain in place, distorting markets and harming consumers.”

Now more than forty years later, it is time for the type of comprehensive reform which reflects modern energy and economic realities, including the emergence of renewable energy sources, the domestic energy production renaissance which has made America the “Saudi Arabia” of natural gas production and a net energy exporter.

FERC is the federal agency responsible for overseeing PURPA, and the letter expresses the signators’ encouragement by “FERC Chairman (Neil) Chatterjee’s statement that aligning PURPA with our modern energy landscape is one of FERC’s 2019 areas of focus.”

The letter was signed by Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning, American Energy Alliance President Tom Pyle, Council on National Policy Executive Director and former U.S. Rep. Bob McEwen, Frontiers of Freedom President George Landrith, Council for Citizens Against Government Waste President Tom Schatz, Competitive for Enterprise Institute Center for Energy and Environment Director Myron Ebell, former Assistant Secretary of Interior Becky Norton Dunlop, Constitutional Congress, Inc. Chairman Ken Blackwell, Heartland Institute President & CEO Tim Huelskamp, and Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council President & CEO Karen Kerrigan and was sent to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on March 4, 2019.

Attachments:

Letter to FERC urging PURPA reform, March 4, 2019 at https://getliberty.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/PURPA-Letter-3-4-19.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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Feb. 28, 2019, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement on the latest GDP numbers:

“America in 2018 enjoyed the strongest economy since 2005, with 2.9 percent growth, validating President Donald Trump’s three-pronged economic policy. Cutting taxes, cutting regulations and cutting out bad trade deals have proven to be the magic wand that is creating unprecedented job growth at what is typically the end of a positive business cycle. President Obama’s tax, regulatory and trade policies strangled America’s economy that is now just being unleashed. Today’s GDP growth number gives hope that the best is yet to come.”

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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Feb. 22, 2019, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement urging the Department of Transportation to stop funding a higher-speed rail project in Florida from Orlando to Miami:

“The Department of Transportation needs to stop throwing good money after bad on the Green New Deal pipe dream of high-speed rail. It didn’t work in California, it didn’t work anywhere else and it won’t work in Florida either.

“Virgin Trains USA (formerly Brightline) has already received a tax-free $600 million private activity bond from the Department of Transportation for a rail project in Florida that was used to pay off millions of corporate debt at a high interest rate. In addition, it has been approved by the department for another $1.15 billion in bonds that have yet to be issued. It has another application at the department for a $3.7 billion Railroad Rehabilitation & Improvement Financing low-cost loan. It’s IPO was cancelled after receiving poor press and the company lost $87 million in the first nine months of 2018. And now, to add insult to injury it is coming back to the department for another bond for $950 million. These are the largest allocations in either program’s history, and combined would add up to $6.4 billion.”

Attachments:

“Dems go off the rails in Green New Deal, two high-speed rail projects maimed after botched rollout,” By Robert Romano, Feb. 13, 2019 at http://dailytorch.com/2019/02/dems-go-off-the-rails-in-green-new-deal-two-high-speed-rail-projects-maimed-after-botched-rollout/

“Trump admin. should reject $3.7 billion loan to Japanese-owned company for Florida higher-speed rail project operating on Mexican company-owned line,” By Robert Romano, Feb. 8, 2019 at http://dailytorch.com/2019/02/trump-admin-should-reject-3-7-billion-loan-to-japanese-owned-company-for-florida-higher-speed-rail-project-operating-on-mexican-company-owned-line/

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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Feb. 21, 2019, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement in response to a court settlement between the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and New York City after the city defrauded the federal government out of millions of dollars in false damage claims after Hurricane Sandy:

“It is reprehensible that New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio’s administration scammed FEMA out of more than $4 million in false damages that did not occur in Hurricane Sandy. If a private citizen attempted to this scam though false claims, they would be in jail. Attorney General William Barr needs to press the U.S. Attorney’s office in New York to pursue criminal charges against those responsible. A fine paid for by New York City taxpayers does nothing to discourage future theft by the De Blasio government. A jail sentence for the perpetrators will.”

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 calls for complete review of transportation spending on Obama’s ill-conceived high speed rail agenda

Feb. 20, 2019, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement praising Department of Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao for terminating federal funds for California’s cancelled high speed rail project from L.A. to San Francisco:

“Transportation Secretary Chao is absolutely right to terminate $929 million of grants that were set to go for California’s now-cancelled, ill-conceived high speed rail project from L.A. to San Francisco. In addition, for seeking a refund for the squandered $2.5 billion that had already been received. The federal government needs to take a hard look at the entirety of Obama’s high speed rail spending spree and immediately move to make similar cuts rather than continuing to pursue doomed projects that will be nothing more than taxpayer money pits, often times benefitting foreign companies.”

Attachments:

“Dems go off the rails in Green New Deal, two high-speed rail projects maimed after botched rollout,” By Robert Romano, Feb. 13, 2019 at http://dailytorch.com/2019/02/dems-go-off-the-rails-in-green-new-deal-two-high-speed-rail-projects-maimed-after-botched-rollout/

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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Feb. 13, 2019, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement urging President Donald Trump to insist on a 14-day continuing resolution while the details of the omnibus spending bill are reviewed:

“The devil is in the details, and this is particularly true when discussing 1,000-page bills that may have poison pills in them which could put the President in jeopardy should he seek to exercise his executive authority to move funds for additional ICE detention beds, or seek to build additional steel barriers along the southern border utilizing other funding streams. A single, unnoticed line in a thousand-page bill can be the catalyst for future legal problems and as a result, the President and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell should push and get a 14-day funding bill to allow the behind closed border deal to receive full scrutiny.

“A 14-day continuing resolution would allow the House to go on their scheduled district work period and return to D.C. with a full week to work through amendments that will be needed by the Senate and White House to get the bill passed and signed into law.

“In politics trust is everything.  This President has no reason to trust that Speaker Pelosi did not insert trap language into the bill, and he would be wise to verify that the proposed legislation is free from language that would prevent meaningful action to address the crisis at the border.  While everyone would like to see this drama finally come to an end, it is better to get it right than to regret signing the bill later.”

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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Feb. 12, 2019, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Richard Manning today in a letter urged the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology to support to the merger of Sprint and T-Mobile calling it a “boon to the economy” ahead of a Feb. 13 hearing on the merger.

Manning recognized the importance of increased competition in the United States for the delivery of the Internet of Things, noting that a combined Sprint-T-Mobile will increase competition as their combined spectrum bandwidth will allow them to compete against Verizon and AT&T in the 5G market, rapidly increasing the implementation of the Internet of Things nationwide, including in traditionally underserved rural areas.

In the letter Manning wrote, “T-Mobile and Sprint together is a part of how the U.S. is going to lead the world into the 5G future, making the Internet of Things, smart cities, driverless vehicles and robots all possible by combining each company’s spectrum assets. 5G is an area where more competition is urgently needed, and together T-Mobile and Sprint will help the U.S. realize its 5G potential — and all that it means for the future.”

Attachments:

Letter to the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, Feb. 12, 2019 at https://getliberty.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/HouseCommerceLetter-Sprint-T-Mobile-2-12-19.pdf

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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Feb. 6, 2019, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement urging the Federal Trade Commission to immediately settle a lawsuit against Qualcomm over the collection of agreed upon fees for use of its intellectual property:

“It is ironic that the Trump Administration has staked out the protection of intellectual property as a primary concern in our trade relations with China, yet, the Federal Trade Commission is suing San Diego based Qualcomm to break its licensing agreements for intellectual property that Apple has tired of paying for, even though they continue to benefit from that technology.  It is shocking however, that the FTC has used the Chinese megafirm Huawei as one of its key witnesses opposing Qualcomm’s licenses.  Apparently, the FTC does not realize or care that the licensing agreements for past technological innovations are what pays for Qualcomm’s research in creating the chips for the 5G future, and that Huawei is their number one competitor.  The FTC suit would effectively cripple the only U.S. company who is competing in developing the Internet of Things to the lasting detriment of the interests of the United States.

“While the FTC is an independent government body, their case is a disaster for American interests and they need to settle it now before more harm is done.  Policy makers from across the political spectrum need to understand that the race for the future of the connected world is at stake and Chinese control of every aspect of the Internet of Things is extremely dangerous.  All Qualcomm seems to be asking is that they be allowed to collect fees which were agreed upon by business partners which wanted to use innovations which they developed.  This is the essence of intellectual property. It is also how U.S. businesses should run, relying upon their own ingenuity and productivity to profit rather than relying upon government handouts and lawfare.

“The FTC is reportedly in long overdue settlement talks with Qualcomm.  The FTC should settle this lawsuit immediately and end its attack on the only company positioned to prevent the Chinese from running roughshod over the Internet of the future.”

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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