Sept. 27, 2018, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning sent a letter to the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Sept. 24 to investigate Comcast to review the outcomes that have followed the Comcast-NBC merger. Here follows some excerpts:

“Comcast/NBCU merger remains far more dangerous to Comcast’s distribution rivals than the AT&T/Time Warner combination is to AT&T’s distribution… Comcast/NBCU programming is significantly more important to consumers than is Time Warner’s programming. While the national programming of both cable distributors may be similar, Comcast/NBCU owns many widely considered “must-have” television broadcast stations and regional sports networks (RSNs). Time Warner, by contrast, owns no broadcast stations or RSNs. In the markets where Comcast owns these local stations and RSNs, Comcast’s market share is on average greater than 50%, compared to AT&T/Time Warner national market share which is about 25%. Comcast would profit much more from acquiring a rival’s subscriber than AT&T/Time Warner because Comcast can sell all new customers video and wireline broadband. AT&T/Time Warner only has that capability in limited areas…

“[I]t is imperative these issues are not only raised at your upcoming hearing, but discussed at length in order to open an investigation into the past practices and future operation of Comcast/NBCU. Then, upon reviewing the findings of such an investigation, conditions should be put in place that will enforce anti-competitive rules and regulations. At the very least, to protect consumers and rivals, Comcast/NBCU should be subjected to the same arbitration commitment as AT&T/Time Warner.”

Attachments:

Full Letter to House Energy and Commerce Committee, Sept. 27, 2018 at https://getliberty.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/HouseEnergyAndCommerceLetter-Comcast-9-24-18.pdf

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

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Sept. 26, 2018, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement urging President Donald Trump to veto the cromnibus spending bill:

“President Trump should veto the Congressional spending plan that breaks the budget while not funding many of his top priorities including the wall. The President vowed when he signed the last budget-busting appropriations bill that he would never do it again. The so-called cromnibus funds approximately 90 percent of the discretionary budget of the government, deliberately denying the President the ability to veto individual appropriations bills that fall short of his vision. Perhaps the most incredible aspect of the funding bill is that it was written with the objective of allowing the Senate minority to have a virtual veto over the President’s and presumably the Republican Congress’ priorities. As a result, passage of this bill will effectively fund year 11 of the Obama administration.”

Attachments:

“Congress deferring to another continuing resolution for end of fiscal year—again,” By Robert Romano, Sept. 26, 2018 at http://dailytorch.com/2018/09/congress-deferring-to-another-continuing-resolution-for-end-of-fiscal-year-again/

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

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Sept. 24, 2018, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement reacting to the removal of DOJ employee Allison Hrabar after she used federal government resources to target political opponents:

“Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ rapid response to the revelation that DOJ employee Allison Hrabar was abusing government resources to further her political objectives demonstrates that the system can work. There is simply no excuse for allowing anyone to abuse the civil service system with the arrogant expectation that they cannot be fired. While Allison Hrabar is a small fish in the swamp, her rapid removal from employment sends a clear, unambiguous message to her colleagues that this type of abuse will no longer be tolerated. The Attorney General has been under constant pressure to clean the mess at DOJ largely due to civil service laws that block action. Hrabar’s case was so extreme that the archaic laws could not protect her. However, in order to root out bad actors who are abusing the government trust as well as those who are lazy and incompetent, Congress needs to take action now and pass the MERIT Act.”

Attachments:

ALG President Rick Manning quoted in Project Veritas video advocating, “Not only can she be fired, but she should be fired!” Sept. 19, 2018 at https://www.projectveritas.com/2018/09/19/breaking-deep-state-unmasked-doj-official-resists-from-inside-cant-get-fired-leaks-at-hhs/

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

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Sept. 24, 2018, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement reacting to the resignation of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein reported by Axios.com:

“Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein was right to resign. The confirmed reports that he jokingly or not advocated wearing wires to the White House in an attempt to entrap President Donald Trump destroys his capacity to perform his duties. The most disappointing aspect of this resignation is that Rosenstein did not submit it 18 months ago when he contemplated a direct attempt to subvert the Trump presidency. Given the sunlight placed on Rosenstein’s opposition to the Trump presidency, one wonders why he accepted the appointment to serve in the Trump administration in the first place.

“Rosenstein’s resignation is a fitting ending to his odd tenure at the Justice Department under President Trump. It was Rosenstein who recommended firing James Comey and then 10 days later appointed a special counsel to get to the bottom of the firing of James Comey. It was Rosenstein who continually blocked any transparency related to the DOJ efforts during the 2016 election and after Trump was sworn in to undermine the President through the false Russia collusion claims. And it was Rosenstein who participated in perpetuating the Russia witch hunt through his signature on a FISA warrant that he had to know was based on universally accepted to be false information.

“Rosenstein’s resignation will hopefully mean that the Justice Department is starting to get this sordid tale of political obstruction into the rear-view mirror and it is to be hoped that the American people will soon receive a full, open accounting of the actions taken at DOJ designed to undermine the duly elected President of the United States.

“This combined with the lesser news that Allison Hrabar, a DOJ paralegal, who was exposed by James O’Keefe using government resources to target political opponents, furthering her radical political beliefs, gives hope that the #NeverTrump cabal within DOJ is finally being broken up.”

Attachments:

“Is the Mueller special counsel probe all about protecting Rod Rosenstein’s reputation?” By Robert Romano, Sept. 24, 2018 at http://dailytorch.com/2018/09/is-the-mueller-special-counsel-probe-all-about-protecting-rod-rosensteins-reputation/

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

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Sept. 21, 2018, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement calling for the resignation of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein after the New York Times broke news that he suggested wearing a wire to the White House to record President Donald Trump:

“It is deeply troubling that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein reportedly proposed that he wear a wire to the White House to entrap President Donald Trump in the wake of the James Comey firing on Rosenstein’s recommendation. It is further reported that Rosenstein suggested that others with access to the President similarly wear a wire and that Cabinet officials be organized to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove President Trump from office. Rosenstein’s denial where he states ‘Based on my personal dealings with the president, there is no basis to invoke the 25th Amendment’ rings hollow as it fails address to real accusations leveled against him. It doesn’t matter what Rosenstein’s opinion is today, what matters is if he was engaged and actively leading a legal coup to take down the President of the United States in the early days of the Trump presidency.

“Given that Rosenstein named Special Counsel Robert Mueller in the almost immediate wake of the Comey firing there is ample reason to believe that Rosenstein was determined to take down the President. Subsequent calls for Rosenstein to rein in Mueller’s wide-ranging investigation have been met with defiance. He renewed the Carter Page FISA warrant in June 2017 based on the Christopher Steele dossier even though at that point Comey had already testified that it was ‘unverified.’  It is clear that Rod Rosenstein has sought from the outset of his tenure as Deputy Attorney General to cripple and end the Trump presidency. If he has a shred of honor he will resign. If he doesn’t he should be fired.”

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

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Sept. 19, 2018, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today in a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions urged him to take immediate action to fire Justice Department  employee Allison Hrabar after being exposed in a Project Veritas video using government resources to target political opponents:

“Allison Hrabar is a paralegal at the Justice Department who has been exposed in an undercover Project Veritas video using government resources to research and target political opponents for protests at their homes. This video demands swift action by the Justice Department to send a clear message that this will not be tolerated by any employee at the department. This must never be allowed to happen again.”

Attachments:

Letter to U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Sept. 19, 2018 at https://getliberty.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Project-Veritas-Hrabar-Letter-Sessions-9-19-18.pdf

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

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Sept. 19, 2018, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement in response to the latest videos by Project Veritas showing federal government employees abusing government resources to target political opponents:

“The Project Veritas videos show clear corruption within the federal civil service. There is a real unethical core of people who are determined to abuse their standing as federal civil servants in order to achieve a political agenda, whether that’s slow-walking Trump administration policies or actually using government resources for political ends. Allison Hrabar at the Justice Department is a low-level Lois Lerner who used government resources to research and target political opponents for protests at their homes and is featured in the latest video. The videos prove that the civil service system is broken and it needs to be fixed.

“Former President Barack Obama broke it when he changed the rules expediting the hiring people into the civil service in 2010, making it harder to vet candidates as the system was flooded and likely enabled people to be hired by political appointees based on resumes not going through the normal process. In addition, federal agencies abused the conversion system to make political appointees permanent in the administrative state in defiance of federal law’s requirement that hires be based on merit system principles.

“Since then, we have seen an influx of people willing to abuse their authority to achieve political outcomes that the people of America did not vote for, against the consent of the governed. The videos prove that it is time for Congress to support the MERIT Act so these federal employees who are abusing their authority who are refusing to do their jobs, who are resisting in place, can be fired in a more expeditious manner. You cannot drain the swamp unless you can fire the swamp.”

Attachments:

“O’Keefe Video Reveals the Only Way to Drain the Swamp Is to Fire the Swamp,” By Rick Manning, Sept. 19, 2018 at https://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2018/09/18/rick-manning-okeefe-video-reveals-the-only-way-to-drain-the-swamp-is-to-fire-the-swamp/

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

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Sept. 11, 2018, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement in response to the latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey:

“It has been more than 17 years since Americans felt as comfortable about their ability to find their next job as they do today, and that is the great news from today’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover report from the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“Ultimately freedom in the workforce is the ability to go all Johnny Paycheck on a bad employer and quit, or from a more high-minded perspective have the job future certainty to pursue your dream in another field. When people feel secure and confident, they feel comfortable pursuing other opportunities and the just released July report shows that Americans are embracing this freedom at a greater rate than at any time since just after the original 9/11 attack.

“This is just one more confirmation that America is coming back and that the President’s policies of lower taxes and regulation combined with putting America first when it comes to international trade deals is reinvigorating our nation’s winning spirit household by household.”

Attachments:

“Take This Job and Shove It,” By Johnny Paycheck, 1977 at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPrSVkTRb24

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

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Sept. 11, 2018, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement praising Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue and President Donald Trump for pushing for work requirements in the farm bill:

“President Donald Trump is right in calling for the inclusion of work requirements for the 20.2 million households participating in the food stamp (SNAP) program within the pending Farm Bill. While many of these SNAP recipients are currently working, jobs are plentiful for those who remain on the sidelines.  The latest U.S. Labor Department Job Openings and Labor Turnover survey reports that there are 6.9 million jobs open and available with only 6.2 million unemployed Americans to fill them. Unfortunately, too many Americans remain on the job market sidelines. According to historical data, there are approximately 6.5 million fewer Americans ages 16-64 years in the workforce than would be expected if labor participation were the same as it was twenty years ago.  SNAP work requirements would incentivize those who need a little extra help to provide for their families to rejoin the workforce and benefit not just from the helping hand of food assistance but also from gaining the dignity of a job and beginning to provide for themselves.

“The Trump economy is booming, but it can only continue to thrive if those who were left behind by past administration’s policies are brought back into the economy. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue’s efforts to include work requirements into the Farm Bill should be applauded by every American who wants to see our nation continue to restore our economic vibrancy and for it to include all Americans. Secretary Perdue also deserves praise for leading this reform effort as those who are encouraged to re-enter the workforce and get a job will regain the hope of an independent future. Now Congress needs to act by including work requirements in the pending farm bill. The time is right, the national need is there. Let’s restore dignity to those who are giving a helping hand.”

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

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