Trump puts America first with steel and aluminum tariffs

May 31, 2018, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement praising President Donald Trump for extending the steel and aluminum tariffs to Canada, Mexico and Europe:

“A strong American economy benefits the world, and President Trump’s tariff announcement seeks to undo years of steel and aluminum dumping that has degraded our nation’s underlying economic capacity. A vibrant steel and aluminum industry is necessary not only for national defense purposes, but along with energy dominance creates the foundation for a 21st century manufacturing economy. The reason the tariffs make sense is because China has deliberately flooded global markets with steel and aluminum, with much of that excess product finding its way into the U.S. via Mexico, South Korea and the EU.

“Once again, Americans and the world need to understand that China has engaged in wholesale economic warfare against the West, and President Trump is attempting to disrupt what was an inevitable pathway to a Chinese-dominated 21st century economy. Disruption of the status quo is difficult, and people complain because the rules have been changed. The American people elected President Trump to change the rules, to put America first and put the U.S. back on the pathway to worldwide economic leadership.”

Attachments:

“Trump’s steel tariffs protect national security, put end to $8 billion foreign aid to Canada, Mexico, South Korea and Brazil every year,” By Robert Romano, March 6, 2018 at http://dailytorch.com/2018/03/trumps-steel-tariffs-protect-national-security-put-end-8-billion-foreign-aid-canada-mexico-south-korea-brazil-every-year/

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 106 or at media@limitgov.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts.

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CFIUS should block takeover by China of Long Beach port

May 29, 2018, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement urging the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to block a Chinese company from assuming control of the port of Long Beach, Calif.:

“Under no circumstances should CFIUS permit China to take over management or effective control over the port of Long Beach, a critical channel for foreign commerce, but one that must remain under U.S. control. Long Beach serves as the gateway to and from Asia. In order to ensure that our national and economic security needs are met, neither the Chinese government nor its state-run companies should be controlling such critical infrastructure. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) is becoming one of the most important review boards in Congress, because there are increasing numbers of severely damaging attempts to purchase U.S. intellectual property and other national security assets by overseas actors.

“I was born in Long Beach, Calif. I still have relatives who live in Long Beach. And so this hits particularly close to home. But you need not have visited the port to appreciate the magnitude China taking over one of the busiest containers ports in the U.S., and CFIUS needs to just say no to the deal.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 106 or at media@limitgov.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts.

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Trump executive order ends union abuse of official time

May 25, 2018, Fairfax, Va.–Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement praising President Donald Trump for issuing executive orders including one that limits union official time:

“Taxpayers have for too long been subsidizing federal employee unions through the salaries, offices and travel expenses of their employees. President Trump’s executive orders at least partially rectify the situation by limiting how many hours can be spent on union business saving taxpayers $100 million. There is nothing more galling to limited government advocates than public employee unions being largely subsidized by taxpayer dollars while using their dues payments to support politicians in favor of expanding government. If unions want to continue the level of services that they have been presumably been providing their federal public employee union members, they should raise the dues to accommodate those needs. Currently about 27 percent of the federal civilian workforce are members of public employee unions.

“These executive orders should be followed up by a change in federal employee union dues collection whereby federal employees should request dues payments deductions from their paychecks rather than having their dues payments assumed unless they complain.”

Note: Manning was a member of the Trump Labor transition team.

Correction: Currently, about 27 percent of federal workers are unionized. 6.5 percent of private sector workers are unionized. About 10 percent of all workers are unionized.

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 106 or at media@limitgov.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts.

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LA Times and other U.S. news sites banned in Europe. What’s next?

May 25, 2018, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement in response to new European measures, the General Data Protection Regulation, that have resulted in the LA Times and other U.S. news outlets being banned from being viewed by Europeans:

“News that The LA Times and other U.S. news outlets have been blocked from Internet distribution in Europe is shocking and reminds us why Americans invested in Radio Free Europe and other outlets. Of course Radio Free Europe was designed to penetrate the Iron Curtain to give hope to those living under Soviet oppression. It is inconceivable that the European bureaucrats intended to create an information blackout for their citizens. However history proves that truth finds a way to seep into the culture whether government want it to or not.

“European diplomats should called to Foggy Bottom for an emergency meeting and the U.S. should stand firm in demanding respect for all peoples freedom to receive diverse non-government approved information.”

Attachments:

“Europe just took over the Internet with GDPR and the U.S. needs to take it back and review potential trade sanctions,” Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning, statement, May 25, 2018 at https://getliberty.org/2018/05/europe-just-took-over-the-internet-with-gdpr-and-the-u-s-needs-to-take-it-back-and-review-potential-trade-sanctions/

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 106 or at media@limitgov.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts.

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Europe just took over the Internet with GDPR and the U.S. needs to take it back and review potential trade sanctions

May 25, 2018, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement blasting the European Union’s new Internet regulations, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and urging the U.S. to respond with trade sanctions:

“The European Union’s new privacy regulations, GDPR, have gone into effect, forcing U.S.-based companies like Facebook and Twitter to comply with the new draconian anti-free speech scheme. Because the rules, Facebook, Twitter, Apple, and Google all are impacted negatively by compliance issues and have been left scrambling. Tens of millions of users and thousands of smaller companies are affected. Europe’s attempted cyber imperialism is forcing U.S. companies to comply with their rules or be fined tens millions of dollars per violation. This disrupts free markets, free trade and free speech.

“All of the privacy notifications Americans have been receiving, let’s be honest, have nothing to do with the concocted claims against a company known as Cambridge Analytica, which served as a proxy for the destructive impact of the new European regulations. Effectively, Europe’s regulations have broken the world wide web and the U.S. must intervene to protect Americans’ First Amendment rights.

“The first step that should be considered is bringing the DNS function back under U.S. control by renewing the NTIA contract with ICANN, providing that entity with the protection it needs from international pressures brought on the EU regulation. ICANN has been caught in GDPR as well. Next, the Department of Commerce should immediately review whether the GDPR violates trade between the U.S. and EU countries, and take immediate action to pressure the EU to rescind its ill-conceived regulatory takeover of the Internet.

“America’s invention of the Internet has been one of its greatest gifts to the world. The increased democratization of information is directly related to the Internet providing a free flow of information unfettered by government regulation. It is understandable for countries like Iran and China to fear an informed, diverse population. Europe’s 20th cnetury embrace of democratic pluralism is at odds with imposing this sort of group think on its citizens, and America must not stand for it. In short, too many Americans died to keep Europe free to allow pointy headed bureaucrats in Brussels to screw it up.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 106 or at media@limitgov.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts.

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Illegal immigration amnesty discharge petition final test for House leadership

May 24, 2018, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement urging House Republican leadership to stop the discharge petition to bring illegal immigration amnesty to the floor of the House:

“I had always hoped that the Ryan-McCarthy-Scalise House leadership team would do what was right when it came to the handling of the illegal alien issue that played a critical role in defining President Trump’s successful 2016 campaign.

“Unfortunately for the country, the current House leadership is refusing to do what is politically and legislatively necessary to defeat those who would bring amnesty to the floor of the House. By Ryan and McCarthy’s own admission, allowing this discharge petition is the death knell to the Republican majority in November. The fact that they refuse to stop it demonstrates either extraordinary weakness or willful deception about their opposition to the Democrats’ running the table on amnesty.

“I still hold out hope that Kevin McCarthy and Steve Scalise will take the necessary steps to kill the amnesty discharge petition and instead bring the Goodlatte immigration reform bill, and only the Goodlatte bill, to the floor with no amendments for an up or down vote. This is the final test for House leadership.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 106 or at media@limitgov.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts.

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ALG impact: HUD ending local zoning regulations, Qualcomm takeover

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In the first few months of 2018 there were many defining moments, for our country and for Americans for Limited Government.

Because of you, The Department of Housing and Urban Development is ending the federal takeover of local zoning. You’ve directly assisted in restoring federalism from this Obama regulation.

  • Because of your support, Americans for Limited Government led the opposition of the Affirmatively Furthering Fair House (AFFH) with the help of Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) and Senator Mike Lee (R-UT), which prevented federal funds from being used by the federal government to take over local zoning authorities.
  • Americans for Limited Government argued that HUD Secretary Ben Carson’s moratorium on implementation of the AFFH regulation until 2024 would be subject to legal challenge and the best way to protect his efforts was for Congress to assert its Article One spending authority.
  • Congress agreed by asserting its Article One powers of the purse to include prohibitions on implementing the most egregious parts of the regulation in the Omnibus bill in the culmination of nearly four years of consistent effort by Americans for Limited Government to protect local zoning authority from being taken over by the federal government.
  • Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson for just rescinded the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing local zoning assessment tool, and now Americans for Limited Government is pushing for full rescission.

Because of you, America is one step closer to being and staying safe. You played a critical role in alerting President Trump to the takeover that would have crippled our national defense.

  • Americans for Limited Government took aggressive action urging the President to stop the takeover of Qualcomm (a US based company) by a Singapore based company due to both its economic and national security implications.
  • The Trump Administration acted quickly and decisively in heeding ALG’s warnings and successfully prevented the hostile corporate takeover which would have had disastrous national consequences.

Because of you, we are actively working toward an America with limited government to maximize your individual freedoms.

Transportation Secretary Elaine L. Chao praised for efforts to create rational CAFE standards

May 23, 2018, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement praising Transportation Secretary Elaine L. Chao for starting the process of revising the Obama Corporate Average Fuel Economy Standard (CAFE) standards for automobiles:

“The Obama administration attempted to utilize CAFE standards to transform America and to force us into tiny cars or expensive electric vehicles. Disturbingly, not even the tiny golf-cart-like cars meet the 2025 Obama fleet average mandates. While 2025 may seem a long way away, automobile makers have 3-to-7-year development timelines, and failure to act now could cripple this important industry as they sought to meet standards that are not technologically feasible. Secretary Chao through her efforts is recognizing consumer choice and revisiting the societal changes Obama was attempting to force. Her efforts are both courageous and wise.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 106 or at media@limitgov.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts.

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ALG urges passage of Amodei amendment to NDAA on rare earth minerals and metals

May 23, 2018, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today urged passage of an amendment by U.S. Rep. Mark Amodei (R-Nev.) to the NDAA supporting rare earth minerals and metals:

“The development of rare earth metals is critical to the national security of the United States and being competitive in the 21st century economy. Rep. Amodei’s amendment is a great step forward in meeting our nation’s needs for rare earth metals, and we strongly urge passage.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 106 or at media@limitgov.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts.

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HUD praised for rescinding local zoning assessment tool

May 21, 2018, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government Rick Manning today issued the following statement praising Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson for rescinding the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing local zoning assessment tool:

“The HUD decision to rescind the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing local zoning assessment tool is the first necessary step in fully undoing this draconian federal government takeover of local zoning prerogatives. HUD Secretary Ben Carson deserves praise from every American who believes in the basic concept of federalism by enacting this initial step to unwind the Obama zoning regulation. Congress also deserves praise for their decision in the much-maligned omnibus spending bill to defund key components of the AFFH regulation to do with zoning, insulating the Department from nuisance lawsuits intent on continuing the Obama administration’s priorities regardless of the 2016 election results.”

Attachments:

“Lawsuit can’t compel HUD Secretary Ben Carson to implement the Obama HUD racial and income zoning reg because Congress prohibited it,” By Robert Romano, May 9, 2018 at http://dailytorch.com/2018/05/lawsuit-cant-compel-hud-secretary-ben-carson-to-implement-the-obama-hud-racial-and-income-zoning-reg-because-congress-prohibited-it/

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 106 or at media@limitgov.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts.

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