July 19, 2018, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement in response to the statement by the Russian ambassador to Iran, Levan Dzhagaryan, that, “Sometimes conflicts do arise, and we are naturally concerned about the possibility of military confrontation between the Iranian and Israeli forces in Syria. We do everything possible to prevent it. To prevent the escalation of the conflict”:

“Iran’s designs to put troops on the Israeli border in Syria is the number one flashpoint in this very volatile region, and the President’s determination to not let other matters submarine the opportunity to engage with Russia to make sure it doesn’t happen, in the process actively deescalating tensions, vindicates the entire Helsinki summit.  The Russian ambassador to Iran’s statement that Russia will do everything possible to prevent military confrontation between Israel and Iran in Syria is a real indication that the Trump-Putin agreement to the security of Israel’s borders was very real. The Helsinki summit is already paying off.

“This is merely the first step but it is a positive step in the right direction to deescalating tensions in the region, which is in everyone’s interests. Israel had already requested Russia help keep Iran off of Israel’s borders, and with Trump’s support, now it looks like a real possibility. The President should keep the dialogue going and continue work to avert a wider war.

“Thanks to President Trump’s diplomacy, working with our Israeli allies, and approaching Russia, he is succeeding in deescalating tensions and preventing a regional war in the Middle East. All thanks to his urgent consultations with Putin at the Helsinki summit, where his critics would have had the President simply cancel for no real reason. The President is showing real leadership. He doesn’t have the luxury for Monday morning quarterbacking, he’s got to make the call. Here, he made the right call.”

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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July 19, 2018, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement urging House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to get legislation by U.S. Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.), H.R. 559, the MERIT Act, on the floor of the House for a vote before members go on summer vacation:

“House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy has been a strong supporter of the MERIT Act. Now he needs to use his position as majority leader to get a vote on the floor of the House before the lower body goes on summer August recess. This should be an easy vote, whereby Congress will give the same powers that the Secretary of Veterans Affairs has already been granted by Congress on a bipartisan basis to fire federal employees on an expedited basis who are either not performing or who engaged in misconduct. That is something that resonates with the American people who see unaccountable, rogue government bureaucrats and agents undermining the President on a daily basis, and is something members should be able to say they did when they go home to campaign.

“Most importantly, this is not just a show-vote, but instead the Senate Democrats have already voted in sufficient numbers to pass similar language just last year, so it is passable, common-sense legislation.  But if the Majority Leader fails to get it to the floor and passed before recess, the chances for Senate action diminishes as their calendar gets consumed by the Kavanaugh Supreme Court nomination.  The MERIT Act matters, it has enjoyed bipartisan support, and now the House needs to do their job and get it through to the Senate before they hit the beach for August.”

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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July 18, 2018, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement in support of an amendment by U.S. Rep. Gary Palmer (R-Ala.) to H.R. 6147 that would prohibit the use of funds by the government of Washington, D.C. to institute an individual mandate to purchase health insurance for D.C. residents:

“In June, the D.C. government instituted an individual mandate to purchase health insurance for D.C. residents in defiance of the new tax law that ended the individual mandate. Considering Congress explicitly ended this practice already, D.C. has absolutely no authority to compel individuals to purchase insurance, something the House can clarify today by passing U.S. Rep. Gary Palmer’s amendment. The D.C. government operates under Article I of the Constitution, and it is up to Congress to ensure that it is carrying out the laws of the United States. We support the Palmer amendment and so should every member of Congress.”

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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July 17, 2018, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement praising the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee for passing the MERIT Act, and urged the full House to act on the legislation immediately:

“Now is the time for House Republicans to come together on this common-sense reform, making it easier to fire federal employees, legislation that Congress has already passed for the Department of Veterans Affairs with significant bipartisan support. Right now, it can take years to fire federal workers who are either non-performing or engaged in misconduct, as only 0.5 percent of federal employees are fired with cause. The MERIT Act addresses this inefficiency and gives more power to the heads of departments and agencies to ensure that the government is doing its job on behalf of the American people.”

Attachments:

“Job Security: Federal civil service employees have a 99.5 percent chance of never being fired,” By Natalia Castro, May 14, 2018 at http://dailytorch.com/2018/05/job-security-federal-civil-service-employees-have-a-99-5-percent-chance-of-never-being-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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July 16, 2018, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement in response to the Helsinki summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin:

“The Trump-Putin summit will enrage the #NeverTrump minority in our nation as it reconfirms the President’s firm commitment to America’s interests in confronting world leaders. Trump was very presidential at the summit. Perhaps out of the many topics of discussion, the most significant may have been the reaffirmation by President Putin of Israel’s security. This matters because Iran has designs on placing troops on the Syrian-Israeli border, an action that the U.S. and Russia can prevent. Iran’s attempt to establish Middle East hegemony is counter to the interests of both the U.S. and Russia and the continued dialogue between the nation’s two leaders is necessary to prevent the fuse being lit on the Middle East powder keg.”

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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July 12, 2018, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement praising Attorney General Jeff Sessions for appealing a judge’s ruling approving the AT&T-Time Warner merger:

“Mass media consolidation via vertical integration that we are seeing in mergers like the AT&T-Time Warner merger, and Comcast-NBC before it, poses a grave threat to the freedom of information for all Americans and could one day create the conditions for one-party rule. What we’re talking about here is consolidation of control over both content and distribution, an alarming trend that will leave Americans with fewer choices and less access to alternative media. That is why Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ decision to appeal the ruling in the AT&T-Time Warner case is so important to protect every American’s right to the free flow of information. It puts America first. The Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division should take this one all the way to the Supreme Court if that’s what it takes.”

Attachments:

“After AT&T-Time Warner merger approved, mass media consolidation could lead the way to one-party rule in the U.S.,” July 12, 2018 at http://dailytorch.com/2018/06/after-att-time-warner-merger-approved-mass-media-consolidation-could-lead-the-way-to-one-party-rule-in-the-u-s/

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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July 12, 2018, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today urged members of the U.S. Senate to cosponsor legislation by Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.), the MERIT Act, that would expedite the firing of non-performing federal employees:

“We urge every member of the Senate to cosponsor and support the MERIT Act to expedite the firing of federal employees while limiting appeals to 30 days. This will make it easier for department and agency heads to remove those employees who are either simply not performing or who have engaged in misconduct. It can take years to remove a federal employee under the existing system. This antiquated approach to management, once implemented to prevent political corruption of the civil service, has instead led to an unhealthy protection of bad behavior.

“Particularly at the Justice Department, the American people are mystified that those who have abused their power can still possibly have their jobs. Similar problems at the Department of Veterans Affairs have already been addressed via legislation, and we know it’s working, so the same process should be spread across all departments and agencies via the MERIT Act to hold all federal employees accountable for their actions.

“In order to drain the swamp, we have to be able to fire the swamp, and that’s exactly what Sen. David Perdue’s legislation does. We thank Sen. Perdue for taking on this important piece of legislation.”

Attachments:

“Job Security: Federal civil service employees have a 99.5 percent chance of never being fired,” By Natalia Castro, May 14, 2018 at http://dailytorch.com/2018/05/job-security-federal-civil-service-employees-have-a-99-5-percent-chance-of-never-being-fired/

FIRETHESWAMP.COM banner flies across D.C.-Metro area, video exclusive from Fox 5 DC as ALG urges cosponsors for MERIT Act, June 28, 2018 at https://getliberty.org/2018/06/firetheswamp-com-banner-flies-across-d-c-metro-area-video-exclusive-from-fox-5-dc-as-alg-urges-cosponsors-for-merit-act/

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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July 12, 2018, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today spoke at the 2 p.m. Congressional Western Caucus meeting on the Endangered Species Act classification of the Spotted Owl’s impact on the northwestern logging industry:

“Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Western Caucus members for the opportunity to testify here today.

“I am Richard Manning, President of Americans for Limited Government.  But my interest in the Endangered Species Act predates my tenure with Americans for Limited Government, going back more than two decades.

“More than twenty-five years ago, the Bill Clinton Administration moved to protect the northern spotted owl in Washington, Oregon and northern California by declaring it a threatened species based upon the false belief that logging harmed the habitat of the bird.  This decision was made in spite of warnings of the dire impact on forestry jobs in the northwest.

“Now a quarter of a century later, we know the rest of the story.

“The northern spotted owl population has continued to decline in federally managed areas and during the first term of the Obama Administration, wildlife managers recommended shooting the larger cousin of the spotted owl, the aggressive, invasive barred owl which was killing the protected spotted owl.

“The question is why was the northern spotted owl in worse shape than it was when the federal government declared it threatened?

“Because the entire assumption for effectively ending logging on federal lands in the northwest was wrong.  It turns out the threatened owl thrives in forested areas because it depends upon clearings to see the wood rats that it hunts and eats.  So rather than helping the sub-species recover, the federal government actions against logging have contributed to its continued decline.

“On privately managed land in California, the once threatened owl is thriving as it lives in harmony with loggers, who clear the ground so they can eat the vermin in a natural cycle of life.

“Logging once was part of the life blood of the northwestern United States, now due to the political science employed by the Clinton Administration, small mill towns across the region have withered as the source of their livelihoods ceased to exist.

“The dramatic and deliberate destruction of the economic way of life for many in rural Idaho, Oregon, Washington and northern California is fact.

“It is also fact that this destruction was caused by bad science which harmed the northern spotted owl’s recovery.

“It turns out, the Endangered Species Act failed to protect the sub-species, but was used as a cudgel against the disfavored logging industry.  This is a stunning abuse of the law.

“The House Western Caucus is to be applauded for reigniting this effort to reform the ESA so that there is a balance between the economic and environmental needs of our nation.  It is particularly important that sound science with full transparency be employed in reaching and reviewing any findings under the Act as called for by Representative McClintock’s HR 3608.

“It is astounding that more than twenty-five years later, the failed management plans for the northern spotted owl remain in effect, when they are actually harming the bird. Hopefully due to today’s activities, the reform effort will lead to sound, transparent and replicable science with frequent and regular reviews being required before knee-jerk actions destroy other industries and communities.  Ending forever the ability of fundraising driven environmental hysteria to destroy people’s way of life, with the actual protection and recovery of the threatened or endangered species being a secondary concern.

“Mr. Chairman, thank you very much for allowing me the time to remind your Members about this history. When the ESA was new, there was not a track record. Now, we have decades to look back on to determine the good, the bad and the ugly, and change the law to ensure it stays on mission while balancing the livelihoods of the people impacted by its imposition, and the well-being of communities.

“Thank you again.”

Attachments:

Testimony of Richard Manning President Americans for Limited Government Before the Congressional Western Caucus On the Impact of the Endangered Species Act Classification of the Northern Spotted Owl, July 12, 2018, at https://getliberty.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Congressional-Western-Caucus-ALG-Spotted-Owl-Testimony-7-12-18.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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