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From passing Sound Money bills, to annihilating law enforcement weaponized drones, to thwarting the spread of ObamaCare expansion, to beating back statist schemes to impose "gag rules" on C4L, Campaign for Liberty grassroots leaders and activists are fighting and winning battles at the state and local level. Campaign for Liberty State Operations has the honor of working with volunteer leaders across the country as they mobilize for action on some of the most important issues of our time. “I have some bad news for the statists and their allies in the ‘mainstream’ media," says Campaign for Liberty President Norm Singleton. “Despite their best efforts, the liberty r3VOLution Ron Paul inspired in 2008 and 2012 is alive and well!” C4L’s Director of State Operations Heather Danielowski agrees. “Campaign for Liberty's state leaders are achieving remarkable victories for liberty in their neighborhoods and state capitols. They’re going toe-to-toe with establishment politicians and winning all across the country.” What follows are highlights from just a few of the successes our Campaign for Liberty grassroots activists have experienced in 2018. SOUND MONEY Thanks to the efforts of C4L grassroots activists, Wyoming became the second Campaign for Liberty group in as many years to pass major legislation defining gold, silver, and [...]

Campaign for Liberty Chairman Ron Paul issued the following statement regarding President Trump’s nomination of Kathy Kraninger to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is an unaccountable, unconstitutional, and unnecessary bureaucracy that imposes unreasonable burdens on small banks and credit unions, thus increasing consolidation in the financial services industry to the detriment of consumers. This also increases the likelihood of another big bank bailout when the Federal Reserve-created recession (or worse) occurs. Acting Director Mick Mulvaney – who fought to shut down the CFPB while in Congress -- is to be credited for trying to reduce the damage the CFPB does by focusing it on closing out existing cases—some of which date from the time of the housing meltdown a decade ago—instead of trying to find new ways to expand the agency’s power. Hopefully, Kathy Kraninger, President Trump’s choice as permanent head of the CFPB, who has worked under Mr. Mulvaney at OMB, will continue to ease the regulatory burdens placed on consumers and small business by this misnamed agency. The increased use of tools like specialty services to help struggling homeowners shows the market can solve problems in the home market if the government gets out of [...]

With the House getting ready to vote on immigration reform legislation that contains mandatory E-Verify, today is a good day to revisit Campaign for Liberty Chairman Ron Paul’s E-Verify Threatens Us All from February of this year. Read Dr. Paul's column below and then be sure to call your representative at 202-224-3121 and tell him or her to vote "NO" on any immigration bill containing the dangerous E-Verify National ID scheme. Here is Dr. Paul’s column: In addition to funding for a border wall and other border security measures, immigration hardliners are sure to push to include mandatory E-Verify in any immigration legislation considered by Congress. E-Verify is a (currently) voluntary program where businesses check job applicants’ Social Security numbers and other Information — potentially including “biometric” identifiers like fingerprints — against information stored in a federal database to determine if the job applicants are legally in the United States. Imagine how much time would be diverted from serving consumers and growing the economy if every US business had to comply with E-Verify. Also, collecting the relevant information and operating the mandatory E-Verify system will prove costly to taxpayers. Millions of Americans could be denied jobs because E-Verify mistakenly identifies them as illegal immigrants. These [...]

The big event this week is the vote on an immigration “reform” bill containing the mandatory E-Verify National ID scheme. As of right now, the vote is expected on Thursday. Call your U.S. Representative at (202)-225-3121 and tell them to vote NO on the E-Verify National ID Database! The U.S. Senate will be taking up the House-passed H.R. 5895, which combines the Legislative Branch, Energy and Water, and Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations bills. For more on that legislation see here. The Senate may also consider H.R. 3, the House-passed rescissions bill. For more on the bill see here. Last week was opioid week. Here are the results of some of the votes: H.R. 5735 creates a demonstration program for federally funding housing for recovering addicts. Passed by a vote of 230-173, with 7 Republicans voting no. The 166 Democrats who voted no did not do so because they object to federally-funded housing programs but because the bill did not authorize spending new money; instead, it directed funds from existing accounts. Here are the seven Republicans who voted no: Justin Amash (MI-03) Mo Brooks (AL-05) John Duncan  (TN-02) Matt Gaetz (FL-01) Thomas Garrett (VA-05) Thomas Massie (KY-04) Mark Sanford (SC-01) You can see the roll-call vote here. H.R. 5891 creates a federal task [...]

When I was in Congress and had to regularly fly between DC and Texas, I was routinely subjected to invasive “pat-downs” (physical assaults) by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). One time, exasperated with the constant insults to my privacy and dignity, I asked a TSA agent if he was proud to assault innocent Americans for a living. I thought of this incident after learning that the TSA has been compiling a “troublesome passengers” list. The list includes those who have engaged in conduct judged to be “offensive and without legal justification” or disruptive of the “safe and effective completion of screening.” Libertarian journalist James Bovard recently pointed out that any woman who pushed a screener’s hands away from her breasts could be accused of disrupting the “safe and effective completion of screening.” Passengers like me who have expressed offense at TSA screeners are likely on the troublesome passengers list. Perhaps airline passengers should start keeping a list of troublesome TSA agents. The list could include those who forced nursing mothers to drink their own breast milk, those who forced sick passengers to dispose of cough medicine, and those who forced women they found attractive to go through a body scanner multiple times. [...]

Yesterday, the motion to move to final passage of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) passed the Senate by a vote of 81-15. This means that Senators Mike Lee (R-UT) and Rand Paul (R-KY) will not be able to offer their amendments preventing the United States government from indefinitely detaining American citizens without due process.  You can see the roll-call vote here. Senator Lee tried to get unanimous consent to offer his amendment forbidding indefinite detention of American citizens, but Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) objected. Yesterday, Senator James Inhofe (R-OK) objected that the amendment was not germane. This objection was sustained by the chair. It defies all logic that the Lee Amendment could be non-germane when it deals with an issue that was created by the 2011 NDAA. Senator Graham may have been the leading opponent of repealing indefinite detention, but the fact is he could not have succeeded without at least the quiet consent of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), and the motion from Senator James Inhofe (R-OK), who is acting Senate Defense Committee Chair while Defense Chair John McCain (R-AZ) is undergoing treatment for brain cancer. Senator Graham’s dogged insistence that no indefinite detention amendment be brought up, combined with [...]

Yesterday, the Senate defeated a motion that would table Senator Mike Lee’s (R-UT) amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act prohibiting the indefinite detention of American citizens. This clears the way for a roll-call vote on the Lee amendment soon.  Roll-call vote on tabling the Lee amendment here. Off the floor of Congress, lobbyists continue to push to limit or return the open skies agreements—even though over 50,000 jobs have been created by just one open skies agreement. Open skies lowers international airfare for international travelers to and from America. These international travelers help our economy by spending money in America. But U.S. airlines, instead of investing money to improve service for passengers, have spent over $50 million dollars on lobbyists for open skies. All that money failed to get them their top priority—open skies partners being banned from operating new “fifth freedom flights.” According to a Wall Street Journal article, the well-paid lobbyists lied to their airline clients about their success in achieving this goal! The fact is the Trump Administration wisely rejected pleas to restrict Open Skies and instead only asked our Open Skies partners to submit to audits using “internally accepted financial standards.” Congress should do something good for consumers by [...]

This Week in Congress Part Two: NDAA, Farm Bill, and Opioids The U.S. Senate continues work on the NDAA. The big question remains if Senators Rand Paul and Mike Lee will be able to offer amendments forbidding the government from indefinitely detaining American citizens. Yesterday Senator Paul tried to get unanimous consent to offer his amendment, but it was blocked by Senator Lindsey Graham. You can see Senator Paul’s initial remarks here, and his response to Lindsey Graham at this link. Today, the Senate Agriculture Committee will be marking-up their version of the Farm Bill. The Senate bill contains none of the food stamp reforms contained in the house bill, while continuing to shovel taxpayer money to big agribusiness. The committee will be considering approximately 180 amendments, including some by Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley to restrict the provision providing subsidies to relatives of farmers who participate in farm management. The amendment also eliminates special payments for peanuts and cotton. Grassley’s amendment reflects what was done in 2014 and changed since then. And now to the House’s suspension calendar. The majority of the suspensions deal with the war on opioids. As you read my description, keep in mind these are written by people who claim to [...]

The big news in the Senate this week is consideration of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Yesterday, cloture was invoked by a vote of  92-4. That vote is here. Since cloture was invoked it is possible that Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) will be successful in blocking Rand Paul and Mike Lee’s efforts to offer an amendment stopping the government from indefinitely detaining American citizens without due process. Since it is unclear at this time if the Lee Amendment will get a vote or not, please call Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell now and demand a vote. Call 202-224-2541 (DC office) or his Kentucky office at 502-582-6304. Senator Tom Cotton may try to offer an amendment to increase defense spending above the sequester caps—even though Congress essentially killed the caps in all but name as part of the budget deal passed earlier this year. Campaign for Liberty has signed the following letter in opposition to this deal: June 12, 2018 Open Letter to the U.S. Senate: Oppose Efforts to Retreat on Spending Restraint On behalf of the undersigned organizations, representing millions of Americans, we strongly urge all Senators to oppose Senator Cotton’s amendment #2321 to S. 2987, the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019. This [...]

When President Reagan met with Mikhail Gorbachev in Reykjavik, Iceland, on October 11, 1987, it helped put into motion events that would dramatically change the global system. A line of communication was fully opened with an enemy of decades and substantive issues were on the table. Though the summit was initially reported as a failure, with the two sides unable to sign a final agreement, history now shows us that it was actually a great success that paved the way to the eventual end of the Cold War and a reduction in the threat of a nuclear war. A year later Gorbachev and Reagan met in Washington to continue the dialogue that had been started and the rest is history. Success began as a “failure.” We are now facing a similar situation with President Trump’s historic meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore. As with the Reagan/Gorbachev meetings, detractors on all sides seem determined to undermine and belittle the opening of a door to diplomacy and peace. The neocons demand that North Korea give up all its bargaining chips up front in return for vague promises of better relations with the US. Yet in the post-Libya era no serious person would [...]