FREEDOM WORKS UPDATE 07/15/2014

1. FreedomWorks and Glenn Beck to Outline Next Steps to Defeat Common Core LIVE in Theaters Nationwide
FreedomWorks and Glenn Beck will host a live, interactive night of action against Common Core in local theaters across the nation. “We Will Not Conform” is not an event- it’s a strategy session. Viewers will act as participants, engaging with education experts to craft a comprehensive plan to defeat Common Core in real-time.
FreedomWorks President Matt Kibbe, Glenn Beck, Michelle Malkin, Founder and President of WallBuilders David Barton, FreedomWorks Director of Messaging Ellen Wheeler, and more will participate in the event live from Dallas. Read more here...


2. UPDATE: FreedomWorks, Sen. Rand Paul NSA Lawsuit
On February 12, 2014 FreedomWorks and Rand Paul, under the legal counsel of Ken Cuccinelli, filed suit against Barack Obama & The NSA, claiming injury due to the warrantless collection of metadata of the cellphone records of Rand Paul and FreedomWorks members and employees. The case, 14-CV-262, was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.
On May 5, 2014, the Obama Administration filed a motion to dismiss, claiming that their collection of metadata was not a “search” under the Fourth Amendment, and claiming a “National Security Exception” to the Fourth Amendment. Read more here...
3. Capitol Hill Update, July 14, 2014
House & Senate/Schedule: Both chambers remain in session through the end of July, after which they will take their long August recess.
Legislative Highlight of the Week: On Tuesday, the House is likely to pass the Permanent Internet Tax Freedom Act, H.R. 3086. Sponsored by Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), this bill would make permanent the temporary ban on any federal taxation of internet providers. FreedomWorks has issued a Key Vote YES in support of this bill.
House/Transportation: On Tuesday, the House will take up the Highway and Transportation Funding Act, H.R. 5021. Sponsored by Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI), this bill would bail out the nearly-bankrupt Federal Highway Trust Fund through May of 2015 by raising $10.9 billion in new revenue. This revenue would mostly come from indirect tax hikes - through a tactic called "pension smoothing" and through raising fees on customs. This bill does nothing to address the structural problems with federal highway spending and resorts to using budget and tax gimmicks to pay for itself - a bad deal for taxpayers. Read more here...
4. Renewable Fuel Standards are a Pain in the Gas
Washington has a long-standing fascination with the nation's energy markets that generates an endless stream of legislation and regulation in pursuit of a wide range of policy objectives, from energy independence to climate change. For almost a decade, the government has been struggling to implement renewable fuel standards with the aim of increasing the role of ethanol and other biofuels. New mandates have been established, but it is becoming increasingly obvious that the law has created more questions than solutions. Problems first began to emerge when the economy collapsed, and with it, demand for fuel. What seemed like easily attainable targets in a rosy economy were now out of reach. Recently, the Congressional Budget Office released a study highlighting the ongoing problems with the renewable fuel standard program, raising serious concerns about the viability of the program.
The Energy Policy Act of 2005 created the first renewable fuel standard, a mandate that required 7.5 billion gallons of renewable fuel be blended into gasoline by 2012. Practically, this meant increasing the quantity of ethanol used in gasoline. The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 revised the standard with a 15-year plan, requiring an increase in ethanol use to 9 billion gallons in 2008, with the ultimate goal of 36 billion gallons of ethanol in the gasoline supply by 2022. Not content with simply expanding the use of biofuel, the new law also created mandates for specific types of biofuels: conventional, advanced, cellulosic and biodiesel. Read more here...
5. Keep the EPA's Hands Off Your Wages

The Environmental Protection Agency, apparently not content with the obscene amount of power it already possesses, has announced a new rule that further distances itself from the traditional checks and balances in government.
The rule would give the agency the power to garnish the wages of private citizens, without a court order, if it is deemed that a violation of the EPA’s Byzantine environmental regulations has taken place. It’s the same power the IRS has when dealing with tax evasion, with the key difference that environmental regulations are not laws passed by Congress, and most people have no idea what these rules actually comprise. Read more here...

6. Common Core Becomes Touchy Subject for Governors Group
The National Governors Association was one of the founders of Common Core, a set of academic standards aimed at raising student achievement. But as Democratic and Republican governors gathered here for summer meetings, Common Core wasn't on the official agenda, a sign of how the bipartisan idea has become a political minefield.
The governors' association isn't taking a position on Common Core implementation, though the group was at the table when the standards were created in 2009. "I guarantee you there will be a lot of discussion this week about it among individuals and in governors-only meetings in terms of, 'Tell me what you are doing. What's the impact?' " said Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam, a Republican who has maintained his support for Common Core.
His state is one of several, along with North Carolina, Florida, Colorado, Ohio and Utah, that conservative advocacy group FreedomWorks is trying to pressure into dropping the standards. "We're watching the governors very closely on this," said Jacqueline Bodnar, a FreedomWorks spokeswoman. "This issue is provoking one of the strongest reactions we've gotten from our activists." Read more here...
7. Key Vote YES on Amendments to Energy and Water Appropriations
As one of our over 6 million FreedomWorks activists nationwide, I urge you to contact your representative and urge him or her to vote YES on the following amendments to the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriation Act, H.R. 4923. FreedomWorks may score votes for any of the following fiscally conservative amendments in its 2014 Congressional Scorecard. Read more here...
8. Target: Justin Amash
Primary challenger Brian Ellis says he has just “been very factual” about Michigan Republican Rep. Justin Amash’s voting record, but National Journal has dubbed the contest “the ugliest House primary of the cycle.”
Ellis has plowed at least $400,000 of his own money into a primary challenge against Amash, whom he has called “al Qaeda’s best friend in Congress,” among other pleasantries. The businessman has made himself the candidate of K Street Republicans, the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, and the neoconservatives.
Nevertheless, Amash enjoys high scores from conservative groups like Heritage Action, Club for Growth, and FreedomWorks. And while Ellis denounces unorthodox votes, it is he who opposed the doomed—but popular with grassroots conservative activists—bid to defund Obamacare. Read more here...
9. Key Vote: YES on the Permanent Internet Tax Freedom Act, H.R. 3086
As one of our over 6.5 million FreedomWorks activists nationwide, I urge you to contact your representative and ask him or her to vote YES on the Permanent Internet Tax Freedom Act, H.R. 3086, sponsored by Rep. Bob Goodlatte and cosponsored by more than 200 Representatives from both parties.
Back in 1998, Congress passed the original Internet Tax Freedom Act, a temporary moratorium on taxing internet access. Since then, the Act has been renewed, but is now set to expire on November 1. If Congress does nothing, states could start taxing your internet access by the end of the year. Read more here...
In Liberty,
Jackie Bodnar
Director of Communications, FreedomWorks