FREEDOMWORKS 02/19/2015

1. The Ex-Im Bank: Do You Side with Hillary, Warren, and Reid? - by Logan Albright The United States Export-Import Bank was founded in 1934 as yet another one of FDR’s misguided “New Deal” programs. For the past 80 years, the Bank has been an instrument of corporate welfare, handing out taxpayer-backed loans to big corporations and special interest projects, such as green energy. The Ex-Im Bank’s charter expires at the end of June, and all Congress has to do to end an entire corporate welfare program is not vote to reauthorize it. Read more here... 2. House Hearing on Civil Forfeiture - by Michael Breibrok Imagine this, you are moving from Michigan to California to start a new life and your dad gave you $2,500 to help you start out on your feet. While driving through Nevada you get pulled over by a deputy sheriff and he asks you how much money you have on you. You think to yourself, “that’s a strange question, but I’ve done nothing wrong and have nothing to hide,” so you tell the officer you have $2,500 from your dad. The officer then tells you he suspects your trip from Michigan to California is to acquire drugs with the $2,500 and so he seizes the cash, without arresting you, and tells you to go on your way. Welcome to the story of Matt Lee, welcome to civil asset forfeiture. Read more here... 3. Real Talk: Civil Asset Forfeiture - by Julie Borowski Would you believe the government can take you home, your car, your cash without convicting or even charging you with a crime? In America...in 2015? Find out why civil asset forfeiture reform is so crucial for Americans' civil liberties. Watch the latest Real Talk now! Watch here... 4. IRS Abuses Power By Seizing Small Businesses Bank Accounts - by Tom Borelli The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has a lengthy record of abusing power. The IRS’s abuse of power is not restricted to targeting tea party groups but it also includes seizing assets of small business owners under the suspicion of engaging in money laundering. Under federal civil asset forfeiture laws the IRS can seize bank accounts of individuals that make a series of deposits or withdrawals of cash under $10,000. Cash transactions under $10,000 are suspicious because they fall under the federal reporting requirement and it’s illegal to avoid the reporting threshold by “structuring” a number of smaller transactions to avoid federal detection. Read more here... 5. Tell Your Representative: Support Audit the Fed - by Matt Kibbe As one of our more than 6.9 million FreedomWorks members nationwide, I urge you to contact your representative today and ask him or her to support H.R. 24, the Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2015. Introduced by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), the bill would eliminate the current audit restrictions placed on the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and require a full and thorough audit of the Federal Reserve. Since its inception in 1913, the Federal Reserve has never been audited. It has always operated under a certain veil of secrecy. Our dollar has lost 97 percent of its value since its creation. Many economists have found that the central bank’s loose monetary policy played a major role in the recent economic crisis. It is more crucial than ever that the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy decisions be open to congressional oversight. Without a comprehensive audit, we will never know how the Fed is manipulating our money behind closed doors. Read more here... 6. FreedomWorks at the International Students for Liberty Conference - by Daisy Belden The weekend of February 13th-15th, FreedomWorks sponsored the 8th annual International Students for Liberty Conference, a gathering of more than one thousand students from all over the world and across America for the purpose of exploring the ideas of liberty. The International Students for Liberty Conference, held in Washington each year around Valentine's Day, hosts many prominent leaders in the libertarian movement for speeches, question and answer sessions, and breakout sessions on a variety of topics pertaining to liberty in the world today. Read more here... 7. Empower Member Derrick Burnette: Hollywood, Black Americans and Real Entertainment While working with two black co-workers a few years ago, the topic of black history came up and we decided to challenge each other. Although they were a few years away from graduating from college, I realized they had limited knowledge about the achievements of historically important black Americans. I was surprised they did not know the answer to questions such as, “Who was the first black female millionaire?" and "Who was Benjamin Banneker?” I was shocked at the answers I received. Read more here... 8. Cornell Students Rebel Against An ObamaCare-like Individual Mandate Fee - by Jason Pye Cornell University has announced a $350 fee for students who don't enroll in the Ivy League school's Student Health Insurance Plan (SHIP), and students are pushing back against the administration, going as far as storming into the office of the school's president, David Skorton. Skorton announced the $350 annual "health fee" -- which, reportedly, won't be covered by financial aid -- earlier this month in a memo to the student body, according to Fox News. "As a physician, parent and president, I am proud of our university's long history of providing quality medical, mental health, education and prevention services on campus. These essential services play a critical role in student well-being and, therefore, success," Skorton wrote. "Yet funding these services — and creating access to them for all students — has been a growing fiscal challenge, and a personal concern of mine." Read more here... Make freedom work, Jackie Bodnar Director of Communications, FreedomWorks