Read the statement here.
January 17th, 2024
After the U.S. has carried out multiple strikes on the Houthis after they have wreaked havoc in the Red Sea, disrupting international trade, the Biden administration has agreed to designate the Houthis as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, but not an official foreign terrorist organization, which was the designation in 2021. Advancing American Freedom has been the forefront organization calling for the Biden Administration to redesignate the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization.
“At the beginning of the Biden administration the Houthis were removed from the list of foreign terrorist organizations, which was a mistake the world has paid for these past months,” said AAF Executive Director Paul Teller. “The Houthis are a foreign terrorist organization, but the Biden administration would rather classify them as an SDGT, to avoid being called out for their about-face. This administration is more afraid of a bad headline than global threats. It’s time to quit playing games and treat US enemies as they deserve to be treated.”
January 17th, 2024
Advancing American Freedom released the following statement after the Biden administration introduced another anti-consumer rule that would make life more difficult for everyday Americans.
“President Biden’s lifelong battle with basic economics continues. Under this new rule, the American people will pay more and get less,” said AAF Executive Director Paul Teller. “President Biden’s ‘solutions’ always make things worse for businesses and families. The Biden Administration and the unconstitutional CFPB continue to overreach, and this latest rule is the Democrats’ anti-business agenda personified. The Biden Administration strangles businesses with regulations and then questions why they fail. Instead of pursuing aggressive executive actions, the Biden administration should lift the regulatory burden placed on critical U.S. industries and unleash American ingenuity.”
Background:
The Trump-Pence Administration cut eight regulations for every new regulation, which would have increased the real income of Americans by $53 billion per year from 2021 to 2029 had the Biden Administration not declared war on American business. President Biden’s latest rule to attack “junk fees” is another step in the wrong direction, disguising overreach as “consumer protection.” Advancing American Freedom will continue to be a leading voice against Biden’s “junk fee” regulations.
You can read more on AAF’s work to unleash the American economy here.
January 16th, 2023
Advancing American Freedom filed an amicus brief with 34 other groups in defense of insurance companies’ freedom of association which was trampled on by New York’s Department of Financial Services when they investigated insurance programs offered by the NRA through insurance companies, and called on the companies to discontinue their arrangements with the NRA.
“No government or government official should have the power to deprive a lawful organization of a full range of financial services without facing constitutional review,” said J. Marc Wheat, AAF General Counsel. “New York’s actions in this case stand in violation of the first amendment and should be scrutinized. No government’s actions are above the rule of law.”
You can read the brief here.
January 16th, 2024
Advancing American Freedom led a coalition letter with over 20 cosigners to Secretary Blinken and the State Department calling on them to list Nigeria as a country of particular concern for severe violations of religious freedom after 200 Nigerian Christians were martyred.
“The fact that this slaughter happened over two weeks ago without action from the State Department is unconscionable,” said AAF Executive Director Paul Teller. “Either the Biden administration takes the massacre of innocents seriously, or it does not. Christians in Nigeria are under continuous attack, and the latest slaughter demands a response from the United States, and when we do not respond, evil expands.”
Individuals, with titles and organizations for identification purposes only, signing on to the letter:
Read the full letter here.
January 16th, 2024
The Biden administration is facing pressure from numerous human rights and religious groups for failing to designate Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (“CPC”) for the brutal killing of over 200 Christians last month.
In a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, two dozen interest groups, led by Advancing American Freedom and including Alliance Defending Freedom, the Hudson Institute, former Ambassador Sam Brownback and former defense and national security officials, scolded the State Department for its “refusal” to designate Nigeria as a CPC – calling the lack of action “unconscionable.”
“Less than two weeks ago, almost 200 Nigerian Christians became martyrs while celebrating Christmas. According to one account, these Christians were ‘killed for sport.’ Just weeks earlier, the Christian Association of Nigeria received a letter threatening them against celebrating Christmas,” the letter sent Monday states.
“The international religious freedom community stands outraged at your refusal to hold these acts of evil to account,” it continues.
The letter notes that the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety), a Nigeria-based nonprofit, has found that more than 52,000 Christians have been killed and more than 14 million Christians have been forced to flee Nigeria since 2009.
Over that same period, Intersociety also found that 18,000 churches and 2,200 schools had been attacked, according to the letter.
On Jan. 4, Blinken announced that he’d designated a series of countries, including Iran and Russia, as a CPC, but Nigeria was notably left off the list.
The letter says that “within hours” of Blinken’s announcement, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) called for a congressional hearing, and international religious freedom advocates “publicly criticized” his decision.
USCIRF is a federal government commission created by the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 and consists of commissioners who are appointed by the president and a bipartisan group of congressional leaders.
Nigeria, which is a hub for Boko Haram, was added to the list during the Trump administration but has been left off the list since 2021.
According to the Pew Research Center, Nigeria has the largest Christian population of any country in Africa, with over 80 million believers.
“The eyes of the world look to the United States as a beacon of hope and freedom. Religious freedom is grounded in the American founding, enshrined in the Bill of Rights, and quintessential to what it means to be an American,” the letter states.
“When the United States stands silent as evil runs amok, the world takes notice,” it concludes.
Read more at FoxNews.com
January 2nd, 2024
Advancing American Freedom (AAF) led a group of more than 40 prominent conservatives in calling on United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken to re-designate the Iran-backed Houthi militia as a terrorist organization. AAF was founded by former vice president Mike Pence and promotes what it describes as a “freedom agenda.”
The Trump administration designated the Houthis, which control the bulk of Northern Yemen, a terrorist organization in January 2021, but the Biden administration reversed that decision shortly after taking office. Since Hamas’s October 7 attack against Israel, the Houthis have launched missiles and drones in Israel’s direction and have targeted both American military vessels and commercial ships in the Red Sea.
AAF executive director Paul Teller said the erasure of the Houthis’ terrorist designation was a grave error.
“Removing the Houthis from the list of terrorist organizations was one of the first mistakes of this administration,” Teller said. “As the Middle East grows more unstable after Hamas’s unprovoked attack in Israel, the Houthis have added to the chaos, and there is no diplomacy that will dissuade them. The United States must return to a posture of clear-headed realism and treat our enemies as they deserve to be treated.”
Over one hundred container ships have been rerouted around the Horn of Africa to avoid Houthi attacks, adding seven to 14 days of extra travel in exchange for steering clear of potential aggression in the Red Sea. On Monday, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced the formation of a multinational coalition to protect shipping lanes in the region from Houthi violence, an initiative that has been named Operation Prosperity Guardian.
“Operation Prosperity Guardian is bringing together multiple countries to include the United Kingdom, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles, and Spain to jointly address security challenges in the southern Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, with the goal of ensuring freedom of navigation for all countries and bolstering regional security and prosperity,” Austin said, though it is unclear when the initiative will be launched.
Among the signatories to the letter are Republican Jewish Coalition CEO Matthew Brooks, former secretary of veterans Affairs and under secretary of defense Robert Wilkie, Hudson Institute scholar Kenneth Weinstein, and Center for Military Readiness president Elaine Donnelly.
“It is far past time to acknowledge that the strategy of delisting the Houthis as terrorists has failed to achieve the Pollyannish policy goals you hoped it would,” the letter reads. “Like Hamas, the Houthis are a death cult. No amount of earnest intentions will stop their campaign of terror.”
Read more at NationalReview.com
