Love America - March. 2020

FreedomWorks recently announced the launch of the American Freedom Initiative (AFI), a collaboration headed by former acting U.S. Attorney General Matt Whitaker. This project aims to help relieve injustices committed against Americans under the criminal justice system and the regulatory state. As part of this project, we will shine a spotlight on some of the individuals the AFI has identified under its National Pardon Project as being particularly hard hit by unjustly harsh criminal sentences for non-violent crimes.

2019 was supposed to be the year the Trump presidency ended, and the freedom movement died.

Americans are still trying to figure out what to make of the COVID-19 pandemic. Only a few weeks ago, the American economy was doing well, and employers were hiring. Today, many governors have essentially shut down commerce and effectively suspended some protected civil liberties by mandating the practice of social distancing in their states.

If DC traffic levels are any indication, it seems that a lot more people are taking the spread of the coronavirus seriously, which is undoubtedly good. In the media and online, though, the debate rages on whether the overall government response to the virus has been dangerously insufficient or unjustifiably draconian. The opposite poles of public opinion seem to range between demanding a complete, absolute national shelter-in-place shutdown for potentially months and a blasé, “virus? what virus?” approach that equally beggars the imagination.

Welcome to FreedomWorks Foundation’s fourth regulatory review of 2020! Our Regulatory Action Center proudly updates you with the latest regulatory actions from the swamp. This week, we bring you a special coronavirus edition, highlighting some of the government regulations that have been repealed to fight the pandemic. Check back next week for the next edition.

This week, both Virginia Governor Ralph Northam (D) and North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper (D) announced statewide executive orders for their states regarding policy and practice as our nation deals with the novel coronavirus. Each governor made different calls for their states’ schools, with Virginia closing all K-12 schools for the remainder of the year and North Carolina extending its public school closure through May 15. Both states limited gathering sizes and mandated the closure of nonessential retail businesses.

The passage of Phase III of the COVID-19 stimulus package has reopened the floodgates of federal spending. The nearly $2 trillion package covers everything from essential immediate assistance for small businesses to a $50 billion bailout for the airline industry. All told, the package will more than double the deficit overnight, and the impact on the debt will be enormous. What’s worse is that many on Capitol Hill are already preparing for Phase IV.