Why does aarp target congress

The group has also been one of the most powerful defenders of Social Security, the entitlement program that some Republicans are vowing to tackle in their bid to lower the deficit. By discrediting the seniors group, Republicans might be able to diffuse some of the opposition to an overhaul of the entitlement program.

Then AARP goes on its merry way. Skip to Content. Facebook Twitter Email Reddit. By Bennett Roth. The AARP eases the aging process, which often makes seniors feel like forlorn outsiders in a youth-conscious society. The AARP offers travel discounts, tax advice, worker training and support groups for widows and widowers.

Special programs cater to the needs of older women. At any given moment, an AARP member can find information about fitness, insurance, legal problems or educational resources.

Stalwarts of the AARP say it is precisely the something-for-everyone quality that has made the group so successful. With the steady graying of America, the group continues to grow.

The leading edge of the biggest generation in U. An aide to Sen. One-third of the members are still working. Many seek nothing else. As Barry Wanger of Newton, Mass. Keeping the dues low is an excellent tactic. Once members are enrolled, the AARP can sell them mutual funds, health insurance, life insurance and prescription drugs.

In fact, the organization makes more money from its products and services than the cash it collects in membership dues. Membership My Account. Rewards for Good. Share with facebook. Share with twitter. Share with linkedin. Share using email. Greg Gibson. Family Caregiving. Leaving AARP. Got it! Please don't show me this again for 90 days. The RAND Corporation has conducted objective policy analysis for corporate, nonprofit, and government clients since the mid-twentieth century.

What are some of the policy areas it has explored? Both the Congress and the president have tried to reduce the bias in policy analysis by creating their own theoretically nonpartisan policy branches. The CBO is responsible for scoring the spending or revenue impact of all proposed legislation to assess its net effect on the budget.

The formulas that the CBO uses in scoring the budget have become an important part of the policy debate, even as the group has tried to maintain its nonpartisan nature. Figure 3. The Congressional Budget Office CBO is responsible for studying the impact of all proposed legislation to assess its net effect on the budget and tracking federal debt. For example, this CBO chart shows federal debt held by the public as a percentage of gross domestic product from through and projected to In the executive branch, each individual department and agency is technically responsible for its own policy analysis.

The assumption is that experts in the Federal Communications Commission or the Federal Elections Commission are best equipped to evaluate the impact of various proposals within their policy domain.

Law requires that most regulatory changes made by the federal government also include the opportunity for public input so the government can both gauge public opinion and seek outside perspectives.

Executive branch agencies are usually also charged with considering the economic impact of regulatory action, although some agencies have been better at this than others. What is your passion? Is there an aspect of society you think should be changed? Become a public policy advocate for it! One way to begin is by petitioning the Office of the President.

In years past, citizens wrote letters to express grievances or policy preferences. Today, you can visit We the People, the White House online petitions platform. At this government site, you can search for petitions related to your cause or post your own. If your petition gets enough signatures, the White House will issue a response. The petitions range from serious to silly, but the process is an important way to speak out about the policies that are important to you.

Figure 4. The White House petition website encourages citizens to participate in the democratic process. Follow-up activity: Choose an issue you are passionate about. Visit We the People to see if there is already a petition there concerning your chosen issue. If so, join the community promoting your cause. If not, create your own petition and try to gather enough signatures to receive an official response.

The policy process contains four sequential stages: 1 agenda setting, 2 policy enactment, 3 policy implementation, and 4 evaluation. Given the sheer number of issues already processed by the government, called the continuing agenda, and the large number of new proposals being pushed at any one time, it is typically quite difficult to move a new policy all the way through the process.

Agenda setting is the crucial first stage of the public policy process. Agenda setting has two subphases: problem identification and alternative specification.