DOCSLIB.ORG

Return R%F Or Nni72tinn Exam T from Income

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Return R%F Or Nni72tinn Exam T from Income l efile GRAPHIC p rint - DO NOT PROCESS I As Filed Data - I DLN: 93493261005077 Return r%f Or nni72tinn Exam t From Income Tax OMB No 1545-0047 Form 990 W 11- Under section 501(c ), 527, or 4947(a)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code ( except private foundations) 2016 Do not enter social security numbers on this form as it may be made public Department ► Information about Form 990 and its instructions is at www IRS gov/form990 Internal Revenue Ser.ice ► A For the 2016 calendar y ear, or tax y ear be inn 01-01-2016 . and endina 12-31-2016 C Name of organization B Check if applicable D Employer identification number National Rifle Association of America q Address change 53-0116130 q Name change q Initial return Doing business as Final - I II/ - I n naLeu I eiepnone nurnuer Number and street (or P O box if mail is not delivered to street address) Room/suite L q Amended return 11250 Waples Mill Road (703) 267-1000 q Application pending City or town, state or province, country, and ZIP or foreign postal code Fairfax, VA 220307400 G Gross receipts $ 415, 313,072 F Name and address of principal officer H(a) Is this a group return for Wilson H Phillips Jr 11250 Waples Mill Road subordinates? 2 No Fairfax, VA 22030 H(b) Are all subordinates included? q Yes I Tax-exempt status q 501(c)(3) 0 501(c) ( 4 I (insert no ) q 4947(a)(1) or q 527 If "No," attach a list (see instructions) H(c) Group exemption number J Website : ► www nra org ► q q q L Year of formation 1905 M State of legal domicile NY K Form of organization 9 Corporation Trust Association Other ► NLi^ Summary 1 Briefly describe the organization's mission or most significant activities Firearms safety, education, and training and advocacy on behalf of safe and responsi ble gun owners q p 2 Check this box ► if the organization discontinued its operations or disposed of more than 25% of its net assets :7 3 Number of voting members of the governing body (Part VI, line 1a) . 3 76 '6 4 Number of independent voting members of the governing body (Part VI, line 1b) 4 71 v. 5 Total number of individuals employed in calendar year 2016 (Part V, line 2a) 5 912 6 Total number of volunteers (estimate if necessary) . 6 150,000 7a Total unrelated business revenue from Part VIII, column (C), line 12 . 7a 28,247,360 b Net unrelated business taxable income from Form 990-T, line 34 . 7b -6,264,790 Prior Year Current Year 8 Contributions and grants (Part VIII, line 1h) . 94,982,032 124,433,466 9 Program service revenue (Part VIII, line 2g) . 180,255,185 181,265,880 10 Investment income (Part VIII, column (A), lines 3, 4, and 7d . 271,983 -8,728 11 Other revenue (Part VIII, column (A), lines 5, 6d, 8c, 9c, 10c, and lie) 61,200,038 61,199,085 12 Total revenue-add lines 8 through 11 (must equal Part VIII, column (A), line 12) 336,709,238 366,889,703 13 Grants and similar amounts paid (Part IX, column (A), lines 1-3 . 91,500 85,500 14 Benefits paid to or for members (Part IX, column (A), line 4) . 0 15 Salaries, other compensation, employee benefits (Part IX, column (A), lines 5-10) 63,408,147 68,330,881 16a Professional fundraising fees (Part IX, column (A), line 11e) 4,997,495 8,410,603 b Total fundraising expenses (Part IX, column (D), line 25) 0,33,646,495 17 Other expenses (Part IX, column (A), lines 11a-11d, llf-24e) . 235,037,425 335,910,456 18 Total expenses Add lines 13-17 (must equal Part IX, column (A), line 25) 303,534,567 412,737,440 19 Revenue less expenses Subtract line 18 from line 12 33,174,671 -45,847,737 T Beginning of Current Year End of Year R 20 Total assets (Part X, line 16) . 214,839,625 217,136,587 Q cc .S '2 21 Total liabilities (Part X, line 26) . 139,481,463 181,021,897 Z1 22 Net assets or fund balances Subtract line 21 from line 20 75,358,162 36,114,690 Si g nature Block Under penalties of perjury, I declare that I have examined this return, inclu knowledge and belief, it is true, correct, and complete Declaration of prepa any knowledge Signature of officer Sign Here Wilson H Phillips Jr Treasurer and Chief Financial Offic Type or print name and title Print/Type preparer's name Preparer's signature James P Sweeney James P Sweeney Paid Preparer Firm's name ► RSM US LLP Use Only Firm's address ► 1861 International Dr Ste 400 McLean, VA 22102 May the IRS discuss this return with the preparer shown above? (see instrui For Paperwork Reduction Act Notice, see the separate instructio Form 990 (2016) Page 2 Statement of Program Service Accomplishments Check if Schedule 0 contains a response or note to any line in this Part III . 1 Briefly describe the organization's mission Per NRA Bylaws, to protect and defend the U S Constitution to promote public safety, law and order, and national defense to train law enforcement agencies and civilians in marksmanship to promote shooting sports and hunting 2 Did the organization undertake any significant program services during the year which were not listed on the prior Form 990 or 990-EZ? . q Yes 2 No If "Yes," describe these new services on Schedule 0 3 Did the organization cease conducting, or make significant changes in how it conducts, any program services? . q Yes 9 No If "Yes," describe these changes on Schedule 0 4 Describe the organization's program service accomplishments for each of its three largest program services, as measured by expenses Section 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) organizations are required to report the amount of grants and allocations to others, the total expenses, and revenue, if any, for each program service reported 4a (Code ) (Expenses $ 76,579,388 including grants of $ ) (Revenue $ See Additional Data 4b (Code ) (Expenses $ 48,204,544 including grants of $ ) (Revenue $ 31,920,333 See Additional Data 4c (Code ) (Expenses $ 37,776,105 including grants of $ ) (Revenue $ 29,454,386 See Additional Data 4d Other program services (Describe in Schedule 0 (Expenses $ 179,728,124 including grants of $ ) (Revenue $ 164,370,436 4e Total program service expenses 11o, 342,288,161 Form 990 (2016) Form 990 (2016) Page 3 Checklist of Req uired Schedules Yes No 1 Is the organization described in section 501(c)(3) or 4947(a)(1) (other than a private foundation)? If "Yes," complete No Schedule A . 1 2 Is the organization required to complete Schedule B, Schedule of Contributors (see instructions)? °^ . 2 Yes 3 Did the organization engage in direct or indirect political campaign activities on behalf of or in opposition to candidates Yes for public office? If "Yes," complete Schedule C, Part I. 3 4 Section 501(c)(3) organizations. Did the organization engage in lobbying activities, or have a section 501(h) election in effect during the tax year? If "Yes, " complete Schedule C, Part II . 4 5 Is the organization a section 501(c)(4), 501(c)(5), or 501(c)(6) organization that receives membership dues, assessments, or similar amounts as defined in Revenue Procedure 98-197 Yes If "Yes, " complete Schedule C, Part III . 6 Did the organization maintain any donor advised funds or any similar funds or accounts for which donors have the right to provide advice on the distribution or investment of amounts in such funds or accounts? If "Yes, " complete Schedule D, Part I . 6 No 7 Did the organization receive or hold a conservation easement, including easements to preserve open space, the environment, historic land areas, or historic structures? If "Yes," complete Schedule D, Part II . 7 No 8 Did the organization maintain collections of works of art, historical treasures, or other similar assets? 8 Yes If "Yes, " complete Schedule D, Part III . 9 Did the organization report an amount in Part X, line 21 for escrow or custodial account liability, serve as a custodian for amounts not listed in Part X, or provide credit counseling, debt management, credit repair, or debt negotiation services7If "Yes, " complete Schedule D, Part IV . g No 10 Did the organization, directly or through a related organization, hold assets in temporarily restricted endowments, 10 Yes permanent endowments, or quasi-endowments? If "Yes," complete Schedule D, Part V 1i . 11 If the organization's answer to any of the following questions is "Yes," then complete Schedule D, Parts VI, VII, VIII, IX, or X as applicable a Did the organization report an amount for land, buildings, and equipment in Part X, line 10? Yes If "Yes, " complete Schedule D, Part VI . I la b Did the organization report an amount for investments-other securities in Part X, line 12 that is 5% or more of its total assets reported in Part X, line 167 If "Yes," complete Schedule D, Part VII . llb No c Did the organization report an amount for investments-program related in Part X, line 13 that is 5% or more of its total assets reported in Part X, line 16? If "Yes," complete Schedule D, Part VIII . lic No d Did the organization report an amount for other assets in Part X, line 15 that is 5% or more of its total assets reported in Part X, line 16? If "Yes," complete Schedule D, Part IX .
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Conserving Criminal-Justice Reform
    Conserving Criminal-Justice Reform Lars Trautman and Arthur L. Rizer, III hen carl harris was released from prison in 2009, he de- Wscribed himself as “a man coming out of a cave after 20 years.” Convicted of assault at age 24 after injuring two people who had stolen his crack cocaine, Harris had been a drug dealer since he was 18 years old. After six years in prison, he realized he wanted more out of life. He found God, got clean, and focused on his education. Despite his efforts at personal redemption and societal rehabilitation, Harris sat in prison for another 14 years, costing the federal government more than $300,000. During his 20 years in prison, Harris worked a $1.15-an-hour prison job; his wages failed to cover the cost for his wife, Charlene Hamilton, to visit him in prison, let alone help provide for their two young daugh- ters. As a newly single mother, Hamilton turned to welfare payments and relatives for support; she briefly became homeless a couple of times after being unable to make ends meet. As Hamilton put it: “Basically, I was locked up with him.” None of this is to suggest that Harris should not have gone to prison — even he agrees that he deserved some prison time — but his experience in the criminal-justice system demonstrates that incarceration affects not only prisoners themselves, but also their families, communities, and all American taxpayers. Harris is merely one of millions of Americans who experience the country’s outsized and inefficient criminal-justice system.
    [Show full text]
  • MAP Act Coalition Letter Freedomworks
    April 13, 2021 Dear Members of Congress, We, the undersigned organizations representing millions of Americans nationwide highly concerned by our country’s unsustainable fiscal trajectory, write in support of the Maximizing America’s Prosperity (MAP) Act, to be introduced by Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas) and Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.). As we stare down a mounting national debt of over $28 trillion, the MAP Act presents a long-term solution to our ever-worsening spending patterns by implementing a Swiss-style debt brake that would prevent large budget deficits and increased national debt. Since the introduction of the MAP Act in the 116th Congress, our national debt has increased by more than 25 percent, totaling six trillion dollars higher than the $22 trillion we faced less than two years ago in July of 2019. Similarly, nearly 25 percent of all U.S. debt accumulated since the inception of our country has come since the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now more than ever, it is critical that legislators take a serious look at the fiscal situation we find ourselves in, with a budget deficit for Fiscal Year 2020 of $3.132 trillion and a projected share of the national debt held by the public of 102.3 percent of GDP. While markets continue to finance our debt in the current moment, the simple and unavoidable fact remains that our country is not immune from the basic economics of massive debt, that history tells us leads to inevitable crisis. Increased levels of debt even before a resulting crisis slows economic activity -- a phenomenon referred to as “debt drag” -- which especially as we seek recovery from COVID-19 lockdowns, our nation cannot afford.
    [Show full text]
  • Minimum Wage Coalition Letter Freedomworks
    June 23, 2021 Dear Members of Congress, We, the undersigned organizations representing millions of Americans nationwide, write in blanket opposition to any increase in the federal minimum wage, especially in such a time when our job market needs maximum flexibility to recover from the havoc wreaked on it by the government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Workers must be compensated for their labor based on the value that said labor adds to their employer. Any deviation from this standard is harmful to workers and threatens jobs and employment opportunities for all workers. Whether it be to $11, $15, or any other dollar amount, increasing the federal minimum wage further takes away the freedom of two parties to agree on the value of one’s labor to the other’s product. As a result, employment options are restricted and jobs are lost. Instead, the free market should be left alone to work in the best interest of employers and employees alike. While proponents of raising the minimum wage often claim to be working in service of low-wage earners, studies have regularly shown that minimum wage increases harm low-skilled workers the most. Higher minimum wages inevitably lead to lay-offs and automation that drives low-skilled workers to unemployment. The Congressional Budget Office projected that raising the minimum wage to $15 would directly result in up to 2.7 million jobs lost by 2026. Raising it to $11 in the same time frame - as some Senators are discussing - could cost up to 490,000 jobs, if such a proposal is paired with eliminating the tip credit as well.
    [Show full text]
  • Taxpayers Oppose Hike in the Federal Gas Tax
    Illinois Policy Institute August 21, 2007 An Open Letter to the President and Congress: Taxpayers Oppose Hike in the Federal Gas Tax Dear President Bush and Members of Congress: On behalf of the millions of taxpayers represented by our respective organizations, we write in opposition to proposals that would increase the existing 18.4 cent-per-gallon federal excise tax on gasoline. One legislative plan promoted by Representative James Oberstar would temporarily increase the federal gas tax by 5 cents per gallon to fund bridge repair around the country. We are extremely concerned that this “temporary” tax increase would turn into a permanent one. After all, President George H.W. Bush’s “temporary” gas tax increase of 5 cents per gallon in 1990 never went away as promised, while lawmakers “repurposed” President Clinton’s 4.3 cent-per-gallon hike when the budget seemed headed toward a surplus. Proponents of a federal gas tax increase insist that few would even notice the change in their fuel bills. In reality, a 5 cent-per-gallon jump would represent a steep 27 percent tax hike over the current rate and cost American motorists an estimated $25 billion over the next three years. Combined with state gas taxes, many motorists would pay over $7.50 in taxes for the average fill-up. This is a substantial burden on families trying to make ends meet and only makes gas prices harder to stomach. Given high energy costs, now is the time to give taxpayers a lighter – not a heavier – gas tax burden. 1 We also reject the notion that there isn’t enough money available for infrastructure upkeep.
    [Show full text]
  • Trumpism on College Campuses
    UC San Diego UC San Diego Previously Published Works Title Trumpism on College Campuses Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1d51s5hk Journal QUALITATIVE SOCIOLOGY, 43(2) ISSN 0162-0436 Authors Kidder, Jeffrey L Binder, Amy J Publication Date 2020-06-01 DOI 10.1007/s11133-020-09446-z Peer reviewed eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California Qualitative Sociology (2020) 43:145–163 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11133-020-09446-z Trumpism on College Campuses Jeffrey L. Kidder1 & Amy J. Binder 2 Published online: 1 February 2020 # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020 Abstract In this paper, we report data from interviews with members of conservative political clubs at four flagship public universities. First, we categorize these students into three analytically distinct orientations regarding Donald Trump and his presidency (or what we call Trumpism). There are principled rejecters, true believers, and satisficed partisans. We argue that Trumpism is a disunifying symbol in our respondents’ self- narratives. Specifically, right-leaning collegians use Trumpism to draw distinctions over the appropriate meaning of conservatism. Second, we show how political clubs sort and shape orientations to Trumpism. As such, our work reveals how student-led groups can play a significant role in making different political discourses available on campuses and shaping the types of activism pursued by club members—both of which have potentially serious implications for the content and character of American democracy moving forward. Keywords Americanpolitics.Conservatism.Culture.Highereducation.Identity.Organizations Introduction Donald Trump, first as a candidate and now as the president, has been an exceptionally divisive force in American politics, even among conservatives who typically vote Republican.
    [Show full text]
  • Yesterday's News That Kathleen Sebelius
    A message from the following conservative leaders, representing the broader conservative movement: Tony Perkins, President, Family Research Council Wendy Wright, President, Concerned Women for America David Keene, Chairman, American Conservative Union Marjorie Dannenfelser, President, Susan B. Anthony List Grover Norquist, President, Americans for Tax Reform Tom Minnery, SVP of Government & Public Policy, Focus on the Family Don Wildmon, President, American Family Association Gov. Sebelius May Not Pay Her Own Taxes, but Has no Qualms about Using Tax Dollars to Pay for Others’ Abortions “Disclosures that Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, President Obama's nominee to head the Department of Health and Human Services, faces tax problems provides yet one more example of the incompetence that has characterized the Obama administration's transition process. By disclosing that she was forced to pay over $7000 in back taxes after her nomination, Gov. Sebelius joined the ranks of Obama nominees who thought they were above paying taxes, a group that includes her predecessor as nominee for HHS, Sen. Tom Daschle. Gov. Sebelius may not pay her own taxes, but has no qualms about using tax dollars to pay for others’ abortions. Even before she reported her tax issues Gov. Sebelius was manifestly unqualified to run America's health care system, as illustrated by her coddling of the abortion industry at the expense of Kansas women's safety. With her background, Gov. Sebelius can only be expected to politicize the office of HHS. Gov. Sebelius's difficulties illuminate an emerging pattern: that Obama nominates non-experts who cannot be relied upon to solve their own tax problems, let alone govern effectively.
    [Show full text]
  • LEARNING from LINCOLN Principle and Pragmatism Getting the Balance Right a Symposium
    LEARNING FROM LINCOLN Principle and Pragmatism Getting the Balance Right A Symposium David Allen, Paul D. Allick, Greg Blankenship, Fran Bradley, Barry Casselman, Larry Colson, Kevin Donnelly, Jim Dueholm, Amitai Etzioni, Joseph R. Fornieri, Paul Gessing, John Gibbs, Jay P. Greene, John Gunyou, Jake Haulk, Matthew Heffron, Eric Lipman, Randolph J. May, James H. Miller, Grover Norquist, Tom Prichard, Donald P. Racheter, Lawrence W. Reed, Dane Smith, David Tuerck, Lou Wangberg, Craig Westover, Cheri Pierson Yecke, Stephen B. Young Introduction by Mitch Pearlstein Center of the American Experiment is a nonpartisan, tax-exempt, public policy and educational institution that brings conservative and free market ideas to bear on the hardest problems facing Minnesota and the nation. LEARNING FROM LINCOLN Principle and Pragmatism Getting the Balance Right A Symposium David Allen, Paul D. Allick, Greg Blankenship, Fran Bradley, Barry Casselman, Larry Colson, Kevin Donnelly, Jim Dueholm, Amitai Etzioni, Joseph R. Fornieri, Paul Gessing, John Gibbs, Jay P. Greene, John Gunyou, Jake Haulk, Matthew Heffron, Eric Lipman, Randolph J. May, James H. Miller, Grover Norquist, Tom Prichard, Donald P. Racheter, Lawrence W. Reed, Dane Smith, David Tuerck, Lou Wangberg, Craig Westover, Cheri Pierson Yecke, Stephen B. Young Introduction by Mitch Pearlstein AUGUST 2008 August 2008 LEARNING FROM LINCOLN Principle and Pragmatism Getting the Balance Right A Symposium Introduction writers, talk show hosts, and others hold fast to what they view as clear-cut principle. Mitch Pearlstein Founder & President Or, on the other hand, the extent to which such players are open to accommodation, perhaps even Principle and Pragmatism: Getting the Balance eager to reach compromise with their opponents, Right is part of year-long series of Center regardless of whether such foes are outsiders or activities aimed at re-energizing conservatism in insiders of their own party.
    [Show full text]
  • Behind Janus: Documents Reveal Decade-Long Plot to Kill Public-Sector Unions
    Behind Janus: Documents Reveal Decade-Long Plot to Kill Public-Sector Unions The Supreme Court case Janus v. AFSCME is poised to decimate public-sector unions—and it’s been made possible by a network of right-wing billionaires, think tanks and corporations. MARY BOTTARI FEBRUARY 22, 2018 | MARCH ISSUE In These Times THE ROMAN GOD JANUS WAS KNOWN FOR HAVING TWO FACES. It is a fitting name for the U.S. Supreme Court case scheduled for oral arguments February 26, Janus v. American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Council 31, that could deal a devastating blow to public-sector unions and workers nationwide. In the past decade, a small group of people working for deep-pocketed corporate interests, conservative think tanks and right-wing foundations have bankrolled a series of lawsuits to end what they call “forced unionization.” They say they fight in the name of “free speech,” “worker rights” and “workplace freedom.” In briefs before the court, they present their public face: carefully selected and appealing plaintiffs like Illinois child-support worker Mark Janus and California schoolteacher Rebecca Friedrichs. The language they use is relentlessly pro-worker. Behind closed doors, a different face is revealed. Those same people cheer “defunding” and “bankrupting” unions to deal a “mortal blow” to progressive politics in America. A key director of this charade is the State Policy Network (SPN), whose game plan is revealed in a union-busting toolkit uncovered by the Center for Media and Democracy. The first rule of the national network of right-wing think tanks that are pushing to dismantle unions? “Rule #1: Be pro-worker, not anti-union.
    [Show full text]
  • The Long New Right and the World It Made Daniel Schlozman Johns
    The Long New Right and the World It Made Daniel Schlozman Johns Hopkins University [email protected] Sam Rosenfeld Colgate University [email protected] Version of January 2019. Paper prepared for the American Political Science Association meetings. Boston, Massachusetts, August 31, 2018. We thank Dimitrios Halikias, Katy Li, and Noah Nardone for research assistance. Richard Richards, chairman of the Republican National Committee, sat, alone, at a table near the podium. It was a testy breakfast at the Capitol Hill Club on May 19, 1981. Avoiding Richards were a who’s who from the independent groups of the emergent New Right: Terry Dolan of the National Conservative Political Action Committee, Paul Weyrich of the Committee for the Survival of a Free Congress, the direct-mail impresario Richard Viguerie, Phyllis Schlafly of Eagle Forum and STOP ERA, Reed Larson of the National Right to Work Committee, Ed McAteer of Religious Roundtable, Tom Ellis of Jesse Helms’s Congressional Club, and the billionaire oilman and John Birch Society member Bunker Hunt. Richards, a conservative but tradition-minded political operative from Utah, had complained about the independent groups making mischieF where they were not wanted and usurping the traditional roles of the political party. They were, he told the New Rightists, like “loose cannonballs on the deck of a ship.” Nonsense, responded John Lofton, editor of the Viguerie-owned Conservative Digest. If he attacked those fighting hardest for Ronald Reagan and his tax cuts, it was Richards himself who was the loose cannonball.1 The episode itself soon blew over; no formal party leader would follow in Richards’s footsteps in taking independent groups to task.
    [Show full text]
  • Target San Diego
    Target San Diego The Right Wing Assault on Urban Democracy and Smart Government Lee Cokorinos Target San Diego The Right Wing Assault on Urban Democracy and Smart Government A Report for the Center on Policy Initiatives Lee Cokorinos November 2005 Table of Contents Acknowledgments . ii Foreword . iii Executive Summary . v Introduction: The National Significance of the Battle for San Diego . 1 1. The National Context: Key Organizations Leading the Right’s Assault on the States and Cities . 5 A. The American Legislative Exchange Council . 7 B. The State Policy Network . 13 C. The Claremont Institute for the Study of Statesmanship and Political Philosophy . 17 D. The Pacific Research Institute . 21 E. Americans for Tax Reform and the Project for California’s Future . 25 F. The Reason Foundation . 33 2. The Performance Institute and the Assault on San Diego . 39 3. The Battle for America’s Cities: A National Engagement . 49 Endnotes . 57 I ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Acknowledgments This report was made possible through the generous support of the New World Foundation. Special thanks go to Colin Greer and Ann Bastian of New World for their leadership in fostering the movement for progressive renewal. Thanks also to Donald Cohen of the Center on Policy Initiatives for contributing keen insights and the benefit of his ground level experience at engaging the right at every step of the research and writing, to Murtaza Baxamusa of CPI for sharing his expertise, and to veteran political researcher Jerry Sloan for his valuable advice. Jerry’s decades of research on the California and the national right have educated a generation of activists.
    [Show full text]
  • Of 4 July 11, 2018 Dear Chairman Brady & Chairman Roskam
    July 11, 2018 The Honorable Peter Roskam The Honorable Kevin Brady Chairman, House Ways and Means Chairman, House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee Committee 2246 Rayburn House Office Building 1102 Longworth House Office Washington, DC 20515 Building Washington, DC 20515 Dear Chairman Brady & Chairman Roskam: On behalf of the undersigned organizations, we write in support of your Committee’s efforts to expand tax-advantaged Health Savings Accounts (HSAs). HSAs promote consumer driven healthcare, reduce taxes for families, and encourage lower healthcare spending. There are numerous important pieces of legislation that your Committee is considering that will improve HSAs including proposals to double the contribution limit, end the prohibition on purchasing over-the-counter medications, expand access to HSAs, and allow HSAs to be used by working seniors. Since they were created in 2004, HSAs have become a popular and successful vehicle that promotes patient choice in health care. HSAs are used in conjunction with low premium, high deductible health insurance plans and provide a vehicle for individuals to spend and control their own money on their own health needs. Today, HSAs are used by over 25 million American families and individuals. HSAs contribute to lower healthcare spending by promoting consumer driven healthcare. HSA funds are completely controlled by the individual and follow them between jobs creating an incentive to spend funds wisely. Research shows that families and individuals that utilize HSAs spend less on health care and use fewer medical services without forgoing necessary primary and preventative care. HSAs are already a significant vehicle to pay for healthcare expenses. An HSA user can accumulate as much as $360,000 after contributing to an account for 40 years assuming a rate of return of just 2.5 percent, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute.
    [Show full text]
  • Right of Reagan How the Extremism of Today’S Republican Presidential Candidates Sets Them Apart from Their Conservative Idol
    AP PHOTO/DAVID GOLDMAN PHOTO/DAVID AP Right of Reagan How the Extremism of Today’s Republican Presidential Candidates Sets Them Apart from Their Conservative Idol By Charles Posner, Molly Cain, and Anna Chu September 2015 WWW.AMERICANPROGRESSACTION.ORG Right of Reagan How the Extremism of Today’s Republican Presidential Candidates Sets Them Apart from Their Conservative Idol By Charles Posner, Molly Cain, and Anna Chu September 2015 Contents 1 Introduction and summary 6 Provided a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants 8 Stood up to the NRA to establish background checks 10 Signed a multilateral international treaty to reduce pollution 12 Negotiated to reduce nuclear proliferation 14 Grew the federal government 16 Closed tax loopholes favoring the wealthy and raised taxes 18 Conclusion 20 Endnotes Introduction and summary On September 16, the Republican presidential candidates will gather at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, for the second debate in the 2016 Republican primary process. It will be an opportunity for the candidates to pay homage to President Reagan, who to this day remains an idol and a paragon of conservatism to Republicans even though he left the Oval Office in 1989—nearly three decades ago. A 2012 Gallup poll showed that 90 percent of Republicans viewed Reagan as an outstanding or above average president, more favorably than any other recent president.1 And this year, 30 Republican governors signed procla- mations recognizing February 6 as Ronald Reagan Day.2 As presidential historian Douglas Brinkley explained, Reagan has “become a folklore president.”3 Clearly, part of the Reagan mystique is tied to the fact that he found a way to achieve something elusive to subsequent conservatives on the national stage: the ability to appeal to independents and Democrats and win the popular vote in presidential elections.
    [Show full text]