In lending its lobbying muscle to current Democratic health care bills, AARP is providing a formidable ally.
According to the Center for Responsive Politics, AARP has spent $170 million on lobbying since 1998, making it the largest nonprofit lobbying group by orders of magnitude. AARP’s lobbying budget regularly exceeds that of defense giants such as Lockheed Martin, the drug lobby and the insurance lobby. With more than 60 in-house lobbyists, AARP has one of the largest influence armies in town (by comparison, the National Rifle Association employs only 13 registered lobbyists).
With this clout, AARP weighs in on issues spanning the spectrum. The group’s lobbying issues include the digital television transition, vote by mail, cap and trade, re-importation of prescription drugs, mortgage assistance — and, of course, health care.
AARP also brings to the fight some hired guns from K Street. Since January 2008, Peter Reinecke has served as an outside health care lobbyist for AARP. Reinecke had been chief of staff to Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, chairman of the Senate’s health committee and the appropriations subcommittee on Health and Human Services. In July 2009, AARP retained Quinn & Gillespie’s Bonnie Hogue Duffy, formerly the top health policy adviser for the Senate Democratic Policy Committee.
These intimate connections to power are only one element of AARP’s lobbying power. Approximately 40 million members — who disproportionately turn out to vote and who are more likely to have the time to call, write, and visit their congressmen — provide AARP with an asset few lobbies have: a huge grass-roots army. But unlike the NRA, AARP’s members have diverse political views, which can blunt the force of their phone blitzes.
One Senate office reported receiving 700 constituent calls through AARP on Wednesday. But a staffer there reported that many callers were patched through to the Senate office unexpectedly after an automated call told them to “press 1 for lower Medicare prescription drug prices.”
Still, with its millions of dollars, dozens of lobbyists and 40 million members, AARP has racked up a pretty good winning percentage in Washington, which is good news for President Obama and his health care overhaul.
