User:Morzabeth/Heritage Action

Heritage Action for America, also known as Heritage Action, is a conservative lobbying and advocacy group based in Washington, D.C. Heritage Action was founded in 2010 and is a sister organization to the conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation.

Background
Heritage Action for America was founded in April 2010 by The Heritage Foundation, and works to expand the political reach of The Heritage Foundation and advance the conservative policies recommended by its researchers.

Officials at The Heritage Foundation began engaging in political advocacy following the March 2010 passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. As a 501(c)3 organization, the think tank cannot engage in direct lobbying, so it created Heritage Action to serve as its lobbying and advocacy arm.

Heritage Action began with an initial staff of ten, including chief executive officer Michael A. Needham and chief operating officer Timothy J. Chapman.

Organization and leadership
Heritage Action is headquartered in Washington, D.C. within The Heritage Foundation's offices. Although Heritage Action is a sister organization to The Heritage Foundation, both organizations have stated that Heritage Action does not influence the scholarly research undertaken by The Heritage Foundation.

Current leadership includes chief executive officer Michael A. Needham, chief operating officer Tim Chapman, political director Russ Vought, and communications director Dan Holler. In addition to its staff In Washington, D.C., Heritage Action employs twelve regional coordinators across the United States to develop and lead the grassroots efforts of the organization.

Funding
Heritage Action is registered as a 501(c)4 organization and is not required to report its donors. At a Christian Science Monitor breakfast in October 2013, Needham stated that Heritage Action was "not being transparent" with their donors as they have generally declined to disclose who their donors are. Self-reporting donors include Google, who contributed an undisclosed amount, and Freedom Partners, an organization partially funded by the Koch brothers, which gave approximately $500,000 in 2012.

The organization raised $4.6 million in contributions in 2011 and $5.9 million in 2012. According to Heritage Action's 2012 tax filing, approximately 44 percent of donations come from individuals donating less than $5,000. In 2012, Heritage Action reported 61,000 donors.

Activities
Heritage Action seeks to advance the policy recommendations of The Heritage Foundation by working to hold Republican politicians accountable to promises made to their constituents. The organization uses television and web advertisements, traditional lobbying, public rankings, and nationwide grassroots efforts to achieve its goals.

The organization trains volunteers known as "sentinels" to help organize grassroots efforts including letter writing and phone call campaigns, contacting talk-radio programs, engaging elected officials at public meetings, and supporting Heritage Action's efforts on social media. As of 2013, Heritage Action reported a network of 6000 "sentinels" and around 400,000 supporters. The organization also reaches out to supporters of The Heritage Foundation.

In addition to grassroots efforts, Heritage Action publishes legislative scorecards that rate how conservative Heritage Action considers a lawmaker to be by tracking their voting records and their involvement with certain congressional bills. Before a relevant vote is taken, the organization notifies lawmakers of Heritage Action’s recommended vote and informs Congressmen that the vote will be tracked on their scorecard. Bills included on the scorecard are determined by Michael Needham, Tim Chapman, Russ Vought, Dan Holler and Heritage Action's registered lobbyists.

Congressional aides and some members of Congress have expressed concerns that Heritage Action’s activities have negatively impacted the reputation of The Heritage Foundation and have angered some lawmakers. Heritage Action has stated that the negative reaction of lawmakers is a result of the organization’s desire to disrupt "business as usual".

Agriculture
In a 2012 op-ed printed in The Wall Street Journal, Heritage Action CEO Michael Needham advocated for the separation of farm-subsidies legislation from  food-stamp funding to enable separate reforms to each program. In June 2013, Heritage Action issued a voting alert calling for a "yes" on an amendment that would separate the programs as Needham had previously advocated. That amendment failed to pass, and when a new version of the bill was put forward several weeks later, Heritage Action issued a call for a "no" vote because the new farm legislation did not contain adequate reforms to crop subsidies. This was seen by some conservative lawmakers as Heritage Action "moving the goal post".

Transportation and energy
Heritage Action opposed the New Alternative Transportation to Give Americans Solutions Act of 2011, which sought to provide tax incentives to the natural gas industry, local governments, and businesses for supporting natural gas-powered vehicles. Additionally, Heritage Action supports the Transportation Empowerment Act which would lower the national gas tax would transfer authority over highways and transportation projects to states.

In 2013, Heritage Action signed a joint statement calling for the end of the wind-production tax credit when it expired that year. The organization has also voiced support for the Energy Freedom and Economic Prosperity Act of 2013, which proposes to eliminate all energy tax credits.

Defense, foreign policy, trade and immigration
When the Syrian Civil War began in 2013, Heritage Action opposed American involvement as the organization felt that there were no U.S. interests at stake. Heritage Action also led opposition against the New START treaty with Russia, which proposes to decrease the number of strategic warheads held by each country. Additionally, the organization voiced opposition to the Law of the Sea treaty, which recognizes the sovereignty of a nation for up to 200 nautical miles from their shore. In March 2014, Heritage Action led the opposition to block reforms to the International Monetary Fund from being added to a Ukraine aid package.

In 2011, Heritage Action supported trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea.

Heritage Action has opposed border security amendments, including the Border Security Results Act from Republican Senator John Cornyn and the Corker-Hoeven Amendment to the Senate Gang of Eight's immigration reform bill known as the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013. The organization has stated that it opposes these amendments as they would lead to the passage of legislation which calls for amnesty to those who have illegally immigrated to the United States.

Health care and assistance programs
In 2013, Heritage Action led a campaign to repeal and defund the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 by encouraging lawmakers to refuse to support the Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2014, which would increase the federal debt limit, unless it contained legislation that would also defund the health care act. The organization hosted a speaking tour with Senator Ted Cruz to promote its positions and conducted an advertising campaign directed towards Republican lawmakers who had not yet declared support for attaching legislation to the spending bill that would defund the health care law. Ultimately, the spending bill was delayed long enough that it led to a government shutdown in October 2013. The Washington Post attributed much of the shutdown to the influence of Heritage Action. Additionally, House Speaker John Boehner criticized Heritage Action for contributing to the government shutdown.

In 2014, Heritage Action opposed an extension of long-term unemployment benefits stating that such benefits are "not a free lunch".

Finance and housing
Heritage Action opposed extending the Transaction Account Guarantee Program in 2012, which gave insurance guarantees to  non-interest bearing bank accounts and which had been renewed in the  Dodd-Frank Act. Heritage Action later supported bill H.R. 273 by Representative Ron DeSantis, which overturned a 2012 executive order from President Barack Obama that sought to end a federal pay freeze. Heritage Action joins several conservative groups in supporting Jeb Hensarling's efforts to abolish Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The organization opposed the 2013 nomination of Janet Yellen to the head of the Federal Reserve and counted the vote of her appointment on its scorecards.

In February of 2014, Heritage Action issued a voting alert opposing the Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act of 2013 which proposed to stop reforms enacted by the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Act of 2012.

Technology
Heritage Action was opposed to the Stop Online Piracy Act and, as a member of the Digital 4th Coalition, supports reforming the Electronic Communications Privacy Act to require a search warrant for government agencies to access the contents of a user's email.