The AARP has received $83 million in subsidies from the federal government and is using the money to promote its own political agenda.
Government subsidies make up 10% of the organization’s annual revenue - $878 million, according to a special report by the National Legal and Policy Center published recently. The report also shows that AARP’s total assets amount to $1.6 billion.
While it bills itself as a “private, non-profit group” and is welcome to take a stand on public policy issues, “AARP does not have the right to expect taxpayers to foot the bill to help advance its political agenda,” said John Carlisle, NLCP policy director and author the report.
AARP spent at least $10 million to defeat President Bush’s efforts to restructure Social Security into private retirement accounts, according to the report.
“It is ridiculous that an organization as rich and as partisan as AARP gets tens of millions of taxpayer dollars each year,” Carlisle said in a press release.
NLCP sent House Speaker Dennis Hastert a letter Monday asking Congress to stop subsidizing AARP.
According to the NLPC press release, the letter was signed by a number of noteworthy right-winged leaders - including Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform; Paul Weyrich, national chairman of Coalitions for America; Thomas Schatz, President of the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste; and J. William Lauderback, executive vice president of American Conservative Union.
