History
FGA was founded in 2011 byPolicy issues
Welfare reform
FGA's welfare policy reforms are aimed at reducing government dependency through the power of work.Food Stamps
FGA supports work requirements tied toMedicaid
Blocking Medicaid expansion attempts has been a longtime project of FGA, as it sees Medicaid spending under the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, as unsustainable, threatening both state budgets and the services provided to traditional Medicaid patients. One study developed a measure of "right-wing network strength" based on activity by organizations including the FGA, and found via linear regression that this measure was a statistically significant factor in whether or not a state expanded the program. A 2021 piece by the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal note FGA's position on Medicaid eligibility and improper payments: "It is no coincidence," FGA says that the two states with the highest publicly available improper payment rates have expanded Medicaid under Obamacare."Stop the Scam
Stop the Scam was an FGA campaign that began in 2014 encouraging states to partner with third-party vendors to verify correct filing for public programs like Medicare and Medicaid. As of 2022, FGA has enveloped Stop the Scam policy reforms into a broader "program integrity" suite of policy recommendations.Child Support Cooperation
Because of FGA's work, states including Nebraska, Arkansas, and South Dakota enacted a reform to help single-parent families collect past-due or unpaid child support requiring parents to cooperate with child support collection efforts before receiving subsidies.Tracking Studies
Since 2014, FGA has partnered with nearly a dozen state agencies to retrieve data and publish findings on conservative policy changes including food stamp work requirements and Medicaid work requirements, among others. By studying and tracking the impact of different reforms, FGA aims to describe what welfare policies have a demonstrable effect on the incomes and independence of people on welfare. FGA conducted what was described as the first and most comprehensive study of the impact of work requirements on able-bodied adults on food stamps in Kansas and Maine. The study concluded that incomes more than doubled within a year for those who transitioned out of the program, in contrast to other studies that found far more modest or even negative gains after comparable program-imposed time limits or means-testing. In 2018, FGA built a multimedia campaign around the release of their "Waivers Gone Wild" reports, which raised national awareness of these loopholes and emphasized the need to rein in waiver abuse so that the food stamp program can adequately serve the truly needy and empower able-bodied adults to move from welfare to work. The campaign employed email, social media, op-eds, and outreach to educate lawmakers, journalists, and the public about this issue. As a result, the Trump administration proposed a rule to curb abuse of the work requirement loopholes. This campaign was awarded "2019 Best Issue Campaign" by the State Policy Network.Health Care
Right to Shop
Right to Shop is an FGA proposal for a mechanism incentivizing patients to shop for health care services based on price and perceived value. It is based on existing programs, including a Massachusetts price transparency component and New Hampshire's Smart Shopper program.Trump Administration
FGA remained an influential voice on domestic health care policy issues during President Donald Trump's term.Off-Market Options
FGA has advocated for various health coverage options that are not part of the individual market or exchange. These include association health plans, short-term plans, and Farm Bureau plans. FGA has highlighted the lower costs of these alternative options compared to conventional health insurance plans on the market.Election Integrity
In 2021, FGA took on the issue of election and ballot integrity and is working with partners across the country to restore voter confidence. FGA has bee the leading national think tank advocating against the private funding of elections, coined "Zuckerbucks." In addition to Zuckerbucks, FGA has published election-related research on holding election officials accountable, improving accurate and fast ballot counting, secure voting by mail, and secure voter registration. FGA has produced a series of videos surrounding election integrity and restoring voter confidence, including with state and federal policymakers such as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and numerous Secretaries of State.Workforce
FGA's workforce solutions aim to remove government red tape surrounding the workplace and promote workplace alternatives such as apprenticeships, licensed occupations, and entrepreneurship. The group also promotes solutions to prepare the next generation for careers that don't require a four-year degree or incur high student loan debt.Unemployment
FGA has proposed several reforms related to unemployment insurance policy: * Index unemployment insurance benefit durations to prevailing economic conditions. * Make it easier for businesses to acquire experience rating * Requiring unemployment fraud and overpayment recovery * Requiring employers to report refusals to work * Maintaining unemployment insurance program integrity through the National Integrity Data Hub FGA's Vice President of Policy and Research, Jonathan Ingram, explains in an opinion for the Wall Street Journal, FGA's unemployment indexing policy reform stating, "When the economy is strong and the unemployment rate is low, benefits end sooner. When the economy is struggling and unemployment is high, benefits last longer. This approach spurs work and saves money in good times, while more effectively supporting laid-off workers in the toughest times."Special Projects
Center for Excellence in Polling
In 2021, the Foundation for Government Accountability launched the Center for Excellence in Polling (CEP), a new project that conducts quality market research and proactive messaging analysis to inform policymakers and the public of voters' opinions, attitudes, and concerns on critical public policy issues.Uncover Obamacare
Uncover ObamaCare was an FGA initiative which ran from 2013 to 2015 and resulted in 24 states initially saying no to the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion option. Their work kept 9.5 million Americans from becoming dependent on government and saved taxpayers almost $500 billion over the following decade. Since then, FGA has strongly advocated against Medicaid expansion in the remaining non-expansion states.COVID-19
FGA's polling, communications, research, and outreach played an instrumental role in stopping a full renewal of the $600 weekly federal unemployment insurance bonus passed in March 2020 through the CARES Act. According to senior staff from the Senate Steering Committee, FGA's polling - which showed that extending the $600 weekly bonus was both bad policy and bad politics - was the only non-media polling senators had on the issue, and "changed the debate" on the Senate floor. Combined with FGA's efforts to stop state bailouts, this change saved taxpayers $806 billion in 2020 alone.Affiliations and Coalitions
The Foundation for Government Accountability is a member of theFunding
FGA operates as aReferences
External links
* {{official website, http://thefga.org