Dear Friends:

I am pleased to provide you with the National Center for Policy Analysis' second quarterly report for 2003.

The big news this quarter was the passage of a new tax cut, being hailed as a victory for President Bush and the American economy. The NCPA's work, especially that of Senior Fellow Bruce Bartlett, was instrumental in shaping the debate on the dividend tax bill. Bartlett reinforced efforts to get a good final package through his syndicated column twice a week in the Washington Times and other publications, such as the Wall Street Journal, Financial Post, The New York Times and United Press International.

As the quarter came to an end, the next big issue was Medicare prescription drug policy. With respect to this vitally important issue:

• The NCPA sponsored a breakfast briefing on Capitol Hill with Medicare administrator Tom Scully, and Progressive Policy Institute economist Jeff Lemieux.

• NCPA Senior Fellow and Medicare/Social Security trustee Thomas Saving briefed the Senate Republican Steering Committee as well as the House Blue Dog Democrats.

• The House Republican Study Committee distributed Saving's research on the financial outlook for Medicare to educate Congressional leaders about the potential liability to taxpayers.

Leading up to the votes in the House and Senate, the NCPA published a study by Thomas Saving and Andrew Rettenmaier and a Brief Analysis by me. On the eve of the votes:

• AWall Street Journal editorial by Saving and Rettenmaier estimated that Medicare bills will create burdens for future taxpayers that total $7 trillion at today's prices.

• In my Wall Street Journal editorial, I argued that America has enough money in the health care system at present to allow seniors to access the same kinds of health plans other Americans have.

• The Journal itself recycled much of our material in its own editorials.

The strongest argument for privatizing Social Security is the existence of Medicare. With the recent entitlement spending, the need for Social Security reform will become greater than ever. Team NCPA, our volunteer effort, now has more than 3,200 members who monitor the news and alert the NCPA when the local media discusses Social Security.

We are working in partnership with the National Black Chamber of Commerce (NBCC), the world's largest organization dedicated to black business empowerment, to bring Team NCPA's message of reform to approximately 12.5 million members of the African American community in the next three years. Our goal for 2003 is to enlist 5,000 African American volunteers nationwide and add 10 African American leaders to the Advisory Board. Together, the two organizations will take the NCPA's message to an even wider audience, with the ultimate goal of reforming Social Security and enabling working Americans, especially minorities, to achieve equity in their retirement plans.

Additionally, we are launching a special Team NCPA project in Iowa to blanket the state with information about the importance and need for Social Security reform. A Team NCPA poll showed that the environment is right for building a groundswell of support for NCPA-style reform: nearly 3 out of 4 Iowans recognize Social Security faces serious problems and are willing to help reform the current system.

The success of the NCPA stems from our integrated marketing tactics and success in communicating ideas to general public, opinion leaders in Congress, other think tanks and the media. NCPA ideas about public policy issues reached U.S. households almost 1.1 billion times through print and broadcast in 2002. We currently average over 4.25 million hits on our main website per month; hits for all the sites topped 52 million and subscribers for all five of our e-mail newsletters totaled nearly 15,000. Our first quarter in 2003 increased 28 percent from last year's first quarter, finishing at almost 16 million hits on our main site in three months.

For your convenience, the NCPA is now displaying our quarterly activities and clip book on-line at www.ncpa.org/abo/quarterly. Hard copies of media articles are only available upon request, but links to all clip highlights will be posted on the Web site. If an article of interest appears without a Web link, please feel free to contact the NCPA's Development Department and request a hard copy for review.

With your help, the NCPA can continue promoting these revolutionary outreaches and shaping the debate in public policy issues across the United States. The NCPA relies solely on support from its donors, and we value your questions and comments. Click here to see how you can join the National Center for Policy Analysis and become a part of our groundbreaking work today.

Warm regards,

John Goodman
President

Second Quarter 2003: Report to Donors | Clip Hightlights | Activites | Quarterly Reports Home