Lobbying And Anticipated Obstacles Of The Legislative Arena

Since the creation of the United States government, political lobbying has played a large role in influencing the creation and modification of laws. The act of lobbying is to solicit or try to influence the votes of members of a legislative body (Dictionary.com). There has always been controversy surrounding the political lobbying system, due to the potential of corruption through bribery. Two important pieces of legislation became laws as a result of this controversy. The Federal Regulation of Lobbying Act of 1946 and the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 were created to prevent potential abuse within the political lobbying system.

Lobbying (also lobby) is the act of attempting to influence decisions made by officials in a government, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying is done by many types of people, associations and organized groups, including individuals in the private sector, corporations, fellow legislators or government officials, or advocacy groups (interest groups). Lobbyists may be among a legislator's constituencies, meaning a voter or block of voters within his or her electoral district, or not; they may engage in lobbying as a business, or not. Basically when you’re giving an opinion from someone else it’s not something that’s coming from your mouth it’s not how you feel someone is giving you what to say.

The Obesity Policy Coalition has been determined to influence change in policy and regulation to help prevent obesity, particularly in children. Rates of

Nurses’ involvement in policy debates brings our professional values to bear on the process. (Warner, 2003) The Master’s prepared nurse’s goal as an advocate should be to fight to enhance the client’s wellbeing in every possible way, at every available opportunity. This can be achieved by being part of organization that advocate for patients’ right as well as for better working condition for our colleagues. Also, nurses could choose to get involved in politics or lobby on behalf of other nurses.

Nurses have the ability to have their voice received which can aid with change in health care by a number of ways, one of which is to become active within the community and advocate for nursing and advanced care for the public. One way this can be done is to influence legislators by becoming active in supporting health care bills.

The AMA uses the mass media, policy formation, testimonies at legislative or agency hearings, direct and informal contact with legislators, and elections as their lobbying strategies for bill # H.R.1628 titled “American Health Care Act of 2017”. The legislative strategies they mainly use is their direct contact with legislators, because as was stated before, the AMA’s “representatives are leaders and political forces in every congressional district, every community in America.” The AMA has an extensive network of individuals, which makes it easy for them to get into contact with congressional actors. Some other strategies the AMA uses is that they support drafting regulation/shaping policy on agenda-setting, talking to journalists and using paid advertisements. In David Trumans’ book, “Basic Interests: The Importance of Interest Groups in Politics and Political Science”, spends an entire chapter describing the dynamics of access in the legislative process. For example, an important factor to keep in mind is that “The legislature as a part of the institution of government embodies, albeit incompletely, the expectations, understandings, and values prevailing in the society concerning how the government should operate.” The AMA is like that of a heavy tank on a battlefield crushing the competition (other interest groups) in US legislature. They understand that their ideas and beliefs can be implemented into legislature and can affect the way the US government operates. Another conception of Truman’s “dynamics of access” is that of “"pressure," conceived as bribery or coercion in various forms, which is scarcely the distinguishing feature of interest groups in the legislative process. Such coercion is frequently attempted, of course, and it often has an observable effect.” The AMA is known for its lobbying efforts and overall impact in the

What is lobbying, and how is it regulated on the federal level? A lobbyist is someone who attempts to influence decisions made by bureaucrats in the government. Politicians and members of governing agencies are the main target of lobbyist. There are two common types of lobbying. Direct lobbying involves a lobbyist expressing their views to someone directly involved with legislation; whereas, grassroots lobbying conveys a view concerning a detailed lawmaking proposal to the community and encourages citizens to communicate this view to their legislators. Lobbying is a heavily regulated profession in the United States. The regulations obligate lobbyists to register with the House of Representatives and the Senate, report names and addresses

Energized by the U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding most of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the American Nurses Association (ANA) is continuing its wide ranging efforts to ensure that Registered Nurses (RNs) have an even greater role in providing high quality care as implementation of the landmark law progresses. As guiding principles, ANA contends that health care is a basic human right, and that all deserve access to essential health care services. As nurses witness every day, a lack of primary and preventive care can cause people's manageable chronic conditions to spiral, leading to poorer patient outcomes and increased overall health care costs. (Anonymous, 2012). According to Billings and Halstead (2012), nurses are poised to participate in transforming this nation's health care system. Participation requires nurses to possess political advocacy skills so that nursing voice is brought to the policy debates and policy development.

According to article written by Edmunds, legislative changes that occur for NPs are greater autonomy, ability to prescribe medicaiton and removal of restrictions of ties with physicians. The success in passing this legislation was due to the Affordable Care act that resulted to massive population needing of health care. Although NP ( with their own practice) can collect payment directly from Medicare the amount collected is less than a physician's office who provides similar service. Thus, future strategy for NP lobbyist will be for NP to receive 100% reimbursement

To ensure that we as nurses are advocates for not only our patients, but also out communities as a whole, it is imperative for us to fully understand our scope of proactive and our voices that can be heard as an individuals but also as a collaborative voice in legislations by being in empowered professional groups such as the ANA. Promoting better health care polices benefits our society with better health outcomes as well as better financial futures since a healthier society wastes less money and resources when compared to one that does not promote health initiatives. One way to ensure that we as nurses are up to date on current policy and legislation issues is to join a professional group such as the ANA. Advocacy for health care policy requires knowledge and efforts of such large groups and active lobbyists that professional organizations can offer its members (Abood, 2007). Being well informed by a reputable and trust worthy group not only keeps one up to date on all current healthcare issues, but also gives access to resources to actively engage in proposed solutions so that nurses may better advocate for the patients and populations who are so greatly affected by healthcare

There are three major organizations in nursing that have made great impacts on the way nurses guide and represent their profession. One of the organizations is the American Nurses Association (ANA) whose mission statement is “nurses advancing our profession to improve health for all” and their philosophy is committed to ensure that there are an adequate supply of “high-skilled and well-educated nurses is available” (ANA, 2014). The ANA helps to advance the nursing profession through fostering high standards, the promotion of the general welfare of nursing professionals in the workplace, projecting a positive as well as realistic view of nursing practices, and lobbying within Congress about health care issues that affect both nurses and the general public (ANA, 2014). The ANA is primarily responsible for restructuring healthcare through legislature and lobbying on both state and national levels (ANA, 2014).

As nurses we strive to always practice in the best of our ability. One way that that we can further our efforts is to utilize our voice through health-care lobbying. The best approach to health-care lobbying is to first understand the legislative process. Consequently the purpose of this paper is to distinguish the legislative process as well as convey the benefits of health-care lobbying to not only the workers but the patients.

A major portion of lobbying for a cause is lobbying Congress. The lobbying of Congress needs to be targeted to specific committees and staffers within the committees in order for it to be the most effective. The committee that would best be the targets of my lobbying group would be the judiciary committee, specifically the subcommittees of the Constitution and Civil Justice and Immigration and Border Security. These would be ideal because they handle civil rights issues such as human trafficking and also handle matters regarding refugees, which is what many human trafficking victims are classified as. These subcommittees would also have jurisdiction for many additional reasons.

In conclusion, the burden of obesity in the United States poses a serious threat to population health. As such, community targeted advocacy campaigns can contribute to changes in the food environment and can lead to lowering the current obesity rate worldwide. For as often as it is used for implementing changes, advocacy is just one of the many tools to continue the fight against obesity. ARNPs are in an excellent position to lobby for changes to combat obesity. Because only a powerful government effort can put policies in place, it is imperative revisit the issue of obesity today and reach out to the decision –makers to act on the basis of evidence and information regarding the global epidemic, that is obesity.

Every essay assignment changed my perspective on something or strengthened the knowledge I already had but,with the Argumentative Essay I felt more engaged than ever with my assignment.The ability to choose my topic already made me feel more in control, but i still had to critically think.When I was determining what topic I felt more inclined to write about I was confused on which to choose not because of lack of options but because my dilemma was that I had too much. In order to truly pick I not only decided on what I was very passionate about, but also on a topic that I knew was uncommon and could educate more than reiterate .I thought of Lobbying which I once wrote a speech about and had a clear interest in. I had a lot of conversations with friends and family about lobbying and came to the realization that it was not only important to me, but to everyone I knew whether they knew about it or not it had a significant importance in their life.The process was interesting because I didn’t lack information, but I had a lot since it was something that I had read upon for a long time so my struggle became the organization. I also had to make it clear and concise because I found it was easy to become stray from your main thesis when you have a lot of information on the general topic. My views didn’t necessarily change yet  the ideas and notions I had on Lobbying were strengthened by the research I got and how I tried to deliver my argument.