Fitness Leaders Rally on Capitol Hill for HFA's 2025 Fly-In as PHIT Act Gains Momentum

Here are some of the highlights from the fill-to-capacity event, which was held May 5-7 in Washington, DC.

The health and fitness industry took over Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, last week, flooding the offices of senators and representatives with 125 industry leaders urging co-sponsorship of the Personal Health Improvement Today (PHIT) Act and inclusion of it in the Reconciliation Bill that Republicans in the House of Representatives are putting together. The group was there as part of the Health & Fitness Association’s 2025 Fly-In and Advocacy Summit.

The hard work is paying off as the HFA learned today that the PHIT Act is included in the Reconciliation Bill as it stands today, giving the act one of its best chances to pass since the industry began working on it 17 years ago.

The PHIT Act would allow Americans to use pre-tax dollars from their health savings accounts and flexible spending accounts to pay for health club memberships, fitness equipment, exercise videos, and youth sports leagues.

More than 125 fitness industry leaders, including executives from 24 Hour Fitness, Bay Club Company, Fitness International (LA Fitness), Gold's Gym, Life Time, Planet Fitness, Purpose Brands, and solidcore, participated in the event, which started with a packed advocacy summit, pictured in this selfie taken by HFA Vice President of Government Affairs Mike Goscinski and HFA President and CEO Liz Clark.

The annual fly-in has been a factor in getting the act more visibility, as it allows constituents from the health and fitness industry to meet with legislators and their key staff members to share the importance of the act to get more people active.

This year’s fly-in began with an evening reception on May 5 at the HFA’s DC office.

The evening reception on May 5 offered a welcome to participants and allowed the HFA to show off its new office in Washington, DC.

The event continued the next morning with a group workout at the Gold’s Gym in the NoMa Center in DC. Leading the workout was Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), a former high school and college wrestler and a former mixed martial arts fighter with a professional record of 5-0. Five other members of Congress participated in the workout: Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA), Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), Rep. Monica De La Cruze (R-TX), Rep. Darin LaHood (R-IL), and Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-AK). US Olympic gold medal gymnast Dominique Dawes, founder and brand ambassador of the Dominique Dawes Gymnastics & Ninja Academy, also participated in the workout before serving as a panelist in the afternoon session, “Positioning for Prevention.”

The group workout, led by Rep. Mullins (in gray T-shirt to the left of Clark in the white T-shirt), also included Rep. Seth Moulton (back row, fourth from right), Rep. Josh Gottheimer, Rep. Monica De La Cruze, Rep. Darin LaHood, and Rep. Bruce Westerman, and gold medal gymnast Dominique Dawes (front row, second from left).

The advocacy summit portion of the event kicked off at noon on May 6 at the Riggs Hotel with a lunch and keynote address by Rep. David Schweikert (R-AZ), who is a member of the Ways and Means Committee and chairman of the Oversight Subcommittee. Schweikert is an advocate for healthcare reform and has been a leading voice on issues ranging from telehealth expansion to tax reform. During the 117th Congress, he helped author a landmark Joint Economic Committee report that examined the economic impacts of obesity on the American healthcare system, underscoring the urgent need for preventive health solutions to improve outcomes and reduce federal healthcare spending.

Rep. David Schweikert, a member of the Ways and Means Committee and chairman of the Oversight Subcommittee, offered the opening keynote and took questions from the leaders in the room.

The keynote was followed by three panels, noted in the captions below, that helped prepare attendees for their meetings with legislators.

The first panel of the day, “Positioning for Prevention,” focused on the role physical activity plays in public health and how the industry is positioned to assist all Americans. Moderated by Adam Zeitsiff, chair of NHFA and CEO of Dominique Dawes Gymnastics & Ninja Academy (left), the panel included Colin Milner, founder and CEO, International Council on Active Aging; Dawes; Dr. Katrina Piercy, director, Division of Prevention Science, Health & Human Services; and Dr. Laura Makaroff, senior vice president, Prevention & Early Detection, American Cancer Society.

The second panel focused on the uncertainty around trade and tariff policy, how that impacts the health and fitness industry. Mike Goscinski, HFA vice president of government affairs (far right), moderated the panel, and Justin Kintz (left), partner at Forbes Tate, and Patrick O’Neill (center), managing partner at Public Strategies Washington, served as the panelists.

In the last panel of the day, “Understanding Tax and the Reconciliation Process,” Kirsten Chadwick, partner at Fierce Government Relations, and Neil Bradley, executive vice president, chief policy officer, and head of strategic advocacy at the US Chamber of Commerce, broke down the ongoing reconciliation process on Capitol Hill and what it means for key tax provisions impacting the health and fitness industry.

The work continued into the evening on May 6 when the HFA hosted a reception at the National Observatory, attended by the group and 11 members of Congress.

The reception took place on the rooftop of the Naval Observatory in Washington, DC.

Clark posed at the reception with three of the 11 representatives in attendance: (left to right) Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA), Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA), and Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA). Also in attendance but not pictured were Rep. Sheri Biggs (R-SC), Rep. Rob Bresnahan (R-PA), Rep. Eric Burlison (R-MO), Rep. Jim Costa (D-CA), Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX), Rep. Adam Gray (D-CA), Rep. Frank Lucas (R-OK), Rep. Bob Onder (R-MO), and Rep. Marc Veasey (D-TX).

Meetings with members of Congress in their offices began the next day after a group shot on the steps of the capitol. The day also included a visit to the East Wing of the White House for a few of the participants to discuss the White House's support of the industry. See the pictures below for some of the highlights.

A group shot on the Capitol steps started the day of meetings.

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A few participants in the fly-in visited the White House to meet with White House staffers. Participants in the meeting were (left to right) Taylor Kelly of Newtown Athletic Club, Chad Abramo of Fitness International (LA Fitness), Mike Leveque of Bay Clubs, Mike Goscinski of HFA, Linda Mitchell of Newtown Athletic Club, Jeff Freeland of the White House Office of Legislative Affairs, Deborah Fiorella of 24 Hour Fitness, Jim Worthington of Newtown Athletic Club, Chris Smith of Fitness World and chair of the HFA board, Ashley Walukevich of the White House Office of Political Strategy and Outreach, Gale Landers of Fitness Formula Clubs, Erik Lindseth of Life Time, and another White House staff member.

Sen. Jim Banks (R-IN) (center) is an Orangetheory member and had an opportunity to meet with Orangetheory COO JJ Creegan (right), arranged by HFA's Clark (left).

Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL) (seated at head of the table) took time to meet with one of the groups to talk about addressing chronic disease.

Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) (right) met with a group that included (left to right) Al Noshirvani of Method Gym and Alta Technology Group, Tom Gavaghan of Technogym, and Aaron Moore of Vida Fitness.

Rep. Lisa McClain (R-MI) (center), who is chair of the House Republican Conference, took time out of her busy day to meet with one of the fly-in groups that included (left to right) Mel Kleist of East Bank Club, Erik Lindseth of Life Time, Luke Carlson of Discover Strength and soon-to-be chair of the HFA board, Clark, Mark Harrington of Healthworks, Paula Neubert of Bay Club Co., Cory Brightwell of Chuze Fitness, Erin Oncken of Gold's Gym, and JJ Creegan of Purpose Brands (Orangetheory).

Rep. Aaron Bean (R-FL) showed his support for the work of the group after their meeting. The group members were (left to right) Mel Kleist of East Bank Club, Luke Carlson of Discover Strength, Skylar Wilcox of HFA, Erin Oncken of Gold's Gym, Bean, Clark of HFA, JJ Creegan of Purpose Brands (Orangetheory), Mark Harrington of Healthworks, Paula Neubert of Bay Club Co., and Cory Brightwell of Chuze Fitness.

The event was sponsored by the following brands who understand the importance of engagement with policymakers to create a better future for the industry:

Alta Technology Group, Technogym, Matrix, Daxko, DirecTV, Life Fitness, True Fitness, dotFIT, DX Factor, Echelon, EGYM, Lionel University, NASM, OnePass, Powertec, ROR, Tivity Health, WellHub, and WellnessSpace Brands.

We're already planning our 2026 Fly-In & Advocacy Summit, which will be held May 4-6, 2026, in Washington, DC.

This article was a team effort by several HFA experts.