Quietly, the right shapes its agenda -The Hill [View All]

[Rose Siding]

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As the conservative movement has gained strength in recent years, its champions in the Senate have sought to organize and hold regular strategy meetings, taking cues from more established gatherings on the House side and on K Street. Older groups such as the CWG, which was set up in 1974, have been rejuvenated, while a bevy of new groups has sprung up. These include the Values Action Team (VAT), which emphasizes social issues; the Fiscal Action Team (FAT), which focuses on economic and tax issues; and a gun-rights group.

Attendees claim that the behind-the-scenes strategy sessions have already swayed the Senate agenda, even though few people realize it, because, as one Senate aide put it, “We derive our power from being underground.”
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“When we first started , we didn’t really have anyone in leadership favorable to our point of view,” said Paul Weyrich, who led the CWG in its early years and now heads the Free Congress Foundation. “We had to figure out ways to get around them. … Today, it’s entirely different. Today, we have the most conservative leadership group in the modern history of Senate. … The Steering Committee under these circumstances is taken very seriously.”

Myers agreed. “They aren’t outsiders anymore. It used to be that to get attention, they had to throw bombs. Now they are in the room. They are leadership,” he said.

http://www.hillnews.com/news/10052004/agenda.aspx