Bass Takes the Reigns of Tuesday Group
WASHINGTON, 11/22/04–The congressmen strolled into the press gallery and assembled in front of a sign that read “Vox Centrum,” meaning “voice of the center.” They glanced at one another and wondered aloud whether they should wait to begin the conference they had called to talk about the new leadership of their group of moderate Republicans until one more colleague showed up.
“Is that it, four of you?,” said one of the reporters, laughing.
Quiet chuckles spread through the small crowd gathered to hear them last week.
“Plus 31,” said Rep. Charles Bass, flashing a wry smile.
These 35 Republican House members are known as the Tuesday Group, moderate Republicans that meet once a week over pizza or sandwiches in the basement of the Capitol to hammer out their agenda, Bass and Mark Kirk (IL), plan to make the most of their numbers in order to make their voices, and what they call the voice of mainstream America, not only heard, but heeded.
In a GOP- dominated House, the 35 votes could influence legislation to the advantage of the Democrats, or could be garnered by conservative Republicans for a greater majority.
As the new co-chairs of the group, Bass and Rep. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., plan to make the most of their voices, and what they think are the voices of mainstream America, not only heard, but heeded.
“We’re not just going to try to pick issues that we think conservatives are going to like,” said Bass. “We’re going to develop an agenda that our members want and there’s consensus for to push. We’re going to try to stick together as a group and have some real results to show at the end of the session.”
Or, as Kirk put it, “We’re going to underpromise and overdeliver.”
The Tuesday Group began in the late 1970’s under the title of the “Tuesday lunch bunch.” At first, the group included members of the Senate as well as the House. Past and long-time co-chair Mike Castle, R-Del., said he remembers taking his brown bag lunch to Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe’s office to talk with a few others about the agenda for the moderates.
Members no longer have to pack their own lunches, and the group now only includes Houses members (a separate group known as the Republican Main Street Partnership includes moderate House and Senate members). But the focus on fiscal matters has remained constant-and the agenda in past years has grown to include the environment, science and defense.
Bass, according to his legislative director Tad Furtado, hopes the group’s focus this session to be fiscal, namely, changing the rules of the budget to discourage new spending by requiring more than a 50 percent majority for approval of new spending.
Furtado also said Bass wants the group to take a more active approach to getting things done.
“What we don’t want to do is just build a group that is always able to say no, we want to build a group that is able to say yes and pass something,” said Furtado. “We’ve always been a defensive blocking group.”
Bass said that though he didn’t intend to go out and solicit the support of Democrats, the Tuesday Group agenda and priorities would attract their support.
“I have little doubt (our agenda) will attract the support of like-minded Democrats,” said Bass.
Furtado said working in a bi-partisan manner has helped moderates offset a much larger number of ideologically driven, more conservative members, especially on energy policy.
Castle said Bass’s personality helps him in this regard.
“He’s liked beyond our group,” said Castle. “You want somebody there who can talk to the leadership and talk to others.”
This session, Bass will try to increase this influence by interviewing each member of the Tuesday Group to find out what he or she would like to focus on.
“Votes count. And what we will do that we have not done in the past is plan for the major issues, to find out.how our members feel about it and whether or not we’re willing to stick together as a group,” said Bass.
But unlike the conservative Republican Study Group or the moderate Blue Dog Democrats, the Tuesday Group does not stick together on every issue. Members readily admit that this is not what the group was created for.
“If you ask any of the four of us different questions, you’ll get different answers, because we’re not ideologically based in always having the same answer,” said Castle at the conference. In addition to Castle and the two chairs, the fourth member to appear was Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich.
Furtado said the members of Tuesday Group disagree on a number of “hot button” issues, such as gun and abortion rights.
Perhaps that is why it is so difficult to identify the moderate Republicans, and why it is perhaps so hard for them to identify themselves.
Unlike the Study Group or Blue Dogs, the Tuesday Group does not make a list of their members public. It has no Web site, and even the some of the group’s members are reluctant to label themselves “moderate.”
For instance, though he attends meetings, Rep. Jeb Bradley calls himself “loosely affiliated” with the Tuesday Group. He said there was no stigma attached to being a moderate Republican and said he prefers the focus to be on his voting record, not labels.
“I wanted to participate in the group and.learn from the perspective of more senior members of Congress, who were willing to take me under their wing,” said Bradley of the group, “But I’m not so sure labels are always a good thing. I really focus on policy, not labels.”
Rep. Mike Michaud, a member of the moderate Blue Dogs, said he didn’t think there was a stigma attached to being a moderate Republican, but that they were under different pressures than moderate democrats.
“Clearly, there’s a lot of pressure on the Republican side to toe the party line,” said Michaud. “You’ve got a Republican president, a Republican Senate, a Republican House, it makes it more difficult for them to stray.”
Bass said he and Kirk have already taken steps to make the group more public, such as developing the new “vox centrum” logo. He said they might develop a Web site in conjunction with the Republican Main Street Partnership.
Whether or not their influence is publicly known, members agree that the weekly meetings are a place for them to figure out their stances on a number of issues and talk honestly amongst friends in an environment that they feel comfortable in, absent the pressures of the press, which has never been allowed at the lunches.
“The best thing about the Tuesday Group is that one hour a week we’re together.I learn more about what’s happening in Congress and develop more of my thinking there than I do in anything I do in the entire week,” said Castle.
Furtado agreed.
“Basically it’s an environment where people can get work done,” Furtado said. “There’s nothing to be gained by standing out and banging your shoe on the table.”
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