Conservative Action Team
The Conservative Action Team (CATs), a legislative service organization comprising a group of about 40 "fiscally and socially conservative House Republicans dedicated to protecting the traditional family, preserving mainstream American values, reducing the influence of the federal government, and respecting Congress' limited constitutional authority," was co-founded by John T. Doolittle (R-CA). [1][2]
In 2000, the Conservative Action Team became now known as the House Republican Study Committee. [3]
During the 105th Congress, CATs was headed by Newt Gingrich.[4]
CATs 1997
"The Conservative Action Team (CATs), a group of nearly 70 conservative House Republicans, has Congressmen available for media interviews on a list of 17 legislative priorities CATs has adopted in order to 'drive a conservative agenda' in the 105th Congress. 'CATs plans to spend the next two years on the offensive,'" says Rep. John T. Doolittle (R-CA), who co-chairs the group with Rep. Sam Johnson (R-TX), Rep. Ernest Istook (R-OK) and Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN). 'Rather than react to what the Clinton Administration and others are doing, we are going to press ahead with a conservative agenda that reduces the size and cost of government and increases individual freedom.' Among the 17 specific planks adopted by CATS in its 'Conservative Agenda for the 105th Congress' are: balancing the budget by controlling federal spending; enacting legislation to protect individuals from having their money involuntarily collected and used by a corporation or labor organization for political purposes; enacting a $500-per-child tax credit, abolishing the federal estate tax, cutting the capital gains tax rate and providing marriage penalty relief; ending all funding for the National Endowment for the Arts and the Legal Services Corporation; passing the partial birth abortion ban; eliminating federally-mandated race and gender preferences; prohibiting U.N. or foreign command of U.S. troops." [5]
Contact details
The Conservative Action Team website has moved to http://www.house.gov/doolittle/cats/welcome.htm and access is password restricted.
SourceWatch Resources
External links
- "Seventy House Republicans Form a Caucus to Enact 17 Policy Planks; Members Available for Interviews," Scoop/National Center for Public Policy Research, February 20, 1997.
- "Abstinence Catches on, Alaska Listens, Ending the Marriage-Penalty. New Teams Spur Congress to Act on Family Issues," Citizen magazine, 1998 (Copyright Focus on the Family).
- Tom Hayde, "The National Endowment for the Arts. A Prospective History of Controversy and Debate," NEA research and web page construction, Spring 1999.
- "The President's Budget," Federal News Radio, February 2, 2004.
- About Rep. Doolittle, house.gov, accessed May 13, 2005. Website includes password-protected link to CATs website.
