Boston Globe: GOP Preps Stage for Bush Agenda. Recent moves by the Republican leadership to consolidate more executive-branch power in the hands of key loyalists, give the majority leader, more authority in naming members of legislative committees, and a challenge to filibuster rules are causing concern among “moderate Republicans, and some nonpartisan government watchdog groups. They say the moves are part of a pattern of rule changes that stifle dissent and threaten some of the checks and balances on government.”