Tea Party rallies to keep GOP cutting spending

Budget talks are a test of credibility, clout for the loosely affiliated political group

 

By LAURIE KELLMAN

updated 3/31/2011 10:32:42 AM ET

WASHINGTON — The Tea Partiers who helped drive GOP gains in the last election are rallying in the city they love to hate Thursday, urging Republican House leaders — Speaker John Boehner above all — to resist the drive toward compromise in the protracted fight over the federal budget.

Even, they say, if that means Congress fails to do its most important job — paying for the government.
And if Boehner opts instead to agree to a deal with President Barack Obama?
"You're going to see massive amounts of (GOP) primaries" in next year's election, said Mark Meckler of the Tea Party Patriots.
House plans symbolic budget vote as pressure on Senate mounts If the Ohio Republican strikes a budget deal that doesn't cut spending enough, Meckler said Wednesday, "he is going to face a primary challenge."
Story: Boehner signals compromise in budget talks It's tough talk from a member of the loosely affiliated political force that helped drive Boehner's Republican troops into the House majority last year on a platform of smaller, more austere government. And during three months in power, Boehner's been listening.
The House passed a Tea Party-friendly budget that would cut hundreds of programs and eliminate others, including a costly defense project. It also would repeal the Democrats' year-old health care law and assorted regulations on industry — all unlikely to pass the Democrat-controlled Senate.
Test for Tea Party The intensifying talks are as much a test of credibility and clout for the Tea Party as they are a measure of Boehner's ability to lead. There's evidence that some of the 87 members of the freshman class have been educated by their real bosses — their constituents — on the fact that compromise is sometimes the only path to governing. And governing is what lawmakers get paid for.
Story: Poll: Americans souring more on economy "Compromise on the subject of spending is a tough sell. It doesn't mean it's an impossible sell," said freshman Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark., a member of the Appropriations Committee who won his seat with 72 percent of the vote. Though he acknowledges the voters' mandate to cut spending, "I also live in a realistic world."
Another freshman suggested the no-compromise crowd save their powder. The current, slow-motion showdown is only over a budget to fund the rest of this fiscal year.
Just wait, said Rep. Adam Kinzinger, for the fireworks over next year's budget, as well as a must-pass bill to allow the government to borrow more money to meet its commitments. Republicans hope to use that measure to force further spending cuts on the president.
"What I tell folks is: This is like Fort Sumter in the Civil War," the Illinois Republican said Wednesday. "This is the first fight. The big battle is still ahead of us."
Video: Budget fight intensifies on Capitol Hill (on this page) Such rhetoric reflects a reality that budget negotiators have assumed for weeks: That with time, those new to Capitol Hill would learn that the only way a budget passes is with spending cuts that all sides agree on. And that means reductions somewhat less than the $61 billion Republicans approved in the budget the House passed last month.
$33 billion in cuts Wednesday night, talks centered on $33 billion in cuts, and there was evidence that members of the broader Republican caucus weren't balking.
"I don't believe that shutting down government is a solution to the problem. Republicans and Democrats need to work out a compromise," said Rep. Charles Bass, R-N.H. "Let's get this over with and get on to the budget."
The tea party rally Thursday promised political muscle and headline-grabbing rhetoric aimed at reminding lawmakers of the populist budget-cutting furor that propelled them to power.
Headlining the event was to be the movement's star and possible presidential contender Michele Bachmann, who also happens to be the top Republican fundraiser in the House.
House Republican leaders weren't expected to attend the event. But Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell is expected to defend the tea party movement on the Senate floor against Democrats who have suggested it has lost popularity.
A new AP-GFK poll of 1,001 adults conducted March 24-28 showed that support for the movement hasn't budged since the election. About 30 percent of respondents said they were tea party supporters, the same percentage reported in surveys since October.
'We're still here' "If you ask me, the goals of the Tea Party sound pretty reasonable," McConnell said in remarks prepared for a Senate floor speech Thursday.
"These folks recognize the gravity of the problems we face as a nation, and they're doing something about it for the sake of our future," McConnell said. "They're making their voices heard. And they've succeeded in changing the debate here in Washington from how to grow government to how to shrink it."
The senator learned about Tea Party power in his own backyard last year when the movement's candidate, now-Sen. Rand Paul, won the GOP nomination over one that McConnell had endorsed. Then, in deference to the Tea Party's demand for a ban on so-called earmarks, McConnell reversed years of unapologetic resistance to such a policy and lined up with its supporters.
Lest lawmakers forget the lessons of 2010 as they face an April 8 deadline for the current budget, the rally Thursday is aimed at reminding them.
"We're still here," Meckler said.

Tea Party ralliers: 'Shut it down!'

These are not Democrats, no matter what you think.

msnbc.com's Carrie Dann

msnbc.com's Carrie Dann

Tea Party activists gather in the shadow of the Capitol to urge budget cuts.

From msnbc.com's Carrie Dann
As budget negotiations continued inside the halls of Congress Thursday, a gathering of Tea Party activists huddled at a cold outdoor rally on Capitol Hill to send a message to the deal-makers inside:
They're ready to pick a fight.
A few hundred people -- far fewer than the massive rallies seen before last year's midterm elections -- who braved the dreary weather urged lawmakers to push deep cuts to the federal budget even if it results in a temporary shuttering of the government, chanting "Cut it or shut it!" and punctuating cheers with calls to "shut it down!"
"If Harry Reid wants a fight, let's give it to him!" said Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN), one of a parade of conservative lawmakers who made remarks at the event sponsored by the Tea Party Patriots.
Many of the rally's speakers were careful to note that Democrats are "rooting" for a shutdown and that GOP budget-cutters hope to avoid a funding lapse that would turn off the government's lights.
Democratic leaders "want to turn you into their scapegoats and blame the Tea Party for shutting the government down," said Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN).
Rep. Allen West (R-FL) declared, "We are not here to talk about shutting the government down... But if you want to talk about shutting down the government, go over there and talk to Chuck Schumer and Harry Reid and the folks at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue!"
Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) told reporters after his brief remarks to the crowd that a federal closure is undesirable but would not be catastrophic.
"No Republican wants to shut the government down. I don't think anybody here really wants a shutdown," DeMint said, "but we shouldn't be so afraid of a shutdown that we can't make the right decisions right now." He added, "We can't be cowed by this threat."
The preemptive finger-pointing over a potential shutdown likely stems from the scars of the budget fights of the mid-1990s, when the public soured on GOP leaders in the wake of a series of federal closings.
A full federal closure "is not going to be very popular with the American people," warned Clinton-adviser-turned-conservative-commentator Dick Morris, who instead suggested a "targeted shutdown" of agencies -- like the EPA and the National Labor Relations Board -- that are loathed by Tea Party activists.
"We don't have to close down the government. We're going to close down the parts of the government we can't stand!" Morris said.
That sentiment was met with cheers -- as well as a smattering of shouts to "shut it down!"
*** UPDATE *** Here's a dispatch from NBC's Catherine Chomiak:
As the continuing resolution currently funding the government inches closer to its expiration date of April 8, Tea Party activists rallied today for a budget battle. Reps. Steve King (R-IA), Mike Pence (R-IN), Michele Bachmann (R-MN) and Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) fired up the crowd on a dreary day in Washington, D.C., with calls for a fight and threats of a government shutdown.

Congressman Pence, citing the current deficit, debt, and “defiant liberal majority in the Senate” said the time was right “to pick a fight."
“The debt stops here,” he said. “If liberals in the Senate would rather play political games and shut down the government instead of making a small down payment on fiscal discipline and reform, I say, 'Shut it down.'”
Representative and potential Republican presidential candidate Bachmann hit Democrats saying they are hoping for a government shut down. “That’s their plan," Bachmann said. "They want to shut the government down, and they want to turn you into their scapegoat and say, 'It’s the Tea Party’s fault for shutting the government down.'"
Paul urged the Tea Party members to keep up their political involvement. “The fight is just beginning,” he vowed. “Keep their feet to the fire, call them, email them, let them know that you are prepared for America to move forward, but only by balancing the budget and making government smaller.”
In addition to a fight on the budget, King showed support for his fellow House Republican saying, “We need to fight on Mike Pence’s proposal on unfunding (sic) Planned Parenthood… And we need to fight on cutting off the funding that implements Obamacare.”
Bachmann also got loud cheers from the crowd when she proposed sending “a change of address form to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.”
This is something Bachmann has said before and will probably be said again, as she continues to consider a 2012 presidential bid.