House Tea Party Caucus Holds 1st Meet
The Hill reports:
The caucus held its first meeting of the 112th Congress Monday with around 30 members in attendance, including 11 freshmen.
Fewer than a dozen Republican freshmen have joined the House Tea Party Caucus, so far — a relatively anemic number given the size of the class and the fact that many were helped to victory in 2010 by Tea Party activists.
Led by Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), the House Tea Party Caucus held its first meeting of the 112th Congress at the Capitol late Monday with an estimated 30 members in attendance, including freshman Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.). He's one of just 11 House freshmen who have joined to this point.
While Bachmann said she expects the number of lawmakers in the caucus to increase, the list starts at just 50 members, fewer than the 52 House Republicans who were members of the caucus in the 111th Congress.
"We've just started, so we expect that number to increase," Bachmann said after the meeting. "We had a very good showing this evening. We had far more people come than we had RSVPs for."
Monday's meeting, which was closed to the press, was dominated by talk of the continuing resolution and the looming vote to raise the debt ceiling, according to members in attendance. West said Tea Party activists pushed members to stand firm on spending cuts and the debt limit.
Click here to read more.
