Tea Partiers to Lame Duck: No New Bills

Today on the Hill, Americans for Prosperity held a rally to oppose the passing of Democratic bills during the lame duck session and to back the GOP's earmark ban.

Americans for Prosperity held a rally this afternoon to oppose the passing of Democratic legislation during the lame duck session and to support the Republican conference motion for a ban on earmarks.

Americans for Prosperity President Tim Phillips exhorted the crowd to support Senator Jim DeMint and Senator Tom Coburn's Republican call for a moratorium on earmarks in the next Congress.

"This is just the beginning," said Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC), "2012 is going to make what just happened look small if we keep doing what we've been doing."

"Give 'em hell, Jim!" shouted one activist.

"No compromise!" said another.

Mike Pence (R-Ind.) told the crowd amid cheers that "I rise again today to tell you that our freedoms are at risk [in] this lame duck session."

Strikingly, one of the biggest cheers from the crowd happened when one of the speakers - not a congressman - told the crowd that the Obama administration should stop "alienating our friends, like Israel."

The coming lame duck session is expected to last for a week, and at this point looks not to be one of significant legislative action, in part due to the success of conservative activists like those that attended this rally.

"This was not astroturf, this wasn't angry, hateful people... Every time you saw (tea party groups) gather, it resembled a family reunion!" said Rep. Michele Bachmann, who not surprisingly welcomed the notion of President Obama declining to run for a second term.

Alan Ratcliff of Tallahassee, Florida, the activist that yelled for Sen. DeMint to "give 'em hell", told FrumForum that the reason for his trip to Washington, D.C. was to help stop the possibility that the lame duck session would further the Democratic agenda.

"One of the bigger things that I'm concerned about right now is the expiration of the tax cuts," explained Ratcliff. "Harry Reid is also talking about throwing in the DREAM Act, and that would be just a disaster... I'm here to oppose the Democrats' unwanted and overreaching agenda."

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