Thread: Tea party sees GOP rise as a threat

Tea party sees GOP rise as a threat

New York Times
November 8, 2014

WASHINGTON — As most Republicans were taking a victory lap the morning after the elections, a group of conservatives huddled anxiously in a conference room not far from Capitol Hill and agreed that now is the time for confrontation, not compromise and conciliation.

Despite Republicans' ascension to control of the U.S. Senate and an expanded House majority, many conservatives from the party's activist wing fear congressional leaders already are being too timid with President Barack Obama.

They don't want to hear that government shutdowns are off the table or that repealing the Affordable Care Act is impossible — two things Republican leaders have said in recent days.

“If the new Republican leadership in the Senate is only talking about what they can't do, that's going to be very demoralizing,” said Thomas Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, a conservative advocacy group.

Establishment Republicans, who had vowed to thwart the tea party, succeeded in electing new lawmakers who are, for the most part, less rebellious.

And when the new Congress convenes in January, the Republican leaders who will take the reins mainly will be in the mold of conservatives who've tried to keep the tea party in check.

But they haven't crushed the movement's spirit.

As Republicans on Capitol Hill transition from being the opposition party to being one that has to show it can govern, a powerful tension is emerging: how to move forward with an agenda that challenges the president without self-destructing.

Some conservatives believe the threat of another shutdown is their strongest leverage to demand concessions on the health care law and to stop the president from carrying out immigration reform through executive order. Yet their leadership has dismissed the idea as a suicide mission that could squander the recent gains.

One thing that will prove popular among the base is Sen. Mitch McConnell's commitment to bring up a bill that would ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, which he's expected to do next year.

The crop of senators up for re-election in 2016 includes those elected in the first tea party wave of 2010, but even some of them are sounding notes of compromise and caution.

“I understand the frustrations of the conservative base; I am one of them,” said Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., one of the original class of tea-party-inspired senators. “I also recognize reality.”

http://www.expressnews.com/news/loca...at-5881227.php

I'd like to see the new majority lead with things that people can easily see are in their best interests. Omnibus bills can lead to endless arguments, but simple, clear, single issue bills are easy to understand.

Most Americans don't want to see another wave of illegals flooding into the United States and undercutting them for jobs. That should mean that Universal E-Verify - a phase-in was part of the Senate's immigration bill - would be a winner with the American people. E-Verify would also send a message to the next wave of would-be illegals that the jobs magnet is being shut down. So even if 'Bama gives executive amnesty to the current batch of illegals, they and any wannabees will know that the party is over.
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Americans first in this magnificent country

American jobs for American workers

Fair trade, not free trade

http://www.alipac.us/f9/how-tea-part...dterms-314037/