Tea Party Caucus

This article is about the U.S. Congressional caucus. For the movement, see Tea Party movement. For the protest events themselves, see Tea Party protests.
Tea Party Caucus
Chairman Tim Huelskamp (KS)
Founder Michele Bachmann (MN)
Founded July 19, 2010 (2010-07-19)
Ideology Fiscal conservatism
Social conservatism[1]
Right-wing populism
Libertarianism
Political position Right-wing
National affiliation Republican Party
Seats in the Senate
4 / 100
Seats in the House
48 / 435
Website
Official website

The Tea Party Caucus (TPC) is a congressional caucus of conservative members of the Republican Party in the United States House of Representatives. The now largely inactive Caucus is chaired by Rep. Tim Huelskamp of Kansas,[2] and was founded and first chaired by Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann in July 2010.[3] Though the primary functions of the Caucus have varied from year to year, it is dedicated to promoting fiscal responsibility, including significant cuts in non-defense spending, adherence to the movement's interpretation of the Constitution, and advocated socially conservative legislation, supported the right to keep and bear arms, and promoted limited government.

The idea of a Tea Party Caucus originated from Rand Paul (KY) when he was campaigning for the U.S. Senate in 2010.[4] The Caucus was approved as an official congressional member organization by the House Administration Committee on July 19, 2010,[5] and held its first meeting and public event, a press conference on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol, on July 21.[6] A similar informal Caucus was formed in the Senate by four Senators on January 27, 2011.[1][note 1]

History

Tea Party movement

Chairs of the House Tea Party Caucus
Michele Bachmann
(2010–2015)
Tim Huelskamp
(2015–present)

An article in Politico stated that many Tea Party activists see the Caucus as an effort by the Republican Party to hijack the movement. Utah congressman Jason Chaffetz refused to join the Caucus, saying "Structure and formality are the exact opposite of what the Tea Party is, and if there is an attempt to put structure and formality around it, or to co-opt it by Washington, D.C., it’s going to take away from the free-flowing nature of the true tea party movement."[7]

In an attempt to quell fears that Washington insiders were attempting to co-opt the Tea Party movement, Michele Bachmann stated "We're not the mouthpiece. We are not taking the Tea Party and controlling it from Washington, D.C. We are also not here to vouch for the Tea Party or to vouch for any Tea Party organizations or to vouch for any individual people or actions, or billboards or signs or anything of the Tea Party. We are the receptacle."[8][9]

Additionally, Senators Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania and Marco Rubio of Florida, all Tea Party supporters, refused to join the caucus.[10][11] Toomey said he would be "open" to joining, and spoke at the first meeting, but did not ultimately join.[12] Johnson said that he declined to join because he wanted to "work towards a unified Republican Conference, so that's where I will put my energy."[13] Rubio criticized the caucus, saying "My fear has always been that if you start creating these little clubs or organizations in Washington run by politicians, the movement starts to lose its energy."[14]

Current status

From July 2012 to April 2013 the Tea Party Caucus neither met nor posted news on its webpage, leading observers to describe it as "dead," "inactive," and "defunct."[15][16] In April 2013, Mick Mulvaney of South Carolina filed paperwork to create a new Tea Party Caucus, but found that Michele Bachmann intended to continue the caucus, starting with an event on April 25, 2013.[17] On June 19, 2014, Tea Party Caucus member Steve Scalise of Louisiana was elected as the House Majority Whip.[18] The Caucus was reconstituted in the 114th Congress in January 2015.[19]

Ideology

Senators Rand Paul (R) and Ted Cruz (R), both members of the Senate's informal Tea Party Caucus, address a Tea Party Express rally.

The Tea Party Caucus is often viewed as taking conservative positions, and advocating for both social and fiscal conservatism.[20] Analysis of voting patterns confirm that Caucus members are more conservative than other House Republicans, especially on fiscal matters.[20][21] Voting trends to the right of the median Republican, and Tea Party Caucus members represent more conservative, southern and affluent districts.[21][22] Supporters of the Tea Party movement itself are largely economic driven.[23][24][25]

Despite the Caucus members differing degrees of economic and social conservatism, they generally work to promote positions within the House of Representatives that are to the right-of those of the House Republican Conference.[26] Caucus members are an important swing vote on spending bills and as a result have gained influence in Congress out of proportion to their numbers.[27][28] They are frequently sought after to broker compromises amongst the Republican leadership, generally lending a more right-wing character to U.S. politics.[29] Since the advent of the Tea Party Caucus in 2010, party-line voting has increased for both Democrats and Republicans.[30]

Funding

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, the top contributors to the Tea Party Caucus members are health professionals, retirees, the real estate industry and oil and gas interests. The Center said the contributions to Caucus members from these groups, plus those from Republican and conservative groups, are on average higher than those of House members in general and also those of other Republicans. The average Tea Party Caucus member received more than $25,000 from the oil and gas industry, compared to about $13,000 for the average House member and $21,500 for the average House Republican.[31]

List of current members

House

The Caucus chair was Michele Bachmann of Minnesota between 2010 and her retirement in 2015. Tim Huelskamp was elected as the Caucus' second chair in January 2015.[19] Of a possible 435 Representatives, as of January 6, 2013, the committee had 48 members, all Republicans.[32] At its height, the Caucus had 60 members in 2011.

Several members of the Tea Party Caucus are part of the Republican leadership. Thomas E. Price serves as chairman of the Republican Policy Committee, making him the seventh ranking Republican in the House, John R. Carter is the Secretary of the House Republican Conference, ranking him the ninth ranking Republican, and Pete Sessions is the number six Republican as the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee. Other former members of the Tea Party Caucus hold committee chairmanships such as Lamar S. Smith, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.

112th Congress Tea Party Caucus membership map.

Retired

Senate

The Senate has an informal Tea Party Caucus,[note 1] founded in 2011.[35][36]

Retired

Affiliated organizations

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 In the Senate, there is only one officially recognized caucus: the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control, as established by law in 1985. Unlike House caucuses, Senate groups receive neither official recognition nor funding from the chamber.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Herszenhorn, David M. (January 27, 2011). "Senate Tea Party Caucus Holds First Meeting". New York Times.
  2. ↑ "New Tea Party Caucus Chairman". Roll Call. February 26, 2015. Retrieved July 22, 2015.
  3. ↑ Sherman, Jake (July 16, 2010). "Bachmann forms Tea Party Caucus". Politico. Retrieved August 4, 2010.
  4. ↑ Pappas, Alex (July 22, 2010). "Congressional Tea Party Caucus receives mixed reviews from Tea Party activists". The Daily Caller. Retrieved August 4, 2010.
  5. ↑ Condon, Stephanie (July 19, 2010). "Bachmann's Tea Party Caucus Approved". CBS News. Retrieved August 4, 2010.
  6. ↑ Zdechlik, Mark (July 21, 2010). "Bachmann gathers Tea Party Caucus for first time". Minnesota Public Radio. Retrieved August 4, 2010.
  7. ↑ Vogel, Kenneth P. (August 2, 2010). "Tea party vs. Tea Party Caucus". Politico. Retrieved September 13, 2010.
  8. ↑ Janie Lorber (July 21, 2010). "Tea Party Caucus Tackles Racism Charge". NY Times.
  9. ↑ Lorber, Janie (July 21, 2010). "Republicans Form Caucus for Tea Party in the House". The New York Times. Retrieved September 13, 2010.
  10. ↑ Rucker, Philip (January 28, 2011). "Senate Tea Party Caucus holds first meeting without some who had embraced banner". Washington Post. Retrieved February 21, 2011.
  11. ↑ "Why senators are avoiding the Tea Party Caucus". Christian Science Monitor. January 28, 2011. Retrieved February 21, 2011.
  12. ↑ "Pat Toomey Supports Tea Party Caucus but won't Join it". Nothington Post. January 31, 2011. Retrieved February 21, 2011.
  13. ↑ "Ron Johnson: of the Tea Party, but not the Tea Party Caucus". JS Online. January 28, 2011. Retrieved February 21, 2011.
  14. ↑ Siegel, Elyse (February 7, 2011). "Marco Rubio Shows Little Love For Tea Party Caucus (AUDIO)". Huffington Post. Retrieved February 21, 2011.
  15. ↑ Weigel, Dave (March 20, 2013). "The Tea Party Caucus is Dead and That's OK". Slate. Retrieved April 25, 2013.
  16. ↑ Newhauser, Daniel (March 20, 2013). "What Happened to the Tea Party Caucus?". Roll Call. Retrieved April 25, 2013.
  17. ↑ Strong, Jonathan (April 24, 2013). "Tea Party Caucus to Relaunch With Event Thursday". The Hill. Retrieved August 19, 2014.
  18. ↑ Melissa Quinn / @MelissaQuinn97 / June 19, 2014 / (June 19, 2014). "House Republicans Elect McCarthy as Majority Leader". Dailysignal.com. Retrieved August 10, 2014.
  19. 1 2 "Michele Bachmann is Gone, But the Tea Party Caucus Lives On". Bloomberg. January 14, 2015. Retrieved July 22, 2015.
  20. 1 2 Skocpol, Theda; Williamson, Vanessa (2012). The Tea Party and the Remaking of Republican Conservatism. Oxford University Press. p. 272. ISBN 9780199975549.
  21. 1 2 Gervais, Bryan; Morris, Irwin (2012). "Reading the Tea Leaves: Understanding Tea Party Caucus Membership in the U.S. House of Representatives". Political Science & Politics. 45 (2): 6.
  22. ↑ Phillips, Stephen (2014). Tea Time: A Comparative Analysis of the Tea Party Caucus and House Republican Conference in the One Hundred Twelfth Congress (Ph.D.). p. 77.
  23. ↑ Cho, Wendy; Gimpel, James; Shaw, Daron (2012). "The Tea Party Movement and the Geography of Collective Action". Quarterly Journal of Political Science. 7 (2): 29.
  24. ↑ Aldrich, John; Bishop, Bradford; Hatch, Rebecca; Hillygus, D. Sunshine; Rohde, David (2014). "Blame, Responsibility, and the Tea Party in the 2010 Midterm Elections". Political Behavior. 36 (3): 21.
  25. ↑ Parker, Christopher; Barreto, Matt (2014). Change They Can't Believe In: The Tea Party and Reactionary Politics in America. Princeton University Press. p. 400. ISBN 9780691163611.
  26. ↑ "5 years later, here's how the tea party changed politics". CNN. February 28, 2014. Retrieved July 22, 2015.
  27. ↑ "History Will Be Kind to John Boehner". U.S. News and World Report. October 21, 2013. Retrieved July 22, 2015.
  28. ↑ "Tea partiers debate new shutdown". Politico. November 20, 2013. Retrieved July 22, 2015.
  29. ↑ "Juan Williams: Tea Party could burn its own base on Medicare". The Hill. March 23, 2015. Retrieved July 22, 2015.
  30. ↑ DeMont, Nicole (2014). Don’t Tread on Me: Analyzing the Effects of the Tea Party on Voting Patterns of House Democrats (Ph.D.). p. 32.
  31. ↑ Drake, Bruce (August 1, 2010). "The New House Tea Party Caucus: Where Its Members Get Campaign Cash". Politics Daily. Retrieved August 5, 2010.
  32. ↑ "Members of the Tea Party Caucus". Bachmann.house.gov. Archived from the original on December 12, 2012. Retrieved January 4, 2013.
  33. 1 2 "The Tea Party Caucus returns – Tarini Parti". Politico.Com. April 25, 2013. Retrieved August 10, 2014.
  34. 1 2 3 4 Kristian, Bonnie. "First-Ever Senate Tea Party Caucus Convenes TODAY; YAL's Jeff Frazee to Speak | Young Americans for Liberty". Yaliberty.org. Retrieved August 10, 2014.
  35. ↑ "Tea Party Caucus Takes Shape In Senate". The Huffington Post. January 16, 2011. Retrieved July 22, 2015.
  36. ↑ "Senate Tea Party Caucus holds first meeting without some who had embraced banner". Washington Post. January 28, 2011. Retrieved July 22, 2015.
  37. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 "Senate Tea Party Caucus Brings Conservatives Together to Defund Obamacare". Tea Party Express. Retrieved August 10, 2014.
  38. ↑ "TSenate Tea Party Caucus Brings Conservatives Together to Defund Obamacare". Tea Party Express. July 30, 2013. Retrieved July 22, 2015.
  39. 1 2 "Mapping the Tea Party Caucus in the 112th Congress". Irehr.org. Retrieved August 10, 2014.
  40. ↑ "U.S. Senate Tea Party Caucus | Americans for Tax Reform". Atr.org. January 27, 2011. Retrieved August 10, 2014.
  41. 1 2 3 "Activists Invited To First Senate Tea Party Caucus". NPR. January 28, 2011. Retrieved August 10, 2014.
  42. ↑ "The Tea Party Caucus returns – Tarini Parti". Politico.Com. April 25, 2013. Retrieved August 10, 2014.
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