January 27, 2011 2:47 PM
ABC News? John R. Parkinson reports:�
Although schools are closed and the local government is shut down, not even a wicked spell of thundersnow in the nation?s capital could stop a tea party from assembling today, even if it was only a party of three.�
Today, before a substantial gathering of grassroots conservatives and party activists, a trio of conservative senators held their first meeting of the Tea Party Caucus on Capitol Hill.�
Republican Sens. Jim DeMint, S.C., Mike Lee, Utah, and Rand Paul, Ky., fired up a gathering of about 200 Tea Party activists by thanking them for their participation in the congressional midterm elections last fall while discussing their proposals for spending cuts, the necessity to create a balanced budget amendment and combat the nation?s deficit, and the need to limit the responsibilities of the federal government to powers expressly enumerated in the Constitution.�
Each member took the opportunity to try to explain and define the Tea Party phenomenon.�
?Many people in the beginning said, the Tea Party ? oh, it?s a concoction of the news networks or some conservative in Washington, but it wasn?t and I think they?re finally, truly starting to understand that it isn?t,? Paul, a freshman senator and the son of Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, said. ?It isn?t created in Washington. It?s everywhere across the country, city by city.?�
Paul added that the Tea Party is the ?the definition of a true grassroots movement that sprung up? and said that already President Obama has been pressured to amend his positions on certain issues.�
?I think we?re already co-opting Washington,? Paul said to applause. ?I went to my first state of the union the other day and guess who is now against earmarks? The President of the United States has been co-opted by the Tea Party! I don?t think he?s necessarily happy about it. I think he truly believes that government is the answer to all of our economic problems.?�
Freshman Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, also joined the Senate Tea Party Caucus and told activists in attendance that ?there?s a lot of misunderstanding as to what the Tea Party movement is.?�
?Some call it a party, others call it new. Some call it radical. I think it?s none of those things,? Lee said. ?It?s something that in its essence has been around for a couple of centuries. The original Tea Parties were the classic Americans. They were the people who showed up. They showed up just like you?ve showed up today.?�
Although membership in the caucus is currently limited to the lonely threesome, Lee said that all 100 senators have been invited to join the caucus, and hoped they would all accept, but ?if they don?t, we?re happy to hear your concerns, we?ll listen to you, and we?ll do everything we can to fight on your behalf to restore Constitutionally limited government.?�
?None of us - neither Senator DeMint, nor Senator Paul, nor I, nor this caucus - purports to speak for the Tea Party movement,? Lee said. ?The movement is what it is. Far from a party, far from a single organization. It?s an organically grown spontaneous nationwide grassroots political phenomenon.?�
A handful of other freshmen GOP senators ? including Sens. Marco Rubio, Pat Toomey and Ron Johnson ? also received Tea Party support during their senatorial campaigns, and have aligned themselves with the movement on some issues, but so far have declined to join the caucus.
Sen. Jim DeMint, R-South Carolina,�arguably the most conservative member of the U.S. Senate, thanked the activists in attendance at the caucus meeting for ?sending some help? in the form of an electoral wave of new conservative senators last fall.�
?What you did in this last election is to help start that process. What you did is send us enough people to the House and the Senate that we can stop the incredible bad stuff that we?ve seen over the last two years,? DeMint said.�
DeMint admitted that although the Tea Party does not ?yet have the numbers to do all of the good things that we need to do,? but predicted that 2012 will be ?decision time for America? and an opportunity to elect even more like-minded conservatives.�
?This is just the beginning. I think America has woken up and we can?t push the snooze button and roll back over and go back to sleep. The only hope we have of changing and saving this country is not in Washington, but is still outside of Washington,? DeMint said. ?I think we?re all ready to make a sacrifice to make a difference and save our country, because this is not about what we can get for ourselves or how much money we can take home to our states. This is literally about saving our country.?
Source: http://feeds.abcnews.com/click.phdo?i=794e349561ffb144ff86be768e0d6aaa
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