We're over here wondering what House Speaker John Boehner promised the Tea Party, since they threaten to unseat him every time they don't like what he says regarding the nation's debt. Wes Barrett of Fox News is reporting that Tea Party leaders ripped into Boehner (R-Ohio), as well as other House Republicans, saying any vote to raise the debt limit without major fiscal policy changes will amount to selling out the Tea Party, adding that the group will work to unseat those who vote for an increase in the next election.
"We're telling Boehner and all of the House Republicans, they came into office with Tea Party help. We now expect them to keep their promises and hold the ceiling on the national debt," said William Temple, head of this fall's Tea Party National Convention. "The Tea Party will not be in a very forgiving mood this fall, nor as the GOP primary season opens, if House freshmen and others elected by the Tea Party cave to Obama. We will find replacements for them this fall."
He added that the group could go along with a small increase in the debt ceiling, but only if Republicans were able to win a major policy battle such as a repeal of health care or the passage of a balanced budget amendment.
Temple appeared at a Washington press conference dressed in colonial garb and was especially critical of the 2011 budget compromise Boehner worked out with Republicans last month. The deal cut $37.8 billion in spending and narrowly avoided a government shutdown, but was short of the $100 billion in cuts that Republicans originally sought.
Temple and the Tea Party should plan to follow through on their threat to "unseat" Republicans they helped get into office, because the debt ceiling is going to increase. What many people didn't understand about the tax cut for the wealthy is that it would require an increase in the debt ceiling because of the $800 billion it added to the deficit.
That figure and all of the other debt that is continuing to grow would put us over the debt-ceiling limit, which is something that all members of Congress knew. Boehner and other members of Congress now acting as if they had no idea that this would happen is just that: an act. Perhaps the Tea Party should remember going forward that some Republicans put the needs of the wealthy in front of everyone else, including other Republicans. Boehner and Ryan have their work cut out for them, and we're not at all sympathetic.
Read more at Fox News.
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