Feb. 8, 2011--Amy Kremer, chair
of the Tea Party Express, introduced a town hall hosted by Tea Party
Express and Tea Party HD at the National Press Club. Sens. Mike
Lee (UT), Rand Paul (KY) and Orrin Hatch (UT) and Reps. Alan West (FL),
Steve King (IA) and Michele
Bachmann (MN) received an
enthusiastic reception from about 200 activists. The legislators
outlined their activities and
priorities for the 112th Congress and took some questions. High
on the list were
defunding ObamaCare and cutting spending. For example, Sens. Lee
and Paul, who constitute two-thirds of the newly formed Senate Tea
Party Caucus (the other member is Sen. Jim DeMint), have introduced a
balanced budget amendment; Sen. Hatch
has as well, a different bill.
Sen. Lee, who took out his pocket Constitution several times during the
evening, emphasized that, "This is a movement that's not going
away." "We're right, and we will win."
Kremer
vowed, "We are going to continue to build this movement." "We're
here
to support you to make those
tough decisions," she said.
|
Sen. Hatch, a
34-year veteran in the Senate, was a somewhat incongruous fit on stage
among the Tea Party firebrands. He did a short interview with
Anthony
Loiacono, CEO and founder of Tea Party HD, before the town hall
started. Hatch is up for re-election in 2012 and would like to
avoid a
challenge such as the one that ousted his colleague Sen. Bob Bennett
(R-UT) in
2010. Sal Russo, chief strategist of the Tea Party Express, has
worked
for Hatch in past. |