Maybe the Tea Party really is finished
Maybe the Tea Party really is finished
The House easily passed the giant omnibus spending package, despite strong opposition from outside conservative groups
By Peter Weber | 8:46am ET
Tea Party activists and the conservative groups that have enforced their agenda are vehemently opposed to the $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill that will fund the government through September. On Wednesday evening, the House passed the bill anyway, 359 to 67, with plenty of votes to spare.
Sixty-four of those no votes were from conservative Republicans. But it seems pretty clear from the vote tally that Tea Party–style "ideological purity has lost its power," says Jonathan Weisman in The New York Times. "The budget process that is culminating in the passage of the spending bill has ushered in a remarkable marginalization of the Republican far right."
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House Republican leaders are also starting to play hardball. On Wednesday, National Journal reported that the House GOP's campaign arm, the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), has quietly blacklisted conservative political firm Jamestown Associates, urging House members to look elsewhere for campaign support. Jamestown's sin? Working with the Senate Conservatives Fund to support Tea Party candidates against sitting Republican lawmakers.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee, Republican National Committee, and Chamber of Commerce had already cut off Jamestown. The message is pretty clear: Republicans need to fight Democrats, not other Republicans; you're with us or against us; and if you're against us, there will be consequences.
The biggest sign that the Tea Party-era might be coming to an end, though, is the omnibus bill itself. The 1,582-page legislation is "precisely the sort of massive legislation that Republicans criticized when they successfully sought power three years ago in the House," says The Associated Press' David Espo. It is, frankly, filled with pork — and it provides money for ObamaCare, universal pre-K education, and the National Endowment for the Arts. It is also has a significantly higher price tag than the default budget under sequestration, which was $967 billion.
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http://theweek.com/article/index/255177/maybe-the-tea-party-really-is-finished