Tea Party Activists Take Hard Line On GOP Agenda

While Republicans taking over the House have already made nods to Tea Party goals, activists say they also need to be "walking the walk": taking radical steps to stem government spending and cut the nation's historically high debt. Otherwise, "It's not too early to start making our 2012 target list." Republicans preparing to take control of the U.S. House when the 112th Congress convenes Wednesday have been scrambling in recent days to salute the Tea Party activists who helped drive Democrats from power last November. They've ordered a reading of the Constitution on opening day and required that all new legislation cite a constitutional provision permitting the proposed action. They've pledged to cut 2.6 percent of the House operations budget and teed up a largely symbolic vote on repealing the 2010 health care law next week. While that's all fine and good, say Tea Party adherents across the county, window dressing does not equal what they almost uniformly refer to as "walking the walk": taking radical steps to stem government spending and cut the nation's historically high debt...more