If you?re wondering how the Tea Party might influence congressional action in 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek gives us some ideas:
The Tea Party Caucus, now at 53 members, could swell to more than 80 when 28 or so Tea Party-backed freshmen arrive in January. By comparison, the fiscally moderate Blue Dog Democrats were more than halved, dropping to just 25 members from 53. The Congressional Black Caucus, another powerful coalition, has just 39 members. [Michele} Bachmann, 54, from the Twin City suburbs, proved she has fundraising skills, too: She raised $11 million for her campaign, more than the likely new House Speaker, John Boehner of Ohio.
It remains to be seen if the Tea Party Caucus, which has met only a few times since its July founding, will be a real force. Congress has dozens of caucuses ? there’s one for wine lovers and one for biking enthusiasts ? that rarely meet and don’t have much ability to influence votes.
One of Bachmann’s supporters says she can help insulate newcomers from pressure from the Republican Establishment. “She’s less likely to come back to us and ask us to go along with the leadership,” says Representative Steve King of Iowa. “The conscience of a conservative will always be there at their shoulder.”
Bachmann says she also plans to form a second group, the Constitutional Conservative Caucus, that will work to “stop any bill from passing” that it considers unconstitutional. The group’s purpose, she told Fox News commentator Glenn Beck, is to bring in freshmen Republican lawmakers, “because quite quickly, within a matter of two months, these people can be co-opted into the Washington system.”
