Death of the Tea Party

Yesterday, the Senate passed H.R. 3877, the budget deal, by a vote of 67-28. 24 Republicans and 4 Democrats – Sherrod Brown (OH), Tammy Baldwin (WI), Chris Murphy (CT), and Debbie Stabenow (MI) — voted no.

Here is the vote.

Before voting to increase taxes and debt, the Senate rejected Senator Rand Paul’s amendment tying a short-term ceiling increase deal to  passage of a balanced budget amendment and capping spending. Senator Paul’s amendment would have made future debt ceiling increases unnecessary.

But only 23 Republicans voted for the amendment.

You can see the vote here.

Senator Paul proclaimed this deal signaled the death of the Tea Party. I would say that the deal may have represented the death of the Tea Party, but the liberty movement is alive, and we will not go away.

Senator Paul penned an op-ed for Breitbart on the Republican leadership’s betrayal of fiscal conservatives:

“But Republicans are also guilty – at least, the Big Government Republicans who will vote for this monstrous addition of debt. Many of the supporters of this debt deal ran around their states for years complaining that President Obama was spending too much and borrowing too much. Now these same Republicans, the whole disingenuous lot of them, will wiggle their way to the front of the spending trough to vote for as much or more debt than during the Obama years. Shame. Shame on the politicians who campaign as conservatives but govern as big spenders.”

Read the whole piece here.

Here is Senator Paul’s floor speech on the budget and the death of the Tea Party.