U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann filed paperwork Thursday to start a House Tea Party Caucus "to promote Americans' call for fiscal responsibility, adherence to the Constitution, and limited government."
The Minnesota Republican, a Tea Party heroine who tweeted the other day in support of Kentucky Senate candidate Rand Paul (and hinted at "bringing the Tea Party to the House"), said the new caucus will present Democrats with a new counterforce.
Not that House Republicans haven't already been pretty much voting as an opposition bloc. "The American people are speaking out loud and clear," Bachmann said in a statement. "They have had enough of the spending, the bureaucracy, and the government knows best mentality running rampant today throughout the halls of Congress." The Tea Party caucus, she added, "will espouse the timeless principles of our founding, principles that all members of Congress have sworn to uphold. The American people are doing their part and making their voices heard and this caucus will prove that there are some here in Washington willing to listen." Bachmann sealed the deal in a letter to the House Committee on Administration registering the House Tea Party Caucus as a Congressional Member Organization for the 111th Congress.
