Schumer: Tea Party GOP's proposed cuts are 'extreme'

By J. Scott Applewhite, AP

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., says House Speaker John Boehner has caved to the Tea Party.

EnlargeCloseBy J. Scott Applewhite, AP

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., says House Speaker John Boehner has caved to the Tea Party.

As Congress tries to pass a spending plan before April 8, the date of a possible government shutdown, Democrats repeatedly blamed their inability to reach a compromise on House Speaker John Boehner by saying he is caving to the Tea Party members of his Republican Party.

Earlier Tuesday, New York's Schumer said Tea Party representatives were "breathing down the back" of Boehner. After the discussion with Schumer, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said the "relatively small, extreme group of ideologues" was an anchor around the neck of the negotiations.

TEA PARTY: Group revs it up with NASCARBoehner's office dismissed the accusations, saying the House of Representatives has done its part by passing a long-term spending plan that would cut $61 billion. "The Senate has not — and Sen. Schumer's inaccurate rants won't change that," Boehner spokesman Michael Steel said.

The back-and-forth raised the question of how influential the Tea Party movement has become in Washington, and whether the group — largely composed of GOP freshmen who rode into power in the House in the 2010 elections — was really to blame.

The group unquestionably had an impact early on, said Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, a Florida Republican who sits on the House Appropriations Committee and is not affiliated with the Tea Party.

Proposals by the House leadership for a budget to cut $30 billion in spending was rejected by members affiliated with the Tea Party, resulting in a bill that would cut $61 billion. Diaz-Balart rejected the idea that those discussions created any animosity within the GOP.

"It's majority rule here. But there was no big discrepancy or battle here," he said. "It was, 'All right, good point, let's redo it,' and we regrouped and we did."

Even though there are no Tea Party-supported candidates in House leadership, and only a couple of members of the House Appropriations Committee received strong Tea Party support, GOP Rep. Tom Price said they have influenced the budget in other ways.

"What they're doing is focusing our attention on that which is the No. 1 issue in the land, and that is spending and the economy and jobs," said Price, a Tea Party favorite from Georgia.

Chris Chocola, former GOP congressman and president of the anti-tax group Club for Growth, said it makes sense for freshmen GOP members of Congress to hold firm on larger spending cuts, because there is little to gain by caving to Democratic demands.

Rep. Steve King, an Iowa Republican embraced by the Tea Party, said Democrats are trying to drive a wedge in the GOP by highlighting the influence of the Tea Party while also demonizing the group ahead of the 2012 elections.

Democrats say they're simply trying to avoid a shutdown. "A Tea Party rebellion may hurt the Republican Party politically, but a shutdown will hurt Americans, all Americans, much more," Schumer said Tuesday on the Senate floor. "Mr. Speaker, it's time to forget the Tea Party and take the deal."

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