Tea Party Voices
Latest news and analysis from organizations representing the Tea Party movement
Two emerge as frontrunners in GOP leadership race
By David Sherfinski - The Washington Times
The race for the House GOP's whip leadership post is turning into a two-man affair, lawmakers said Wednesday after emerging from a closed-door meeting where they heard pitched from the candidates. Published June 18, 2014
Recent Stories
Obama defends IRS, says tea party targeting didn't happen
President Obama defended the IRS Tuesday in an interview with "Daily Show" host Jon Stewart, saying the tea party targeting scandal was actually Congress's fault for passing "a crummy law" and that the real problem is the agency doesn't have enough money.
Ted Cruz and tea partyers: Let the Ex-Im Bank stay dead
Sen. Ted Cruz and other conservatives told GOP leaders Wednesday not to let Congress revive the federal Export-Import Bank, an agency that financed the sale of U.S. goods overseas for decades but is creeping toward a slow death, after lawmakers failed to renew its charter by the June 30 deadline.
Federal judge tosses tea party suit seeking permanent protection from IRS targeting
A federal court shot down a tea party group's effort to permanently bar the Internal Revenue Service from targeting conservative groups for special scrutiny, issuing a ruling Thursday that says the tax agency has taken enough steps to correct the problem.
Feds' tax-take hits all-time high
The federal government collected a record amount of taxes in fiscal year 2014, topping $3 trillion in revenue for the first time in its history, according to Treasury Department numbers released Wednesday that show the influx helped drop the deficit to its lowest level under President Obama.
Tea party support down from 2010 peak, but stable overall
One in four Americans say they support the tea party, according to a Gallup poll that shows support for the pro-liberty wing is down from its successful wave in 2010, yet has been relatively steady since late 2011.
IRS can't escape Lerner, tea party scandal at Obamacare hearing
IRS Commissioner John Koskinen went to Capitol Hill Wednesday to talk about Obamacare. But inevitably, he faced questions about the political targeting scandal that hit the revenue agency shortly before he took the reins.
Dems' report clears IRS of political bias, blames IG for botching probe
The IRS's internal auditor distorted the facts surrounding the IRS tea party targeting scandal, leaving Americans with the impression that the tax agency went after conservative groups without also targeting liberal groups, the Senate's top investigative panel said Friday.
Herman Cain insists tea party 'is still very strong'
Former Republican candidate and one-time presidential hopeful Herman Cain — who's political star fell on the heels of adultery and sexual harassment allegations — says the tea party movement that he helps lead is far from ended.
Lois Lerner hated conservatives, new emails show
Newly released emails by Lois Lerner, the former IRS official at the center of the tea party targeting scandal, show "deep animus towards conservatives, which she refers to as '—holes,'" according to a House committee.
Lois Lerner emails reveal gaping open-records loophole
The Lois G. Lerner emails released this month revealed a potentially huge loophole in federal open-records practices when an IRS tech staffer acknowledged that the agency doesn't regularly store — and never checks — instant message chats as official government records.
Top Justice official denies conspiring with IRS on tea party targeting
The Justice Department is looking into former IRS employee Lois G. Lerner's lost emails and why it took her agency so long to report the missing messages to Congress and other federal authorities, Deputy Attorney General James Cole told the House on Thursday.
Senate Republicans paid for Mississippi attack ads painting tea partyers as racist: report
Mississippi attack ads that painted conservative Republicans and tea partyers as racists were funded by Senate Republicans, RedState editor-in-chief Erick Erickson has confirmed.
IRS employee suspended for pro-Obama activities
An IRS employee was suspended for 100 days for using his job at the agency's help line to try to convince callers to vote for President Obama, a government watchdog agency announced Thursday.
GOP: Lerner warned IRS employees to hide information from Congress
A newly released email from former IRS employee Lois G. Lerner, sent just as the tea party targeting scandal was erupting, warned colleagues to "be cautious" about what information they put in emails because it could be turned over to Congress.
IRS's Lerner sought tax audit of Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley over his wife's free meal
Lois G. Lerner, the woman at the center of the IRS tea party targeting scandal, tried to get her agency to conduct an exam on a sitting U.S. senator, according to emails released Wednesday by the House Ways and Means Committee.
Rep. James Lankford: 'National tea party' is oxymoron
Rep. James Lankford said Wednesday that his victory in the Oklahoma Senate primary race should serve as a clear reminder that local tea party activists are not going to take their marching orders from the national groups that claim the mantle of the grassroots movement.
Tea party has momentum, optimism for another win with Mississippi runoff
Energized by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor's stunning loss in Virginia earlier this month, tea party Republicans hope to finish the job Tuesday in Mississippi by unseating six-term Sen. Thad Cochran in a GOP primary.
Tea party blasts Obama for 'honoring illegal immigrants' at White House
The co-founder of Tea Party Patriots blasted President Obama for his White House ceremony to honor border crossers who were accepted into his Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, saying his public embrace sends the wrong message to illegal immigrants.
Tea party, establishment at odds over future of GOP
Six years after the end of the George W. Bush administration, Republicans remain at odds internally over the direction of the party, struggling between pushes for purity and electability.
GOP: IRS lost emails go beyond Lerner
Two top Republicans said Tuesday that in addition to Lois G. Lerner's emails, the IRS appears to also have lost records from six other agency employees involved in the tea party targeting scandal.
Lois Lerner on IRS hard drive crash: 'Sometimes stuff just happens'
Lois G. Lerner, the employee at the center of the IRS tea party targeting scandal, wanted to recover files from her computer hard drive after it crashed in 2011, but when told it was impossible, she took a philosophical view.
House members already trying to fill Cantor's leadership spot after Va. primary loss
Rep. Peter King, New York Republican, said Wednesday morning that members were already scrambling to fill the leadership seat of Majority Leader Eric Cantor, who lost the Virginia GOP primary in a surprise upset Tuesday night.
IRS rule change is 'double-speak,' Tea Party Patriots leader says
Tea Party Patriots leader Jenny Beth Martin said Friday that she doesn't trust the Internal Revenue Service's plan to go back and rewrite proposed new rules governing tax-exempt status for nonprofit groups that engage in some political activity.
Ted Cruz scolds FBI director on handling of IRS probe
Sen. Ted Cruz, a tea party favorite and on the short list of Republicans considering a 2016 presidential bid, railed against FBI Director James Comey's handling of the IRS investigation that targeted tea party nonprofit applicants for undue examination.
Tea party on life support after brutal primary beatdown
Support for the tea party has dropped to an all-time low, said a new CBS News poll released Wednesday.
Mitch McConnell a 'pretend' conservative, Matt Bevin says
Tea party-backed candidate Matt Bevin took to national TV Monday for a last-ditch attack on incumbent Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell, warning that he just "pretends" to be conservative to win re-election.
Tea party leader says now it time for Republicans to fix broken immigration system
One of the original organizers of the tea party movement said Wednesday that the time has come for conservatives to agree to tackle the immigration issue, adding fuel to the push for Republicans to agree to a bill this year.
Operation American Spring to hit D.C. to oust Obama, Biden, Boehner, Holder
A group of self-described revolutionary-style patriots with a million mobilized militia members are heading to downtown Washington, D.C., this week to bring a simple message to political leadership, from President Obama to House Speaker John Boehner: Get out.
Tea party favorite Ben Sasse wins bruising Nebraska GOP primary
Ben Sasse won the Republican nomination for Nebraska's open Senate seat Tuesday, besting a crowded, competitive field, leaving him well-positioned to win in November and delivering a win to insurgent conservative groups who said it served as a rebuke to GOP power brokers in Washington.
ISTOOK: Illegal IRS audits rob tea party supporters of their life savings
Tea party supporters are losing their life savings due to the latest IRS targeting of the tea party, said a Washington, D.C., attorney who represents several tea party and other conservative nonprofits.
GOP support for tea party wing is declining, Gallup poll says
A new poll finds only one in four Republicans or right-leaning independents consider themselves supporters of the tea party, offering another sign the wing's influence is waning after it failed to make inroads during this week's GOP primaries.
House Republicans find 10% of tea party donors audited by IRS
Despite assurances to the contrary, the IRS didn't destroy all of the donor lists scooped up in its tea party targeting — and a check of those lists reveals that the tax agency audited 10 percent of those donors, much higher than the audit rate for average Americans, House Republicans revealed Wednesday.
House votes to find IRS's Lois Lerner in contempt of Congress
Nearly a year to the day after she revealed the IRS gave inappropriate scrutiny to some groups applying for tax-exempt status, the House voted Wednesday to declare Lois G. Lerner in contempt of Congress for blocking its investigation, sending her case to the legal system.
Boehner wins in Ohio, Tillis takes North Carolina race
In matchups of the Republican establishment versus tea party challengers, House Speaker John A. Boehner won his GOP primary race Tuesday night and North Carolina state House Speaker Thom Tillis came out on top in the U.S. Senate primary race — and won the 40 percent of the vote required to avoid a July run-off election.
House schedules vote next week to hold former IRS official Lois Lerner in contempt
The House will vote next week to hold Lois G. Lerner, the former IRS employee at the center of the agency's tea party targeting scandal, in contempt of Congress, House leaders announced Thursday.
CURL: Racism everywhere, Obama and Democrats agree
Racism is everywhere these days. Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy is a racist. L.A. Clippers owner Donald Sterling is a racist. Redskins owner Dan Snyder is a racist. "Duck Dynasty" star Phil Robertson is a racist. And of course, every member of the tea party is clearly racist.
Tea party leader warns: John Boehner supports amnesty
The leader of a tea party group warned Friday that House GOP leaders will cave to Democrats on the issue of immigration by signing off on a proposal that includes a "suicidal leap for amnesty."
IRS emails reveal discussion with Justice about suing nonprofits for election activities
IRS emails released Wednesday show that just before the tea party targeting scandal was revealed last year, Lois G. Lerner and her colleagues at the tax agency were talking with the Justice Department about making examples out of nonprofit groups that they felt were violating campaign laws by playing political roles.
Donald Rumsfeld has 'no idea' if he paid taxes correctly
Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is just as confused as the rest of the millions of Americans scrambling to file their taxes Tuesday.
Issa: IRS worked with Democrats to attack tea party group True the Vote
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell E. Issa on Wednesday accused his Democratic counterpart, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, of colluding with the IRS to attack one of the tea party groups that was targeted by the tax agency for intrusive scrutiny and long delays.
Disability fraud piles up as Social Security ties judges' hands: lawmakers
Key members of Congress said Tuesday that two Social Security judges may have approved thousands of bogus disability claims, but the agency has never gone back to review those judges' cases to stop the ones that were fraudulent.
Tea party-type lawmakers take mysterious, off-books trip to Mideast
Reps. Michele Bachmann, Steve King — from Iowa, not New York — and Louie Gohmert made a hush-hush trip to the Middle East this week, flying commercial into high-profile danger zones like Beirut, Cairo and Tripli, attending embassy briefings but declining to release information.
Issa: FBI impeding inquiry into IRS targeting of conservative groups
The House's chief investigator says the FBI is stonewalling his inquiry into whether the agency and the Internal Revenue Service targeted conservative group True the Vote for special scrutiny, and Rep. Darrell E. Issa is now threatening subpoenas to pry loose the information from FBI Director James B. Comey Jr.
