CONTACT: Rod Mitchell, 281-350-5506
Top Tea Party Voices available for Talk Shows
WASHINGTON, DC (MMD Newswire) July 28, 2011 - - As House Speaker John Boehner sought Republican votes to raise the national debt ceiling by $900 billion, Tea Party leaders ripped four "GOP Stupaks" for defecting from their recently-signed vows not to raise the debt limit if the "Cut, Cap and Balance" balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution has not passed Congress. The four Republican pledge-breakers are Reps. James Lankford (OK), Allen West (FL), Mike Kelly (PA), and Bill Flores (TX).
"These Stupak defectors have flip-flopped to say they'll vote for Boehner's wimp-out bill that only cuts $7 billion, less than two days of U.S. borrowing," said Tom Trento, National Security Chairman for the Tea Party National Convention and a director of the Tea Party Founding Fathers, referring to former U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) who famously betrayed conservatives last year to ensure final passage of Obamacare, the president's health bill, after vowing differently.
"Stupak stupidly killed his career and had to exit Congress. GOP debt defectors are heading off the same cliff," said Trento. "In his desperate effort to give away the store to President Obama, Boehner seems determined to force his caucus into dishonor and tragic 2012 primary and general election defeats. We are calling on Reps. Lankford, West, Kelly, Flores and all debt limit pledge-makers to honor their word to the Tea Party, to reject Boehner's cave-in, and to stand firm for the CCB cuts and Balanced Budget Amendment." Trento has posted an "Integrity Alert" about the defectors and says he has begun hitting hundreds of thousands of cell phones with text messages naming the vow-breaking Congressmen.
Trento, also president of The United West, a Tea Party-tied group which sees the debt issue as a national security threat, unveiled yesterday a single-issue 2012 Congressional Scorecard on the debt limit: "It's a Pass/Fail grading system," he said. Condemning any "debt ceiling giveaway," the scorecard is viewable at www.TeaPartyScorecard2012.com -- and it's not nice to Capitol Hill incumbents who abandon the "Cut, Cap and Balance" legislation. The Tea Party scorecard also mocks Obama's August 2 deadline for debt ceiling action as "phony," arguing that tax revenues are ten times what's required to make interest payments to U.S. bondholders.
Meanwhile yesterday, Amy Kremer of Tea Party Express said, "The Boehner deal only secures $7 billion in spending cuts, a measly amount that guarantees a downgrade of America's AAA bond rating....Any Republicans that abandon the core values of fiscal responsibility will find themselves being challenged in 2012."
Judson Phillips, founder of Tea Party Nation, says his group began robo-calling the constituents of targeted House Republicans yesterday in key states like Florida and Pennsylvania. He said recently, "A failed CCB bill gets you no cover. The ONLY way any Republican may get forgiveness from us is if he obtains a high price tag like $500 billion in 2012 first-year cuts, defunding of Obamacare and Planned Parenthood, sweeping reform of all health care entitlements such as Medicare, and actual Congressional passage of a Balanced Budget Amendment."
TO TALK SHOW PRODUCERS: To book any of the Tea Party leaders above, contact Rod Mitchell at mediarod@aol.com or 281-350-5506, or call directly for:
- Tom Trento, regarding The Tea Party National Congressional Scorecard 2012 and The Tea Party National Convention: Contact: 561-319-5533 (Tom@theunitedwest.org)
- Amy Kremer, chair of Tea Party Express and leader of Wednesday's Capitol Rally
Contact: Kylie Jane 678-472-1514, 678-495-8271 (kyliejanekremer@gmail.com)
- Judson Phillips, Founder, Tea Party Nation, Contact: Ann Wakefield 615-429-5100
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