'World News' Political Insights: Tea Party to Get Washington Welcome - For Now
Tensions on debt, spending will challenge Republican unity in new Congress.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 2, 2011 -- For a fresh-faced batch of outsiders that ran against Washington, Washington is going to be a welcoming town this week.
The question will be how long those good feelings last -- with tensions already emerging both inside and outside the newly empowered Republican Party.
The first week of the new Congress will be one of vindication and celebration for the tea party.
The historically large freshman class was promised a seat at the House leadership table; the new arrivals will actually have two such seats when John Boehner becomes House speaker on Wednesday, in addition to three spots on the Steering Committee.
Want a commitment to the Constitution? The House will have the document read aloud, in its entirety, on the first full day of the 112th Congress.
And the first major act of the new House majority will be to approve a package of procedural reforms that take much of their inspiration from the tea party crowd. They include a new requirement that all bills spell out their constitutional justifications before they're brought up for votes, plus a rule that new spending must be offset with cuts elsewhere in the federal budget.
But this party won't last forever. Looming votes over raising the debt limit, cutting spending and how to attack aspects of the Obama agenda will strain ties between the new members and veteran Republicans who have committee chairmanships and leadership posts because of their victories.
The lame-duck session of Congress -- when President Obama was able to score a series of unexpected legislative victories after reaching key compromises with Republicans -- already laid bare some of the fundamental differences that are likely to pit tea partiers against establishment Republicans going forward.
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