Tea Party: 1 Obama: 0

Vice President Joe Biden called them “terrorists.” Senator John McCain called them “foolish.” I call them effective.

Over the past couple weeks we have witnessed a leaderless faction of Washington newcomers take on our country’s political elites in a perilous game of Russian roulette with the world’s economy.

Swept into Washington last November on a wave of grassroot support, those representatives — who many in the media call the Tea Party — were elected with one mandate: to bring America’s fiscal house in order.

Since arriving in Washington in January, the Tea Party has steered the direction of debate in Congress on many issues. These issues range from the Patriot Act’s renewal and the war in Libya to broader issues exploring what the role and scope of government ought to be.

But the Tea Party’s greatest influence, since their overtaking the House of Representatives in November, came in the debate over our nation’s debt ceiling.
In arguing for deep spending cuts and no tax increases, the Tea Party took their mandate seriously and partook in a dangerous game of brinksmanship with the White House that saw them come out on top.

President Barack Obama, in a national televised address, argued for a “balanced approach,” one that saw revenue generated through tax increases and spending cuts.
In the end, he didn’t get his way. The final bill was all spending cuts and no tax increases.

President Obama received a bill that will exchange an initial $900 billion debt ceiling increase for $917 billion in spending cuts over 10 years.

The bill will also create a super committee composed of 12 members that will be charged with coming up with an additional $1.2 trillion in spending cuts by November in exchange for another debt ceiling increase when President Obama seeks it.

Overall spending will be cut by roughly $2.4 trillion dollars over the next 10 years in exchange for a roughly $2.1 trillion debt ceiling raise.

The Tea Party was not entirely successful, however. While they were successful in fighting back the Democrats’ proposed tax increases, they were unsuccessful in their fight for a balanced-budget amendment.

In last year’s midterm elections, many Tea Party candidates ran on a platform that centered on their support for a balanced-budget amendment — an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would force lawmakers to balance the budget by law.

The proposal was wildly successful with voters and took center stage in the debt ceiling debate in the form of a bill. This would have increased the country’s debt ceiling only if both houses of Congress approved the amendment and it was submitted to the states.The bill passed the House of Representatives, but was dead upon arrival in the Senate.

The final bill to raise the debt ceiling did recognize the support for a balanced-budget amendment, though. It offered a larger debt ceiling increase if the amendment passes through Congress.

While it may not be represented the way many Tea Party congressmen hoped it would, the fact that lawmakers thought it necessary to even include it in the final bill is a testament to their political clout.

In the end, the Tea Party turned a fairly routine debt ceiling vote into a national debate about the nation’s fiscal policies.

But the debate is not over. While the Budget Control Act of 2011 may make some of the most significant cuts to government in recent history, it does not solve the problem.
The current deal will still allow the government to accrue over $7 trillion of debt over the next 10 years, giving us over $21 trillion in debt by 2021.

While the Tea Party may have been successful in steering the debate and influencing the final bill, they still have much work to do.

America’s budget is still not balanced nor will it ever be balanced unless Congress takes bold action.

The job of the Tea Party now is to stay true to their mandate and push for more basic reforms to the way government spends money in the years to come.

If they don’t, America risks a situation more dire than the one it just experienced.

­— nperrino@indiana.edu