Tea Party Caucuses Get Quiet

In January, the Senate Tea Party Caucus was in full swing, holding a meeting on Capitol Hill—but neither that group nor its House counterpart have done much of anything since. Though a leader of the Senate caucus points out that “it’s only been nine months,” the group’s members seem to be learning that running a caucus can be a time drain that offers few results, Politico reports.

Enthusiasm for a Tea Party caucus appears to have waned, but “any caucus is tough,” says Illinois Sen. Mark Kirk. Meanwhile, the 60-member Tea Party Caucus in the House hasn’t met since June. That’s because Michele Bachmann’s in charge, “and she’s almost 100% campaigning for president right now,” says her friend Rep. Steve King. Meanwhile, some Tea Party freshmen have discovered that their voices are loud enough without a special caucus behind them: “We don’t need a name of a Tea Party Caucus necessarily,” says Sen. Jim DeMint. (Read more Tea Party stories.)