This afternoon, 200 members and representatives from tea party groups across the country met in the Russell Senate Office building to formally present our plan to balance the federal budget and cut $9.7 trillion in spending over the next 10 years. Unfortunately, it seems like the only thing Washington wants to hear is excuses.

The Democrats who run the Senate Rules Committee were so afraid of the tea party plan to balance the federal budget that they ordered committee staff to remove the microphones we had set up for the event while Capitol Police blocked the doors of our hearing room, which had been reserved by Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) specifically for this event more than two weeks ago. At the same time, a “suspicious package” was reported in the room next door and all visitors and staff were barred from the area.

Although Senator Lee courageously stood up for us, he ultimately determined that the hearing should proceed without further interruption or harassment. For that reason we moved to another location off the Capitol grounds where our commission of 12 volunteer tea party activists presented their recommendations to a fired-up crowd.

Senator Lee was also joined there by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), Reps. Joe Walsh (R-IL), Steve King (R-IA), Mike Pence (R-IN), Mick Mulvaney (R-SC) and Paul Broun (R-GA). Rep. Broun received a standing ovation when he offered to help draft and sponsor legislation that could eventually allow our recommended cuts to become law.

Unfortunately, the unexpected location change disrupted live coverage of our hearing on CSPAN. For more information about the Tea Party Debt Commission, or to access the full report presented today, visit http://www.freedomworks.org/the-tea-party-budget.

Sincerely,
Matt Kibbe
President and CEO, FreedomWorks

And you can tune-in live from work or home!

C-SPAN will be streaming live from our Tea Party Debt Commission hearing on Capitol Hill. Don’t miss a chance to be a part of this huge event!

Watch online at 2:00pm ET! Use this link to access live C-SPAN coverage.

http://www.c-span.org/Live-Video/C-SPAN3/

The Tea Party Debt Commission has spent the last three months traveling the country asking thousands of grassroots activists to come up with ways to cut the budget. The results are HUGE. Don’t miss this historic joint hearing where Tea Party activists will share the findings of the Tea Party Debt Commission directly with legislators.

Don’t forget to tune in at 2:00pm ET on November 17th.

In Liberty,

Matt Kibbe
President and CEO, FreedomWorks