Tea Party Caucus

[2][note 1] From July 2012 to April 2013 the Tea Party Caucus neither met nor posted news on its webpage, leading observers to describe it as "dead," "inactive," and "defunct.

The caucus's members have also advocated socially conservative legislation, supported the right to keep and bear arms, and promoted limited government.

[31] On February 19, 2009,[32] in a broadcast from the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, CNBC Business News Network editor Rick Santelli loudly criticized the government plan to refinance mortgages as "promoting bad behavior" by "subsidizing losers' mortgages", and raised the possibility of putting together a "Chicago Tea Party in July".

[35] Santelli's remarks "set the fuse to the modern anti-Obama Tea Party movement", according to journalist Lee Fang.

[37][38] In response to Santelli, websites such as ChicagoTeaParty.com, registered in August 2008 by Chicago radio producer Zack Christenson, were live within twelve hours.

[39] About 10 hours after Santelli's remarks, reTeaParty.com was bought to coordinate Tea Parties scheduled for the 4th of July and within two weeks was reported to be receiving 11,000 visitors a day.

"[42][43] Additionally, Senators Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania and Marco Rubio of Florida, all Tea Party supporters, refused to join the caucus.

[49][50] Voting trends to the right of the median Republican, and Tea Party Caucus members represent more conservative, southern and affluent districts.

[55] Caucus members are an important swing vote on spending bills and as a result have gained influence in Congress out of proportion to their numbers.

[59] According to OpenSecrets, the top contributors to the Tea Party Caucus members are health professionals, retirees, the real estate industry and oil and gas interests.

Arizona California Colorado Florida Louisiana Michigan Missouri Nebraska South Carolina Texas The Senate has an informal Tea Party Caucus,[note 1] founded in 2011.