Tea Party leader warn of 'consequences'

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WASHINGTON, Jan. 4 (UPI) -- Grassroots Tea Party movement leaders are saying Republicans may pay a price for their votes on the "fiscal cliff" deal this week.

Amy Kremer, leader of the Tea Party Express, said Thursday she was "outraged" about the deal, reached by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Vice President Joe Biden that allows tax rates on upper income earners -- families earning more than $450,000 and individuals earning more than $400,000 -- to expire while making permanent tax breaks passed during President George W. Bush's administration for earners making less than that, CNN reported.

"At some point we're going to have to come together and do what's right for America, but do the Democrats have a mandate to go and just do whatever and just spend into oblivion? No," she said. "And that's evident because the Republicans still control the House."

The fiscal cliff compromise passed the House 257-167 Tuesday, with 85 Republicans voting in favor and 151 Republicans voting against it.

After the vote, Kremer posted on her Twitter page, "I'm extremely disgusted with what happened in the House tonight. There will be consequences."

The Tea Party Patriots had urged the new House, sworn in Thursday at the beginning of the 113th Congress, to select their speaker by a secret vote "so members can vote their conscience without fear of retribution from leadership."

John Boehner, R-Ohio, was re-elected as speaker.

"Through this 'fiscal cliff' crisis Congress has demonstrated once again its incapability of actually cutting government spending and preventing tax hikes," Jenny Beth Martin, Tea Party Patriots leader, said in a statement. "Republicans who stood on principle ... should not be impeded from voting for a speaker with whom they have confidence will help take the country in the right direction."