Ohio Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan tells Weekends with Alex Witt that the reason Republicans in the House cannot compromise is because of the Tea Party’s influence.
“I think if you look closely, you will see that it is this control from the extreme Tea Party of the Republican side that is governing things today,” he said. “And that’s really what’s scary, is you have that very small group on that extreme right wing controlling government here and really—there is a hostage situation here.”
Ryan attributes the disproportionate power of the Tea Party to gerrymandering and uses his home state of Ohio as an example. He said that despite President Obama and Sen. Sherrod Brown winning Ohio, the state’s “Congressional delegation is 12 Republicans to four Democrats because of the gerrymandering.”
Moderate Republican voters will respond by voting for a Democrat in 2014 as a result of the Tea Party’s unwillingness to compromise over an already decided upon issue, like the Affordable Care Act, Ryan said. Voters “would rather put in a conservative moderate Democrat, at least to get the machinery of government moving again. So if they pay close attention, they’re going to see where the problem is,” he added. “And it’s at the Tea Party.”
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