The Hill News

Democrats began a push Thursday to press Republican congressmen and candidates to say whether or not they will join the newly-formed House Tea Party Caucus.

The effort, headed by the Democratic National Committee (DNC) is a follow-up to their effort last week tying Republican candidates to the Tea Party movement, which they say is too extreme and out of touch with the goals of mainstream Americans. Last week, the Democrats launched a "Tea Party Contract with America," riffing off the 1994 document put out by Republicans which helped them win back the House.

{mosads}"Our release spells put just what the Tea Party agenda will mean for voters in that state including well-know planks of the Tea Party Contract like repealing social security and Medicare, reversing critical reforms to Wall Street and our health insurance system, extending tax breaks for the wealthy and big oil and taking us back to the same failed economic policies championed by George! Bush and Dick Cheney," DNC spokeswoman Brandi Hoffine said in a statement.

Many observers have predicted that Republicans will take back the House in the fall midterm elections, but Democrats have pushed back against that notion, casting the election as a choice between lawmakers who want to move the country forward versus those who want to restore the same policies enacted by the Bush administration. 

Several Republicans have said, if they retake the majority, they will cut back on federal spending, which ballooned during the Bush administration.

Still, Democrats are sending a press release to 50 House Republicans who they say have joined the caucus along to 30 who they would "like to take a stance" on the group founded last month by Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.)

Among the 30 are House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) and House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) , who have said they would not join the group, and high-pro! file candidates like Reps. Joseph Cao (R-La.) and Mark Kirk (R! -Ill.), who is running for Senate.

Hoffine said that the pressure would "force Republicans to either stand with or stand up to the Tea Party.  Those Republicans who chose to stand with the Tea Party and their radical agenda will be held accountable for those beliefs.  And, those who don’t will be asked to say what exactly it is that they stand for â€" other than big business, big oil and big banks."