Biden: If the 'march of the Tea Party' isn't stopped, there will never be compromise in Washington


While campaigning in Iowa on Monday, Vice President Joe Biden said that if Democrats can keep control of the Senate, both sides of the aisle will start compromising on issues like raising the minimum wage.
"If that happens and it will, what's going to happen is it's going to break the back of the hard right," he said. "You are going to see many reasonable people in the Republican Party start to vote reasonably again. Not exactly like we do. But they are going to be open to the kind of compromise that's always allowed this nation to move forward."
Biden was in Davenport to campaign for four-term congressman Bruce Braley, who is up against Republican Joni Ernst in a key Senate race. He said that the issues Americans care about are not being addressed due to Tea Party members in the House and Senate blocking any progress. "If we don't stop the march of the Tea Party now, those majority Republicans in the House and Senate who know better are never going to have the courage to stand up and vote the right way," he said.
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After his visit to Iowa, Biden made his way to Rockford, Illinois, to campaign for Gov. Pat Quinn (D) and U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos.
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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