How far has the Tea Party really moved the Republican Party in a conservative direction? Stalwart conservative Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, has replaced the moderate former-Sen. Bob Bennett. Tea Party favorite Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., beat out Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s hand-picked successor to Jim Bunning. And Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, has moved much further to the Right since the 2010 primaries in his bid to avoid the Bennett fate.
But despite all these positive developments, we still have things like the NATGAS Act, co-sponsored by Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., and set for a vote later today as part of a larger transportation bill in the Senate. The NATGAS Act is a shining example of everything that Tea Party conservatives hate about big government in Washington. The Washington Examiner‘s Tim Carney explained last year:
