GOP lawmakers introduce 'tea party' resolution

Three Republican lawmakers on Monday introduced a resolution honoring participants in the Sept. 12 "tea party" protests in Washington D.C.

House Republican Conference chairman Mike Pence (Ind.), Republican Study Committee chairman Tom Price (R-Ga.), and Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) sponsored the measure, which has attracted 75 co-sponsors, whom are all Republican.

The resolution said that crowd estimates ranged as high as 1.7 million people. That figure was highly disputed. A spokesman for D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services estimated the crowd was "in excess of 75,000." Local and national authorities do not provide official crowd estimates.

"Last month, hundreds of thousands of Americans from every corner of the country came here to participate in the Taxpayer March on Washington,” said Price in a statement. "They came as individuals, as families, as community groups, and as patriots to voice their disgust with the out-of-control spending and government overreach being pursued in Washington."

Price called the event "a great step forward for the causes of freedom and limited government," adding that "through continued efforts, these patriots will once again make accountability and responsibility core values in a government of the people, by the people, and for the people."

It called the event the "largest ever gathering of fiscal conservatives in Washington, D.C."