Rubio and Paul are among those who will attend the closed door meeting. | AP Photos Rubio, Paul to be at tea party meeting

Sen. Marco Rubio will face several of his supporters-turned-critics in a closed door meeting of the Tea Party Caucus next Tuesday.

The Florida Republican has been criticized by tea party and conservative groups for his work with the Gang of Eight, and will be one of the senators, House members and tea party-affiliated groups attending the meeting.


The meeting will be co-chaired by Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) — two of the most vocal conservatives in the upper chamber.

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Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), who is now facing a primary challenge from Liz Cheney, is also expected to attend the caucus meeting, which could serve as an opportunity for him to solidify support among conservatives.

The meeting is organized by the TheTeaParty.Net, but several other conservative groups including Americans for Tax Reform, Tea Party Express, 60 Plus, Republican Jewish Coalition and National Tax Payers Union are expected to have a presence at the caucus meeting.

The Republican National Committee is also expected to send a representative to the meeting. Mike Shields, chief of staff to Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, spoke at the House tea party caucus meeting in April — an indication that the GOP establishment is making an effort to work with the tea party lawmakers.

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The IRS scandal, immigration reform and Benghazi will likely be the main topics of discussion, said Niger Innis, chief strategist of TheTeaParty.Net. Innis also emphasized that the group organized the caucus meeting “in a spirit of open arms,” and even invited Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).

The TeaParty.Net took on the responsibility of organizing tea party caucus meetings this year. Although a caucus led by Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) had existed on the House side, it didn’t have regular meetings and attendance at the meetings had been dwindling. Bachmann is also expected to attend Tuesday’s meeting.

The group hopes to sponsor quarterly tea party caucus meetings that will alternate between the House and Senate side. Roughly 20 House members and staffers from 40 congressional offices attended the last meeting.