WASHINGTON (AP) - Republicans rode the tea party wave to power eight years ago on a message of fiscal responsibility and attacking budget deficits. That was then.

  

On Thursday, the Republican-led Congress was rounding up support for a bipartisan budget bill that would put the government on track for annual deficits topping $1 trillion. Such a gap was last seen nearly a decade ago as the country was struggling to pull out of the recession.

  

Dedicated fiscal conservatives have criticized the plan. Others accepted it as a necessary compromise, in part to keep the government running.

  

Republican Rep. Mark Walker of North Carolina says the GOP could be seen as hypocritical: It criticized the national debt while Democrat Barack Obama was president but is adding to it now that Republicans have total control.