July 27, 2011 01:00 AM UTC

Boehner Between Rock and Hard Stuff

•  
• by: Colorado Pols

We’ve been saying for months that the Tea Party is killing Republicans, and there’s no better current example of that problem than the one that faces Speaker of the House John Boehner. From CNN:

Norm Ornstein, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, said Boehner “has a big headache inside his own caucus.”

“You’ve got senior members like Jim Jordan of Ohio, the head of the Republican Study Committee … which is the kind of conservative caucus about 40 years ago. It was a fringe group, a small fraction of the Republican Party. Now, it’s 80%,” he said.

Jordan came out against Boehner’s plan, saying that although he thanks him for fighting for GOP principles, “I cannot support the plan.”

Jordan and 38 other House Republicans have signed a pledge that he will not vote to raise the debt ceiling if aspects of the cut, cap and balance bill that passed the House last week aren’t included in the plan. Boehner admitted that his plan is “built on the principles” of that plan but doesn’t go as far as that bill would.

Chris Chocola, president of the conservative group Club for Growth, said Tuesday that his group cannot back Boehner’s plan.

“The Boehner plan does not achieve the goals of cut, cap and balance and doesn’t fix our fiscal mess,” he said. “We are urging club members to call their members of Congress and ask them to oppose it.”

The Cut, Cap and Balance Coalition, which includes more than 100 groups, argued that it understands the pressure on Boehner and congressional leaders to get a deal done before August 2 but said they should not exclude the cut, cap and balance bill. [Pols emphasis]

That last sentence is rich — basically the Cut, Cap and Balance Coalition is saying to Boehner, “We know you have a difficult decision to make, and we respect that…but you’d better do what we want.” Thanks for the support, everyone!