Club for Growth won't fight Boehner plan

The well-funded, fiscally conservative Club for Growth will not go after Republican House members for backing House Speaker John Boehner's (R-Ohio) plan to pass a balanced-budget amendment and short-term debt-limit increase, the group announced Friday afternoon.

The Club for Growth has been an elephant in the room for Republican members thinking about supporting Boehner's bill. Centrist and even more conservative Republicans have been targets of the group in recent years for votes they considered apostasies.

They had earlier promised to score any vote for his plan in their annual rankings as against the club's views, a warning sign that any supporters might have faced their well-funded wrath. But after Boehner added the balanced-budget amendment this morning, they issued a statement that said they would withdraw their opposition to it. Friday afternoon, they officially announced they would not "key vote" the plan.

This is a welcome sign for Boehner, as it makes it easier to woo Republicans who had earlier been concerned support for his plan would be akin to supporting the Troubled Asset Relief Program that helped shore up the banking system. The group had backed primary challengers to many Republican supporters of that bill, and helped to beat a handful of incumbents.

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