FreedomWorks flip-flops on 'Plan B'

By Bernie Becker - 12/20/12 03:08 PM ET

FreedomWorks, a prominent Tea Party group, said Thursday that it opposes House Speaker John Boehner’s “Plan B” – just a day after first signaling their support for the proposal.

The group has yet to give a reason for its sudden shift, and says it will post its reasons for opposing Boehner’s plan to lock in tax rates for income up to $1 million soon. FreedomWorks had signaled that it still supported Boehner’s plan on Thursday morning.

“After review of the Boehner Plan B legislation, pending in the House today, FreedomWorks has found it must oppose the legislation, and will be urging House members to vote NO on the bill,” the group said at 1:30 p.m on Thursday.

With its switch, FreedomWorks joins other prominent conservative groups, like the Club for Growth and Heritage Action, in opposing “Plan B.”

Boehner moved to his latest plan to avert across-the-board tax increases and automatic spending cuts earlier this week, after he and President Obama traded offers on the so-called “fiscal cliff.”

Grover Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform, which oversees an anti-tax pledge signed by all but a few congressional Republicans, has given its blessing to Boehner’s proposal.

The House is scheduled to vote on “Plan B” on Thursday evening. GOP leaders have expressed confidence they have the votes to pass the proposal, but have also been marshaling support since the Speaker announced the plan on Tuesday.

FreedomWorks had originally praised Boehner for dropping negotiations with Obama, and said “Plan B” was a shift “toward the approach that FreedomWorks has been urging.”

“While not nearly as good as the FreedomWorks Plan to avert the fiscal cliff, Plan B is much better than the so-called ‘balanced approach’ that Mr. Boehner had, until Monday, been trying to negotiate with Mr. Obama,” the group wrote.

“Thank goodness that deal is off the table. Let's keep it off, by moving to Plan B -- and then amending Plan B into the FreedomWorks Plan.”

On Thursday morning, the group also said that House conservatives were working to further amend the measure.

GOP leaders have scheduled a separate vote on a measure to replace the automatic spending cuts, which would land heavily on the defense sector, to help appease the rank-and-file.

Boehner’s original plan did nothing to replace those cuts.