Conservatives Hold Firm, Defeat Boehner's 'Plan B'

Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) told members of his own conference on Thursday night that there were not enough votes among the party that would support passage of Boehner’s tax proposal known as “Plan B.”  

Boehner’s office released the following statement:

Republicans who were not planning on voting for Plan B appeared more open to talk about how they were going to vote after the special GOP conference was let out.

Congressman Joe Barton (R-TX) told reporters he was not planning on voting for Plan B, saying it would have broken the taxpayer pledge Republicans made in 2010.

Barton explained, “I think you need to have a conversation with the American people. They voted for divided government. The two parties have a difference of view of where the country needs to go.”

“I’m not real happy with the phrase of going over the cliff. That’s what most people say. I think you just have to keep trying to find, as our leadership team did, try to find a middle ground, and get the votes here and that the president might accept. That was just a herculean job,” he said.

“Well, of course I disagreed with it. You’ll have to be the judge of whether it was a good idea, but I disagreed with it,” Rep. John Fleming (R-LA) told reporters.

Fleming described the mood in the special conference:

I think there was a little bit of fatigue with a little bit of frustration. We want something to happen here. We want something good and positive to happen for the American people. And we just feel like we’re not getting a willing part on the other side… frustration with Obama.