WASHINGTON, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- House Speaker John Boehner was just airing his frustrations when he blasted conservative groups about their reactions to a budget plan, Rep. Paul Ryan says.
In an interview scheduled to air Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press," Ryan, R-Wis., said Boehner, R-Ohio, "just kind of got his Irish up," The Hill reported Saturday.
"He was frustrated that these groups came out in opposition to our budget agreement before we reached a budget agreement," Ryan said.
Boehner charged groups such as Heritage Action for America and Americans for Prosperity had "lost all credibility" for criticizing a budget proposal they hadn't seen.
"I think they're pushing our members in places where they don't want to be," Boehner said.
Ryan was a bit more diplomatic. While he said he was "frustrated too," Ryan said the activist groups "are very important elements of our conservative family."
The budget plan passed the House Thursday 332-94, with 169 Republicans voting for it.
Boehner's comments drew applause from Washington business groups frustrated by the conservative groups' intransigence during the government shutdown.
"The business community has been uniformly frustrated at how strident the ideological groups have been in defiance of reason," said David French, senior vice president of government relations of the National Retail Federation.
One business group lobbyist charged "these 'purity for profit' groups are taking advantage of well-meaning but politically naive members."
The fact that business groups liked Boehner's comments "confirm conservatives' worst suspicions about Washington that the game is rigged," said Dan Holler, a spokesman for Heritage Action for America.
