Quote:

---

After going after outside conservative groups Wednesday, House Speaker John Boehner is digging in.

At a Thursday morning press conference, the speaker was even more biting over budget disagreements, saying that the groups are "misleading their followers, they're pushing our members in places where they don't want to be, and frankly I think they've lost all credibility."

"It just comes to a point where some people step over the line," the speaker said. "When you criticize something and you have no idea what you're criticizing, it undermines your credibility."

On Wednesday, Boehner went after groups like Heritage Action for attacking the new budget deal as "a step backward."

"They're using our members and they're using the American people for their own goals," he said Wednesday. "This is ridiculous."

After taking heat from those groups Wednesday, Boehner clearly isn't backing down. And there's enough reason to think he won't have to pay too much for it. http://www.nationaljournal.com/congress/john-boehner-conservative-grou
ps-have-lost-all-credibility-20131212]

---

Quote:

---

The irony is not lost on the Wisconsin Republican. "It's a strange new normal, isn't it?" Ryan, 43, told reporters Wednesday when asked whether he was surprised by conservative criticism of the two-year budget framework.

Outside groups including the Club for Growth, Heritage Action and FreedomWorks have all lined up against the deal. These groups have held considerable sway in shaping rank-and-file opposition to prior budget negotiations — including those led by House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio — and helped derail other efforts to find fiscal compromise.

With Ryan as the face of the budget compromise, the groups are finding a harder time getting traction within the ranks.

"I'm not sure that the outside groups are going to be able to influence us away from what really is a good step in the right direction," said Rep. John Fleming, R-La., a conservative who said Ryan's leadership in the negotiations has further brightened his future prospects in his colleagues' minds.

Ryan has said that running on the national GOP ticket last year made him less risk-averse.

"It gave me an appreciation for the moment we are in," Ryan said in January in his first media roundtable following the unsuccessful Romney campaign. "And so, as a member of Congress, it's an experience that has made me a lot less risk-averse from a political perspective and more focused on just doing what you think the right thing is." http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/12/11/paul-ryan-dealm
aker/3990651/

---