House Speaker John Boehner’s (R-OH) comments criticizing outside tea party groups were “a little bit unfortunate,” Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) said Monday.
Hensarling, the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee and former chairman of the Republican Study Committee, was referring to Boehner lashing out at conservative groups for their opposition to the two-year budget deal introduced by Senate Budget Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray (R-WA) and her House counterpart, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI).
Hensarling first premised his comment by saying that he understood frustration by Boehner and others who have attacked groups like FreedomWorks and Heritage Action for America for directing fire at Republicans rather than Democrats.
“Not that —we all need to be held accountable but at the same time politically you ought to be focused on the president and Harry Reid and those kinds of folks so I think most of us are pulling for the same thing and, yeah, I thought the speaker’s comments were a little bit unfortunate,” Hensarling said in an interview on radio station 660 AM The Answer.
Hensarling in the same interview said it was unfortunate that the frustration that has become public.
“Well I’m sorry that this became public. I would say this: there would not be a Republican majority in the House today if it wasn’t for the tea party and every Republican officeholder ought to count their blessings that there is a tea party,” Hensarling said.
