Club for Growth won’t oppose GOP bill to suspend debt ceiling

The Club for Growth said Tuesday that it would not oppose the House GOP measure that temporarily suspends the debt ceiling.

The influential conservative group said it would not score the House vote, expected on Wednesday, to take the debt ceiling off the table until May and withhold lawmaker pay if the House and Senate don’t pass a budget by April 15. 

But in its announcement, the Club also suggested that it intends to be a player in other fiscal fights to come.

Chris Chocola, the Club’s president, said in a statement that his group will “strongly oppose any efforts during the upcoming debate over the continuing resolution and sequester that fail to arrest out-of-control spending and put sensible limits on the growth of government.” 

{mosads}The Club’s hands-off approach amounts to something of a victory for House GOP leaders, who saw the group and other conservative outlets oppose Speaker John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) “Plan B” to avoid the so-called “fiscal cliff” in December. 

The White House on Tuesday blessed the upcoming GOP vote, with press secretary Jay Carney calling it “significant” and “certainly something we welcome.”

The House Rules Committee is scheduled to consider the Republican debt-limit measure on Tuesday, paving the way for a likely Wednesday vote. The measure is part of GOP efforts to push Senate Democrats to produce a budget, something top Democrats in the chamber say they will do. 

The Club for Growth and groups like Heritage Action have repeatedly said they will push Republican leaders from the right on fiscal matters.

“We have always supported a plan to balance the budget and we’ll be watching to see what happens next,” Barney Keller, a spokesman for Club for Growth, said Tuesday. 

On Friday, Heritage Action declined to endorse the GOP debt-limit bill, but also did not say whether it actively opposed it. 

“Conservatives are determined to fight to implement the policies to take us on a 10-year path to balance and need to know who is committed to that cause,” Michael Needham, Heritage Action’s chief executive, said in a statement.