According to a new report from National Review, House conservatives are unified in their opposition to a debt ceiling deal of nearly any kind.
"They may try to throw the kitchen sink at the debt limit, but I don’t think our conference will be amenable for settling for a collection of things after we’ve fought so hard,” Republican Scott Garrett of New Jersey told National Review. "If it doesn’t have a full delay or defund of Obamacare, I know I and many others will not be able to support whatever the leadership proposes. If it’s just a repeal of the medical-device tax, or chained CPI, that won’t be enough."
As National Review finds, Garrett's far from the only conservative to hold such a maximalist position. "America is going to be destroyed by Obamacare," said Georgia Republican Paul Broun, "so whatever deal is put together must at least reschedule the implementation of Obamacare.”
One anonymous House GOP aide even went so far as to predict "50 to 60" Republicans would "break with Boehner" if the speaker's proposal did not include the delaying or defunding of Obamacare. "They’re also reluctant to even give Boehner a short-term debt-limit extension," the aide continued, "unless he gets something big in return."
But not all members of the Republican caucus are so intransigent. Jim Gerlach of Pennsylvania told National Review, "We’re trying to talk to [the GOP hard-liners] about the impact shutdown has in suburban, moderate, and competitive districts like mine, and I hope they listen. But Ted Cruz sold them this line, and they’ve run with it.”
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