In the first conference meeting back from recess, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) is expected lay out his “top-line” negotiating points as he prepares to head to the White House on Thursday for the deficit panel convened by the Obama administration. Cantor will take the elements to the sessions with Vice President Joe Biden. The general consensus among Republicans is that the deal will again be cut by Obama and Boehner.
But in HC-5, the meeting room where Republicans huddle, they’ll find hordes of skeptics about the seriousness of failing to raise the debt ceiling. Many Republicans simply don’t believe the situation is as dire as it’s being presented.
“In my view, it’s a negotiating point because they want the debt ceiling raised without spending cuts and long-term cuts to spending,” Rep. Larry Bucshon (R-Ind.) told POLITICO. “They want to make when we reach the debt ceiling sound as risky as possible. Do I think it’s serious issue? Yes I do. Do I think it’s what [Treasury Secretary Timothy] Geithner and the administration says? No I don’t.”
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