A member of the Senate GOP leadership says he and his colleagues could end up backing House Republicans in their efforts to fund the government at levels below those agreed to in the bipartisan debt-limit deal last August, increasing the chances of a government shutdown fight just weeks before the 2012 election.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the Budget Control Act stated caps and lids,\u201d said Sen. John Thune (R-SD) in the Capitol Tuesday. \u201cIt\u2019s not necessarily floors. And if the House appropriators can mark bills that will come in at that $1.028 [trillion] level, then more power to them. Of course, here they\u2019ve already agreed that they\u2019re going to mark at the Budget Control Act levels, so that\u2019ll set up some interesting discussions in the conference committee. But I think we\u2019ve got to be as aggressive as we can in trying to rein in the cost of government, the growth of government.\u201d<\/p>\n
The White House insists that it will hold House Republicans to the deal they struck last summer, and that President Obama will veto appropriations legislation that funds the government below those levels. Thune did not address that threat. Senate Republicans are less eager to pick this fight, but comments suggest they\u2019ll back their House counterparts if the parties reach an impasse.<\/p>\n