At least three Georgia Republicans say they plan to vote against a plan sponsored by the speaker of the House to raise the nation's debt limit.
When Speaker John Boehner calls for a vote in the U.S. House on his plan to raise the borrowing cap, Reps. Tom Graves, Paul Broun and Phil Gingrey of Georgia have no question that they will oppose their leader's plan.
But late Tuesday afternoon it was largely unclear how the rest of Georgia's 13-member delegation -- and especially its other five Republicans -- would vote on the Boehner's plan.
Democrats, including President Barack Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., want the debt ceiling raised sufficiently enough to resolve the issue at least until 2013.
For Georgia's five congressional Democrats, the choice seems fairly easy: Boehner's plan is insufficient. But for the state's eight Republicans, the choices are complex and largely unappetizing: vote against Boehner, the man they elected to lead their caucus, or vote with him and anger the increasingly influential tea party back home.
Graves and Broun, two of the most conservative members of the U.S. House, have no such concerns. Graves was among the first members of the House on Tuesday to announce he would not support Boehner's plan.
"While I’m supportive of the speaker’s fierce resistance to job-destroying tax increases, the debt reduction elements within this proposal have already been tried in the past and failed to stop our government from amassing the $14 trillion debt we have today," Graves said in a statement.
Graves instead wants a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced federal budget, which would require two-thirds approval in the House and Senate. Without that, Graves said, Boehner's plan is no guarantee. Graves also supported the "Cut, Cap and Balance" bill the House already passed. That measure, which is not expected to pass the Democratic-led Senate, would have cut current spending, capped future expenditures and required a balanced budget.
Cut, Cap and Balance also would have raised the debt ceiling, which is why Broun opposed it, his spokeswoman Meredith Griffanti said.
"He's actually not going to vote for any bill that raises the debt ceiling," she said.
Broun, in fact, introduced legislation to lower the debt ceiling.
Georgia's other Republican lawmakers face pressure from all directions. Many tea party groups support Broun's position. Influential GOP organizations such as the Grover Norquist-led Americans for Tax Reform and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce support Boehner's plan. The Heritage Foundation and Club for Growth oppose it.
Rep. Jack Kingston, a Republican from Savannah, was unsure Tuesday afternoon how he would vote.
"I'm very concerned that if it does not pass that we might have the Harry Reid plan, which I think might be a blank check to the president," he said. "I've got a lot of concerns."
But Kingston also predicts that should Boehner's plan pass, it would eventually pass the Senate, too.
"The Senate will say, ‘OK, this is the best game in town,' " he said. "I just believe there are enough people in town that are concerned with a downgrade and that we want to avoid that."
Rep. Austin Scott, the Tifton Republican elected president of the freshman class, is also undecided.
"I want to make sure whatever we pass prevents a default, prevents a downgrade," Scott told Jamie Dupree of AM 750 and 95.5 FM WSB.
Rep. Lynn Westmoreland told Dupree he is looking at all options.
"I don't think the cuts are enough," he said. "I don't think they're immediate enough."
Rep. Phil Gingrey said he would vote against the Boehner plan. He said in a statement that the elements of Cut, Cap and Balance are required "for my vote on any plan to raise the debt ceiling.”
For Georgia Democratic Reps. Hank Johnson and John Barrow, the decision to vote against Boehner's plan is easier.
"I'd vote for a ‘clean' debt ceiling bill in a heartbeat," Johnson said, referring to a simple up-and-down vote on raising the debt ceiling without taking on spending cuts or new tax revenue. Neither Boehner's nor Reid's plan does that, he said.
Barrow, one of the shrinking number of conservative Blue Dog Democrats, said he has "yet to see a plan that would protect our seniors, provide confidence to the global business community and garner bipartisan support."
He said leadership on both sides needs to return to negotiations.
Meanwhile, U.S. Sens. Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson of Georgia remain uncommitted to a path forward. Isakson, who said he supports the Cut, Cap and Balance approach, called Boehner's plan "a step in the right direction."
Chambliss, a member of the bipartisan Gang of Six that is searching for long-term fiscal policy changes, said details of both the House and Senate plans are still coming out. Chambliss, too, supported Cut, Cap and Balance.
Chambliss, Isakson and many House members reported steep increases in constituent phone calls about the debt ceiling, especially since Obama told a national television audience Monday to call. Isakson said a normal day in his office sees about 650 calls; Tuesday it was up to about 900.
But Obama wasn't alone in urging people to call. In Georgia, the Tea Party Patriots are doing the same. And their message?
"We prefer that the debt ceiling not be increased, period," said Debbie Dooley, a co-founder of the group. "The average person, when they're going through tough economic times, they have to learn to live within their means. They can't go out and arbitrarily raise the debt ceiling."
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