GOP Establishment Wrestles With Staunch Conservatives On Health Care Repeal

Jillian Bandes | September 20, 2010 8:14 AM

John Boehner, who was recently excluded from the Young Guns policy book, is carefully maneuvering the GOP's plan for a possible health care recall after the fall mid-terms. Staunchly conservative "tea party" members of Congress want a full-fledged government shut-down if that's what it takes, but it seems that Boehner is treading a little more cautiously. He'd rather keep the government running, and collect signatures on the discharge petition to enact the repeal. That petition, as Ed Morrissey

reported on Friday, is about 40 signatures short of forcing a floor vote.

Boehner is getting pushback from Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), who wants Boenher to take a "blood oath" that Republicans would not cave to a total government shutdown if that's what President Obama resorted to in the face of health care repeal. He was referring to the 1995 government shut down by Newt Gingrich, when Republicans refused to pass a budget without spending cuts. Boehner said that was going a little too far.

Boehner is already under fire for supposedly caving to Dems on the Bush tax cuts repeal...