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Latest Debt Plan Hasn’t Won Over Graham

As news trickled out Sunday about a potential deal to raise the debt ceiling, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Republicans “can declare victory in a limited fashion,” but that he’s not ready to vote in support of it.

“We’ve achieved a significant change in the way Washington works by paying for the debt ceiling increase and not passing it onto the credit card,” Graham said on ABC’s “This Week.” “We have not achieved entitlement change. We have not reduced the size and scope of government. We’re going in the wrong direction at a slower pace, and for a lot of people, that is not winning.”

Graham and the other six Republicans from South Carolina’s eight-member Congressional delegation have been united in their opposition to previous debt ceiling proposals, complicating the efforts of party leaders to strike a final deal.

And the latest proposal probably doesn’t go far enough to assuage them, Graham said.

“You know, I don’t see many conservatives getting behind this, quite frankly. … I’ve learned in politics the hard way, don’t oversell, and don’t tell people they should feel good when they have a reason not to feel that great,” he said.

Graham added later, “This deal — and it is better than a lot of people thought — is not nearly where the problem is.”

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