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GOP Readies Debt Ceiling Wish List

House Republican leaders pitched their conference Friday on their debt ceiling strategy — including, as expected, a wish list that includes delaying Obamacare, approval of the Keystone XL oil pipeline and the beginnings of a tax code overhaul.

The wish list in the bill to raise the debt ceiling, expected to come to the floor next week, will push against President Barack Obama’s vow to stand firm in his position that he won’t negotiate on “the full faith and credit of the United States.”

“We had a good discussion in there, a lot of ideas,” Majority Leader Eric Cantor. The Virginia Republican said that after the House moves forward on the spending bill keeping the government running, “we want to come to an agreement with the White House on how to affect the fiscal health of this country.”

Rules Chairman Pete Sessions, R-Texas, said that unlike other meetings on big-ticket House items where Republican Conference members presented ideas in “open mic” fashion, this event only featured presentations from Speaker John A. Boehner, R-Ohio, and Cantor.

As lawmakers began to trickle out of the closed-door meeting, they were broadcasting a message of party unity.

“Great conference,” said Rep. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla. “We’re a team, we’re working together.”

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