Thirty-three conservative House Republicans — including one committee chairman — have signed onto a letter urging leadership to bring to the floor a "clean" one-year continuing resolution that funds the government at sequester levels. But don't construe this plea as a coordinated assault on a budget deal that could emerge as soon as Tuesday afternoon, according to Rep. Mick Mulvaney of South Carolina, who spearheaded the letter along with Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio and Republican Study Committee Chairman Steve Scalise. And don't use it to characterize how all the lawmakers would vote should the deal replace the sequester, as expected. "The letter is not, 'What are we going to vote for, what can we support?,'" Mulvaney told CQ Roll Call in a phone interview. "All we're saying is, 'Look, if we don't get anything we can support, we are not going to tolerate a government shutdown.'" (more…)
