House GOP members from Ga. line up against debt-ceiling deal | Political Insider | www.ajc.com

Georgia’s Republican senators briefed most of the House GOP delegation this afternoon on the new bipartisan deal to raise the debt ceiling and reopen the government.

As the meeting broke up, Rep. Lynn Westmoreland of Coweta County quipped to a lurking reporter that they had been playing poker. So who won?

“We all went all in, and we all lost,” he said, with a chuckle.

Westmoreland said the entire House delegation would most likely vote against the plan — assuming Speaker John Boehner brings it to the floor, where it would take mostly Democratic votes to pass. This has been the outcome House Republicans feared and fought against before and during the shutdown: A Democrat-friendly deal.

Westmoreland compared it to the New Year’s “fiscal cliff” deal, which caused “some unrest in the conference.” Said the congressman:

“Is it going to hurt [Boehner]? Yeah, I think it will, but I think what most members of our conference realize is that he fought the battle as long as he could. We’ll see what happens. You can never tell. We may buck up and all vote no.”

Rep. Tom Graves, the Republican Ranger, who was a key member of the “defund Obamacare” push, also floated the unlikely idea that the vote could fail:

“You’re at a point right now where, do you accept what Barack Obama and Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell put together and is that going to be the House position or not? We’re soon going to find out. In my opinion, it shouldn’t be. That’s why I’m not supporting it. But we’re going to set a pattern here in the future, and I’m of the belief the House needs to maintain relevancy for the next three years. And so Harry Reid needs to come talk to the House and get our thoughts on the piece of legislation as well, and not just deal with Mitch McConnell and the president.”

via House GOP members from Ga. line up against debt-ceiling deal | Political Insider | www.ajc.com.