Lack of unity may threaten GOP objectives in House

A month after they took control of the House of Representatives with their biggest majority since the Truman administration, Republicans are stumbling and finding it difficult to pass some of their priorities.

That could make it hard for the party to unite behind its biggest priority, due for votes next week: cutting federal spending.

Tea party conservatives rebelled at the House GOP leadership’s initial spending cut package as too puny. It’s since been revised to come closer to meeting the right’s demand for $100 billion in spending reductions this fiscal year.

House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio maintains that he’s unworried. For some time, he’s said he’s not inclined to muscle legislation through the House, as his predecessors often did.

“We’re in a new era,” Boehner said Thursday. “We’re going to allow the House to work its will. Leaders are not going to get what they want every day.”

Analysts offer a different take.

“This is a battle for the soul of the Republican Party,” said Michael Munger, a political science professor at Duke University.