Republican Rep. Marsha Blackburn from Tennessee explains Republicans' 'Grand Bargain' effort to roll a government spending bill into negotiations on the debt ceiling. 
Some House Republicans are proposing a plan to combine government funding and debt ceiling negotiations into one “grand bargain” bill after days of government shutdown.
“As we look at the debt ceiling, we do have to look at tax reform, we do have to look at entitlement reform and maybe we’re at the point where we have to roll the CR and the debt ceiling discussion together,” said Republican Rep. Marsha Blackburn from Tennessee to Chuck Todd on Friday’s The Daily Rundown.
In addition to healthcare reforms, the bill would attempt to rewrite tax codes and reform entitlement programs like Medicare and Social Security.
“We need to put all this on the table, be adults, sit at that table and work through these issues,” said the Tennessee Rep. “Let’s look at this long form.”
House Speaker John Boehner originally proposed the idea of combining government funding and budget talks Thursday afternoon in private to his Republican colleagues, urging them to stick together and focus on an area where they can most influence change.
So far he’s prevented the house from voting on a clean spending bill, which has prolonged the government shutdown, but he pledged during the meeting that he would not allow a more crippling federal default and that he doesn’t intend to let the economic crisis spiral, reports the New York Times.
Democratic Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid said Wednesday that he and fellow Democrats are open to bicameral negotiations, but that they will not discuss the debt ceiling until the government opens.
“We will negotiate with you on anything you want to negotiate with,” said Reid. “But open the government, get the debt ceiling out of here.”
As long as both parties remain at odds, it seems the government shutdown will continue.
But Rep. Blackburn told Chuck Todd that she and her Republican allies will still try to pass individual funding bills in the meantime.
“We are going to get components open on a bit-by-bit basis and move it back to the point that we have all of these services that are available and open.”
Check out Chuck’s full conversation with Rep. Blackburn above.
