By Richard E. Cohen, CQ Staff

Conservative House Republicans, some of them still unhappy about the outcome of the debt limit and discretionary spending showdowns, are expressing doubt that the joint deficit committee will produce anything they can support.

Many conservatives are urging like-minded colleagues to be prepared to resist whatever the joint committee may propose rather than support a deal likely to be blessed by many Senate Democrats and President Obama.

The unease among the majority’s rank and file compounds the challenge facing Speaker John A. Boehner and the Republican members of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction as the panel attempts to produce a bipartisan plan to reduce deficit spending by at least $1.2 trillion.

GOP leaders knew when the joint committee was established last summer by the debt limit law (PL 112-25) that any agreement reached by the panel will be centrist in nature, and unlikely to win the support of those in the party’s right flank, especially among lawmakers who voted against the agreement that set up the process.

Since no one expects them to support the panel’s recommendations, the most conservative Republicans have relatively little ability to influence the joint committee’s direction. And the clout of the conservative Republican Study Committee (RSC) has been weakened by controversy surrounding its chairman, Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, who has kept a low profile since being criticized for working against the GOP leadership during the spending and deficit showdowns.

Those on the right flank of the House GOP appear united against any deficit reduction plan that includes revenue increases. Some would prefer that Republican leaders resist compromise with Democrats and the president, even though not enacting the joint committee’s recommendations would trigger discretionary spending cuts.

Conservatives view the potential automatic cuts, or budget sequester, as a lesser evil, even as they acknowledge that such an outcome would hit programs Republicans support as hard as those they oppose. Republican Policy Committee Chairman Tom Price, R-Ga., said that lawmakers may soon face “the $64,000 question of whether the budget sequester is worse.”

“We have backed ourselves into a corner with the defense cuts,” said Mick Mulvaney of South Carolina, a leader of the 87 GOP freshmen.

Mulvaney said that Congress could revise or repeal the sequester, which under the debt limit law would take effect in January 2013. But he acknowledged that Republican leaders have shot down that idea, which would result in no additional deficit reduction.

The yearlong interval between the conclusion of the joint committee’s work and the sequester leaves open the possibility of revisiting the automatic spending cuts after next fall’s elections.

Many conservatives have been cool to the joint committee from the start — wary in part because it was initially proposed by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. They also have objected to its unusual structure, which essentially gives veto power to either party.

Conservative grumbling grew louder when Republican leaders began holding listening sessions last month to gauge the sentiments of rank-and-file lawmakers.

Mulvaney said that some other House conservatives conditioned their August vote for the debt limit package on an understanding that the joint committee would produce a substantial proposal to reduce the deficit. “Many members who voted for the debt ceiling would be very unhappy, and we would lose the faith of the American people,” Mulvaney said of a meager proposal. “This would be the worst possible result for our party.”