“If a shutdown occurs, then so be it if they’re not gonna stick to what [Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.)] agreed to, which is starting on a path of financial security, which we don’t have,” Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) told The Hill in an interview.

Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.) also applied pressure in a recent interview, arguing “85  percent or so of the government continues to operate, and most Americans won’t even miss it.”

“And if that’s the leverage that we need to utilize to force the Democrats to accept spending cuts … then we need to do that.”

The comments are just the latest example of conservatives flirting with the what could be the first government shutdown in years.

The party’s right flank is pressing for spending cuts that go beyond a budget caps deal struck by McCarthy and President Biden just months ago. 

Congress has until late September to pass a short-term funding bill, also known as a continuing resolution (CR), to prevent a lapse in funding.

Both chambers are struggling to pass their 12 annual spending bills on time. Senate leaders on both sides have floated punting the funding deadline through December to buy more time for spending talks.

But McCarthy pushed back against the idea of pushing the cutoff date too close to the holidays. 

“I want to make sure we’re able to set this where it’s not by a holiday, that it’s just enough time that, if we can do more of our work, that we could be in conference with the Senate,” he said during a recent interview with “Sunday Morning Futures” host Maria Bartiromo. 

Still, resistance is growing among conservatives to use the CR as leverage to extract concessions from Democrats. 

The Conservative Action Project (CAP) came out strongly against the prospect of a stopgap measure that would keep funding the same through December.  

“No spending bills should pass Congress without desperately needed policy reforms attached that secure the border, end the weaponization of federal law enforcement, and stop the woke cancer that has infected the Pentagon,” they wrote.

The letter featured over 100 signatories, including the board of directors of National Rifle Association of America, the president of the Heritage Foundation, leaders at the America First Policy Institute, Club for Growth and Americans for Limited Government.

The Hill’s Mychael Schnell and Emily Brooks have more here.