Some in GOP Hoping To Secure Major Cuts in Next Budget Battle

Approval of Republicans has been dropping

House Republicans are digesting the lessons of the shutdown fight and weighing whether to change their tactics before the next budget battle.

Centrists in the party are signaling the conference may be chastened by the public backlash that accompanied the shutdown and the near debt default. Polls show the party's popularity has plummeted to historic lows.

But senior members of the party are stoking expectations that the coming House-Senate budget conference could help them win the major cuts to entitlements that they have long sought.

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), who will co-chair the budget conference, said Wednesday he plans to seek big changes to Medicare and Medicaid.