The Republicans Are Already Making Some Terrifying Comments

Other than the trillion dollar coin idea, there hasn't really been that much discussion about the debt ceiling, and how it's going to be raised in just over a month's time.

But that's about to change, as Congress whirrs back to life.

And a new report fro Politico's Mike Allen and Jim Vandehei paints a picture of a House caucus eager to go past the brink, if that's what it takes to force spending cuts.

Some of the lines from the report include:

-- "The idea of allowing the country to default by refusing to increase the debt limit is getting more widespread and serious traction among House Republicans than people realize."

-- "Republican leadership officials, in a series of private meetings and conversations this past week, warned that the White House, much less the broader public, doesn’t understand how hard it will be to talk restive conservatives off the fiscal ledge."

-- "GOP officials said more than half of their members are prepared to allow default unless Obama agrees to dramatic cuts he has repeatedly said he opposes"

Not all of the commentary is off the record.

For example:

“For too long, the pitch was, we’ll deal with it next time,” said Rep. Jason Chaffetz, a conservative from Utah. He said GOP lawmakers are prepared to shut things down or even default if Obama doesn’t bend on spending. “No one wants to default, but we are not going to continue to give the president a limitless credit card.”

For now markets haven't cared much about the debt ceiling.

But with headlines like this coming out, and The White House now having ruled out the two most likely options for breaking the debt ceiling (the 14th Amendment and the coin), it will be interesting to see if markets start to freak.