They aren’t willing to accept the consequences because they have no guarantee on how that would end up.
The democrats did that with Obamacare and lost a whole lot in 2010. That happened with a pliant and willing media to support them in every way. The GOP does not have that.
That is one of the reasons they are skittish.
The Democrats did that with something that most of the country did not want, they knew it, and did it anyway. Although there's no consensus on what should be cut, most of the country does know our spending is out of control.
But if the Republicans want to do both the right thing and also have the best image doing it, they are going about it wrong. They should stop granting power to the President he doesn't have.
Draft their own budget from scratch, telling everyone that it's not an adjustment to anything Obama sent, it's a new approach to a serious problem. It's also their proper constitutional role. Then negotiate *after it passes the House*.
This happens all the time. Most legislation is not negotiated and agreed to in advance by all three parties.
When they negotiate to get an agreement in advance before they pass anything, they are negotiating from weakness because they've already given up their power.