The Hill News

Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) urged congressional Republicans to "draw lines in the sand" in their showdown with President Obama over raising the nation's debt limit.

Pawlenty, a GOP presidential candidate, girded Republican lawmakers for a showdown with the president and Democrats ahead of the Aug. 2 deadline, by which the Treasury Department has said Congress must raise the debt limit, or face default.

"I urge our Republicans in Washington, D.C., to stand strong," Pawlenty said at a town hall in Iowa, which was broadcast on his Facebook page. "The only way to get real change in Washington, D.C., is to draw lines in the sand."

Republicans are locked in a closely watched fight over how to address the deficit and debt. The House GOP has said it would refuse to raise the debt limit without significant measures to address the deficit and debt, but Obama and Democrats insist on some increase in revenue to balance out the cuts.

President Obama and congressional leaders huddled Thursday and will do so again on Sunday to try to hash out a deal; indications have pointed to significant concessions on spending by Democrats. But Republican leaders have said they would oppose any additional revenue gained by the elimination of tax loopholes or breaks for the wealthy, raising questions about whether those reforms would even address the deficit.

Pawlenty said that he wouldn't be amenable to a short-term deal that included spending cuts to raise the debt ceiling if he were president.

"I think it's really important to have the showdown now," he said. "So let's call the question now. These dramatic moments are important and powerful."

Pawlenty would seem to have the back of House and Senate Republicans in their fight over the debt ceiling, but he's signaled in the past that he doesn't move in lockstep with them. When House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) reached an agreement w! ith Obama to avert a shutdown, Pawlenty opposed the deal, sidi! ng with a number of conservative and Tea Party-oriented lawmakers in Congress.