By Siobhan Hughes

Tea Party-backed Senate Republicans took debt- reduction policy into their own hands on Tuesday, meeting behind closed doors with House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R, Va.) to push for adding a balanced- budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which they said would be enough to win votes for an increase in the U.S. borrowing limit before August 2.

"The American people realize we're bankrupting the country and this is one way to deliver real, true spending constraint," said Sen. Ron Johnson (R, Wisc.) as he and a group including Sen. Jim DeMint (R, S.C.) and Sen. Rand Paul (R, Ky.) left a meeting with Cantor. "We're trying to work with House members to pass this cut, cap and balance because it's a very reasonable proposal on how you can get an increase in the debt ceiling."

Rank-and-file Republicans spent all afternoon strategizing as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R, Ky.) pushed a separate plan that would raise the borrowing limit through three separate increases in the country's debt ceiling totaling $2.5 trillion by the end of 2012. Speaking to reporters as he headed into the meeting with senators influenced by the tea party, Cantor said he had " talked to Senator McConnell," but that he was still waiting to see details of the minority leader's plan.

Cantor and other House leaders are planning to hold a vote on a balanced- budget amendment, although it is expected to fall short of the two-thirds majority needed for passage. Still, the organizational effort by House and Senate conservatives shows that the path forward on reining in the deficit, which Republicans have said is necessary to win their support for a borrowing increase, is viewed by rank-and-file lawmakers as anyone's game.

If Congress fails to raise the debt ceiling, the U.S. wouldn't have enough money flowing in to meet all of its obligations, triggering a default and likely causing borrowing costs to rise.

"There is a risk associated with blowing past August 2," Cantor told reporters, after saying earlier at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that it was a " pretty good bet" that interest rates would increase. "The ball is in the president's court here. He continues to say he's the only one that is willing to do the tough stuff. We've not yet seen to this day the specifics of what he's talking about."

Johnson also put blame on U.S. President Barack Obama.

"I think, if interest rates rise, it's because this administration has done a fair amount of scare-mongering," he told a reporter. "They've actually created a crisis mentality and it's a self-fulfilling prophecy. If this president would have been engaged months ago, we never would have had to get to this point."

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