House conservatives are preparing to demand a series of difficult floor votes that would impose steep, long-term spending reductions before the House takes up this summer a proposal to raise the $14.3 trillion debt limit.

Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, chairman of the Republican Study Committee (RSC), said Thursday that the powerful group of conservatives will call for votes on a tough balanced-budget amendment, a cap on domestic and mandatory spending at no more than 18 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) and deeper cuts in the upcoming fiscal 2012 appropriations.

Jordan is putting the request for votes in a letter to Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio and his leadership team, he said. The RSC has some 175 Republicans and significant political clout in the majority.

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The group backs the constitutional amendment (H J Res 56) sponsored by Joe Walsh, R-Ill., requiring Congress to balance the budget each year and cap discretionary and mandatory spending at 18 percent of GDP. The resolution has 50 cosponsors in the House.

Senate Republicans support a similar proposal by Patrick J. Toomey, R-Pa. “We want the one that has the support of 47 senators,” Jordan said.

“The letter says that we need three things: cut, cap and balance,” said Mike Pence, R-Ind., an RSC member, referring to spending cuts, a statutory spending cap and a constitutional amendment to balance the budget.

“To ensure that spending cuts continue, we need statutory, enforceable total-spending caps to reduce federal spending to 18 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), with automatic spending reductions if the caps are breached,” according to a draft of the RSC letter.

Republican Reps. Connie Mack of Florida, Jeff Flake of Arizona and Jack Kingston and Tom Graves, both of Georgia, are drafting legislation that would establish a spending cap of about 18 percent of GDP, the draft letter says.

Mack introduced Wednesday a proposal (HR 1848) that he calls the “one-cent solution.” The measure would reduce federal spending by about one percentage point in each of the next six years and then cap spending at 18 percent of GDP. Federal spending now stands at about 24 percent of GDP.

Conservatives are writing other alternative spending-cap proposals, Republican aides said.

Mack said Republican leaders would have little choice but to schedule floor time on the conservatives’ to-do list before any measure to raise the debt ceiling is brought to the House floor. “They will have to do it, if they want our votes,” Mack said, referring to a measure to raise the debt limit.

Jordan said that the RSC is pushing for a vote on proposals that would require cuts in fiscal 2012 spending far deeper than envisioned in a fiscal 2012 budget blueprint (H Con Res 34) the House adopted on April 15.

Some RSC lawmakers advocate a statutory spending cap of 20 percent of GDP. Rep. Robert W. Goodlatte, R-Va., is pushing a balanced-budget amendment that would cap spending at no more than 20 percent of GDP (H J Res 1). The proposal has 131 cosponsors.

“It’s important to have something bold because circumstances warrant bold action,” Jordan said.

Alan K. Ota writes for CQ.