( CNN ) -- Now that there is a respite in the debate in Congress over Syria , the budget wars are resuming . Regardless of how tired the public has become of watching the parties wrangle over spending levels , congressional Republicans have made it clear that they intend to keep the pressure on the president . The first round of the fight will come with the decision over whether to extend the continuing resolution to fund the government beyond its expiration date of September 30 . House Republican leaders have already been forced to delay the vote because Tea Party Republicans have threatened to vote no . They are demanding that the bill shut down funding for the new health care law , a key part of which goes in effect on October 1 . The second round of the fight will take place in October , when Congress will need to raise the debt ceiling so that the federal government can meet its obligations . Republican leaders have said that in exchange for their votes on both measures , the administration will have to agree to steep cuts in domestic spending . As they have been doing since 2010 , Republicans want to use these budget battles to depict themselves as the party of `` fiscal responsibility '' and to sway public opinion wars toward a national agenda that centers on reducing the size of domestic programs . Based on what we 've seen thus far , the strategy will not work over the long term . While the GOP has been successful at preventing President Obama from dealing with other issues -- and now these debates can help put such issues as immigration reform at risk by pushing them off the legislative schedule -- their overall strategy can diminish public support for deficit reduction . Nor is it likely to make Republicans look like the responsible party of fiscal conservatism . Why wo n't it work ? Republicans have chosen to fight over spending cuts through dramatic high stakes maneuvers , such as shutting down the federal government or refusing to raise the debt ceiling that raise more questions about their party than about the issue at hand . Q & A : The lowdown on the shutdown . The Republicans have watched as public opinion has turned against them . According to a recent CNN poll , 51 % of those surveyed would blame the Republicans for a government shutdown . By dealing with budgetary issues through these risky tactics , which some say threaten the economy , the party hurts its ability to persuade the public that the Republicans are interested in seriously pursuing fiscal restraint , as opposed to using this issue for purely partisan purposes . Not only does this strategy raise questions about the Republicans as a party , but it makes the issue of spending cuts appear more like a weapon than a topic of discussion . The Republicans have also harmed their cause through their long-standing inconsistency about achieving fiscal responsibility . Conservatives have been pointing to this problem for over a decade , as many had lambasted President George W. Bush as a `` Big Government Conservative '' who supported expansions of government such as the Medicare prescription drug program . In the past two years , Republican proposals have concentrated most heavily on spending cuts for programs serving the disadvantaged while simultaneously promoting tax cuts that would only worsen the fiscal imbalance that the nation faces . By doing so , Republican arguments about fiscal conservatism have seemed more like an attack on the poor than a desire to balance the budget . Obama has tried to capitalize on this perception . On ABC , he said , `` There 's no serious economist out there that would suggest that , if you took the Republican agenda of slashing education further , slashing Medicare further , slashing research and development further , slashing investments in infrastructure further , that would reverse some of these trends of inequality . '' Nor have Republicans done much to respond to the growing data that deficit reduction does little to help the economy . New research has cast great doubt on an economics paper that has been cited around the globe by champions of austerity in public spending . Spending cuts in European nations have not produced the economic results promised -- in fact the opposite -- and that has also shaken supporters of the GOP here at home . Yet , Republicans have not offered much of a response , other than to stick to their pre-existing script . Republicans will need to do more to counteract this growing evidence about the flaws of their arguments . There was a time when Republicans could legitimately claim to be the party of fiscal conservatism . President Dwight D. Eisenhower made balancing the budget one of his signature issues , devoting much of his second term fighting against all kinds of spending , including on the military , against the Democratic Congress . While he was unsuccessful , Democrats and Republicans , as well as large number of voters , respected his belief in the program and the fact that he was willing to take political risks to fight for this policy . If Republicans want to regain some of what Eisenhower achieved for the party , and to win over skeptics who are doubting whether deficit reduction really should be the kind of priority issue that Republicans say it should be , they will have to change course . Starting in the coming weeks , they might want to begin by avoiding a government shutdown and raising the debt ceiling so that they can argue their case in a way that has a chance of persuading more Americans to back their ideas and their party . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Julian Zelizer .
David Herman : Republicans are on a suicidal course on budget issues . He says that a government deficit or a debt limit crisis would harm an already weak GOP party . Zelizer : If Republicans want to win public support , they need to debate budget without manufacturing crises .