Washington — No deal. Yet.

One day after Vice President Joe Biden outlined a potential agreement to stave off a government shutdown, Republicans on Thursday said it won't be that easy.

Some seemed to object to the idea of a compromise of any sort. Others took issue with the specific compromise Biden floated on Wednesday. It would cut $33 billion from the federal budget, the largest one-time reduction in U.S. history.

And some said that was nowhere near enough.

"You know, that is kind of classic Washington right there, right? 'We want 60.' 'We want zero.' 'So let's land at 30 and everybody's happy,' " said Rep. Bill Huizenga of Michigan, part of an 87-member class of GOP freshmen who have been some of the strongest opponents of a compromise.

A budget deal could still come together. It could even happen soon: The two parties continued to negotiate in private Thursday.

But it was clear that this budget impasse will be solved - if it is solved — not because of the familiar Capitol Hill favor-trading, but because each party fears being blamed for a shutdown.

And, with the deadline to avert a shutdown still a week away, it seems that nobody is afraid enough yet.

The government has now operated without a budget for 183 days. Republicans have called for deep cuts, passing a measure that would reduce this year's spending by $61 billion. Senate Democrats have said they won't accept that.

On Wednesday, Biden had signaled that a deal might be possible before April 8, when the current stopgap measure will expire, telling reporters: "We're all working off the same number now."

He meant that Republicans and Democrats had agreed to cut about $33 billion — including $10 billion that was already part of two recent short-term measures. But they still had to haggle: The Republican bill would take funding from conservative targets such as Planned Parenthood, the Environmental Protection Agency and National Public Radio.

On Thursday, the Republican response could be summed up in two words: What deal?

"You've heard a lot of talk over the last 24 hours," said House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. "There is no agreement on numbers. Nothing will be agreed to until everything is agreed to."

Outside the Capitol, several Republicans told a small tea party rally that they were ready for confrontation, not compromise.

"By picking a fight and winning this one small step toward fiscal discipline, the American people will see . . . that we can fight and we can win," said Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana.

Late Thursday afternoon, Boehner held his regular meeting with the 87 freshmen in the Capitol basement. Rep. Patrick Meehan of Pennsylvania, whose suburban Philadelphia district is one of the most moderate held by a GOP freshman, said there was "a sense of shared conviction" that the Democratic-held Senate is the problem.

However, lawmakers emerged from the closed-door huddle with no clarity on where they stood on Biden's suggested deal. A few were outright opposed, but most said they were happy to hear Boehner and House Majority Whip Eric Cantor, R-Va., tell them that they were fighting for deeper cuts.

The key is how deep Republican rejectionism runs. It might actually help Boehner now, by giving him leverage for a better deal. But if he ever does strike a bargain with Democrats, it could turn on him.

"There's going to be a lot of salesmanship that's going to have to take place" if the compromise is $33 billion in cuts, said Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga., a longtime member of the Appropriations Committee.