As House Republicans prepare to vote on a short-term continuing resolution to fund the federal government, Sen. Mike Lee (R., Utah) tells National Review Online that he is disappointed with how the stop-gap budget debate has played out on Capitol Hill. “I am not happy with how it is unfolding,” he says. “It’s frustrating that we are not considering anything more aggressive.”

Lee would like to see more cuts and less political theater. “I would like to see statutorily-mandated spending limitations, as well as a Balanced Budget Amendment,” he says. “It is almost wishful thinking, but somebody has got to be pushing for it. It is going to stay a wish unless we put it into law. One of the problems with this short-term, weeks or months approach is that it fails to undress the underlying problem.”

“I do not support kicking the can down the road with no broader plan for how we are going to solve this crisis,” he continues. “I refuse to believe that the only solution is the perpetual deficit spending and the only cuts we can seriously consider cuts that will only reduce the deficit at the margins.”

Despite the concerns of Lee and others, such as Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.), Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell predicts that the stop-gap bill will pass in the Democrat-controlled Senate. Meanwhile, House GOP aides, in background conversations, say they expect 10 to 15 Republicans to vote against the CR later today.