Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) predicted Sunday that only half of House Republicans will support an emerging deal to raise the debt ceiling. 

“I don’t see many conservatives getting behind this quite frankly,” Graham said on ABC’s “This Week.” 

“I think half the conference in the Republican House must vote for this,” Graham said. “I think that’s the minimum because — I like John Boehner, maybe he can get more — but it’s a $3 trillion package that will allow $7 trillion to be added to the debt in the next decade, so how much celebrating are you going to do.”

{mosads}If a deal gets approved by the Senate, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) will face another difficult task in moving the package through the House. Boehner last week had to rewrite his own proposal to win more conservative votes in order to secure passage. 

Graham said he was “not ready to vote” for the plan being negotiated by Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), the White House and Senate Democrats. 

“We’re going in the wrong direction at a slower pace, and for a lot of people that’s not winning,” Graham said. 

Graham described the deal as a partial victory at best for Republicans, saying it had changed the culture of debate on raising the debt ceiling but was only slowing down the rate at which government was adding to the debt. 

The senator is a key voice for the debate in the House, as South Carolina’s entire House delegation opposed Boehner’s initial debt plan earlier this week after Graham and fellow South Carolina GOP Sen. Jim DeMint announced their opposition.