MACKINAC ISLAND, mich. A divide over the health care law separates the emerging field of potential GOP candidates for the 2016 presidential race, previewing the battles ahead as they try to rebuild their party and seize the White House.

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz says he will fight "with every breath" to stop President Barack Obama's signature domestic achievement, even if that means shutting down parts of the federal government. It's an approach that former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush calls "quite dicey" politically for Republicans.

Allied on the other side are Cruz, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and others who say they are making a principled stand, willing to oppose the law at all costs.

Then there are those taking what they call a pragmatic approach by accepting the law, if grudgingly, and moving on. This group includes Govs. Chris Christie of New Jersey and Scott Walker of Wisconsin, who says a shutdown would violate the public trust.

"The government we have should work, so that's why I don't believe we should shut the government down," Walker told reporters after speaking at a Republican conference in Michigan on Saturday.

The Republican-controlled House passed a short-term spending plan Friday that would continue funding government operations through mid-December while withholding money for the health law.

Some GOP lawmakers also advocate holding back on increasing the nation's borrowing limit, which could result in a first-ever default, unless the law is brought down.

Obama used his weekly radio and Internet address Saturday to scold "a faction on the far right" of the Republican Party, and he said he would not allow "anyone to harm this country's reputation or threaten to inflict economic pain on millions of our own people, just to make an ideological point."

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder hosting a state Republican conference where Walker and two other 2016 prospects, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, planned to speak Saturday said a shutdown "reflects poorly on the national political culture."

Jindal said last week, "I do think the party needs to be more than the party of 'no.' "

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GOP divided over health care, government shutdown