WASHINGTON—The mood was decidedly glum Wednesday when a handful of House conservatives gathered in a congressional office building to eat Chick-fil-A and assess what three weeks of fighting had wrought.

Across the Capitol, Senate leaders were announcing a deal to reopen the government and extend the country's borrowing authority, an agreement the House approved later in the night. But the eight Republicans were looking ahead to the next round of budget battles early next year—and they weren't optimistic.

"We have less leverage on the next [government-funding bill] and on the next debt limit than we did right now," said Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, who has been at odds with party leaders since arriving in Washington late last year.

Idaho Rep. Raúl Labrador looked even further ahead. "This is going to be about the 2014 election," he said. "Are we going to go out there and articulate to the American people what our vision would have been, how this would have turned out better, if we had more conservatives in the House and we had a Republican majority in the Senate?"

The House conservatives were digesting a difficult reality: the deal to fund the government and extend borrowing through early next year wouldn't make significant changes to the 2010 health-care law, a demand that kicked off the budget brawl.