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All eyes on Republicans as clock ticks toward government shutdown

Government shutdown looms in Washington 02:35

(CBS News) Push is about to come to shove in the budget fight between conservative House Republicans and President Obama.

If they can't resolve their differences, the government will begin shutting down on Tuesday.

CBS News' Nancy Cordes reports from Capitol Hill that House Republicans say they won't accept the bill passed by the Senate Friday that would keep the government funded through mid-November because it restores all the funding to the president's health-care law that they had stripped out.

House Republicans were expected to meet at midday Saturday to try to figure out how far they want to go. They're considering adding another measure to the funding bill that defunds or delays part of the health-care law instead of all of it.

CBS News political director John Dickerson said on "CBS This Morning: Saturday" that delaying Obamacare would not likely receive Senate approval.

(Watch John Dickerson break down the politics of the possible shutdown at left)

Dickerson said the "break-glass solution" if Republicans aren't able to exact something they want from Mr. Obama and Democrats would be for House Speaker John Boehner to put the Senate-passed bill to a vote and allow Democrats and Republicans to vote on it.

Such a vote would create a problem for Boehner with conservatives who want him to be as tough on the president as possible and wouldn't want anything to pass with Democratic votes, Dickerson said.

Even as the Senate passed its funding bill Friday, House Republicans were urging their speaker to try a second time to weaken the law.

"This is a whole new entitlement program that's destructive for America," Rep. John Fleming, R-La., said.

The Senate's Democratic leader called them hostage-takers and anarchists.

"We're not going to be extorted," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada. "The country's not going to be extorted. We're not going to negotiate with a gun to our heads."

With a shutdown looming, the departments of Justice and Defense released contingency plans, warning "military personnel will not be paid until such time as Congress makes appropriated funds available to compensate them."

"Shutting down the government for Obamacare is like cancelling the World Series because your team didn't make it," said Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass. "Obamacare is the law. You can't cancel the government."

Senate Republicans like Arizona's John McCain urged their tea party colleagues to give up this fight, calling it unwinnable.

"This debate has been changed from Republican versus Democrat-slash-Obama to Republican versus Republican, and that cannot be helpful to the Republican Party," McCain said.

But conservatives led by Ted Cruz of Texas insisted the American public is on their side.

"I am hopeful, I am confident that the House will continue to stand its ground," said Cruz, "continue to listen to the American people and step up to respond and to stop this train wreck, this nightmare that is Obamacare."

Watch Nancy Cordes' report from Capitol Hill in the player above

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