Government Shutdown Could Slam Right Into Debt Ceiling

Lawmakers are dug in as second day of shutdown begins.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, left, looks on as Speaker of the House John Boehner speaks to the press on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2013, in Washington, D.C.
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House Republicans are spinning their wheels looking for a way out of the government shutdown aspolls show Americans blame them for it..

Senate Democrats have signaled they won't negotiate or aid in the slow dismantling of President Barack Obama's health care law.

[READ: 10 Effects of a Federal Budget Shutdown]




A handful of Republicans have began calling on their leaders to go to the negotiating table with Democrats. Rep. Charlie Dent, R-Pa.., has said he would vote for a clean continuing resolution, a temporary funding bill without any strings attached, if GOP leadership would just bring one to the floor.

Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., called the shutdown a waste of time.

"This was a fool's error started by Ted Cruz," King said during an appearance on MSNBC. "But we can't just blame him. We have to blame his acolytes in the Republican conference. The 30 or 40 who stood with him." Cruz, R.-Texas, led the Senate in a 21-hour pseudo-filibuster in an attempt to stop the Oct. 1 implementation of Obamacare.

Others, however, are dug in, encouraging House Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., to stand their ground and let the shutdown strategy play out.

[ALSO: What a Government Shutdown Means for the Economy]

Cruz has been at the center of the shutdown drama and has drawn ire from GOP colleagues for encouraging the House not to cede any ground.

"I have repeatedly stated that I will not vote for a CR that funds Obamacare and I trust House conservatives to continue to listen to the people and act to prevent the Obamacare 'train wreck," he said in a statement.

Some House Republicans have gone as far as to cheer the shutdown, adding that voters back home already thought the federal government was too big anyway.

Every day the shutdown lags on, however, the country inches closer and closer to colliding with another essential funding date, Oct. 17, the day the country's debt ceiling will need to be raised to ensure the country pays its bills on time.

Monday, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew sent a letter to members of Congress urging them to raise the debt ceiling "immediately." Market experts have said that while a government shutdown has some effect on the economy booster, defaulting on the country's debt would have far more dire consequences.

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