A senior House Republican tells CNN that “one idea being considered to end the immediate fiscal impasse is a bill to fund the government and extend the nation’s borrowing authority for six weeks.”

“The GOP lawmaker said a committee could then be set up to negotiate the fiscal issues dividing the two parties and negotiate a plan to keep the government funded for the rest of the year without the proverbial gun to their heads.”

New York Times: “The twin shutdowns of 1995 and 1996 had a theme: Cut federal spending, especially on Medicare, to eliminate the budget deficit in a prescribed length of time. This time around, even many Republicans no longer know what they want to achieve.”

Said Rep. Dennis Ross (R-FL): “I think now it’s a lot about pride.”

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) “may be catching grief from some fellow Republicans in Congress for his role as a leader of the group in Congress in favor of shutting down the government rather than funding the Affordable Care Act, but he’s getting support from the Florida Republican Party,” the Tampa Tribune reports.

“The state party’s caucus of state committeemen and committeewomen, who make up the governing executive committee of the party, just voted by acclamation during a meeting in Orlando to express their support for Cruz.”

“This mess was created by the Republicans for one purpose, and they lost. People in my district are calling in for Obamacare — affordable health care — in large numbers. These guys have lost, and they can’t figure out how to admit it… So we sit here until they figure out they fuckin’ lost.”

— Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA), quoted by Slate, on when the government shutdown will end.

“You really have to call Cruz, I’m not even joking about that. That’s
really what you have to do, because he’s the one that set up the
strategy, he’s the one that got us into this mess, and so we’ve got to
know what the next move is.”

— Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), quoted by the New York Times, when asked what Republicans were going to do next in the budget standoff.

Marc Thiessen: “Quick: What do Republicans want in exchange for ending the government shutdown? If you know the answer, congratulations — because Republicans sure don’t.”

“It calls to mind the episode of Seinfeld where Jerry and George are coming up with an idea for a show to pitch to NBC — and decide it will be ‘a show about nothing. That’s what this standoff has become — the Seinfeld Shutdown, a shutdown about nothing.”

“Obama presses GOP’s Boehner”

— Richmond Times Dispatch, October 4, 2013.

Democrats outlined a plan to use a “discharge petition” to force a vote to end the government shutdown. It effectively overrides House leaders by presenting a petition signed by a majority of representatives to bring a bill to vote on the floor.

Speaker John Boehner’s press secretary immediately dismissed the idea on Twitter: “Ah, the old discharge petition move. Zero percent of the time it works every time.”

Except that Digital First Media finds four high profile times the maneuver has worked in the past.

“Today, too many in our politics choose scorched earth over common ground. Many of our public debates are happening in what I like to call an evidence-free zone, where ideology trumps data and common sense. That is a recipe for paralysis, not progress.”

— Hillary Clinton, quoted by the Associated Press.

In a meeting with GOP lawmakers, Speaker John Boehner “offered no clue as to how he expected Congress to get out of the dead end it has found itself in, with the government shut for a fourth day and no clear path to raise the federal debt limit to avoid the nation’s first default,” the New York Times reports.

Said Boehner: “We are locked in an epic battle,” while urging them to “hang tough.”

“The overarching problem for the man at the center of the budget fight, say allies and opponents, is that he and his leadership team have no real idea how to resolve the fiscal showdown. They are only trying to survive another day, Republican strategists say, hoping to maintain unity as long as possible so that when the Republican position collapses, they can capitulate on two issues at once — financing the government and raising the debt ceiling — and head off any internal party backlash.”

Politico: “The speaker’s clearly been weakened internally and in public opinion — which Obama seems eager to exploit.”