“It’s getting better for us. The moment where Republicans are least popular is right when the government shuts down. But when the president continues to say he’s unwilling to negotiate with the American people, when Harry Reid says he won’t even take things to conference, I don’t think the American people are going to take that too kindly.”

— Rep. Raúl Labrador (R-ID), quoted by the New York Times.

Sen. Harry Reid and Speaker John Boehner “have never been especially close, but their normally functional relationship began to unravel this week, after the House GOP decided to try to undermine a secret deal the two leaders’ offices made over the summer to save congressional staffers from losing their health care benefits,” Roll Call reports.

“Reid and his chief of staff, David Krone, were so angry with the Ohio Republican that they decided to breach accepted protocols between the two offices after Boehner’s Monday decision to add a provision to a stopgap spending bill that would eliminate employer health care contributions for members and staff.”

“Though leaders usually refrain from referring to each other in their partisan rants against the other chamber, Democratic leaders on Monday mentioned Boehner by name 12 times.”

House Republicans are likely to try again “to pass three piecemeal spending bills that would reopen parts of the government, as both parties try to force the other to crack under mounting public pressure to end the two-day-old shutdown,” the New York Times reports.

“The Republicans suffered embarrassing losses on Tuesday night when the three bills — to finance veterans’ programs, national parks and museums, and federally financed services in Washington — failed to get the two-thirds majorities required to pass under fast-track procedures.”

“Aides to the Republican leadership said the bills would be introduced on Wednesday under ordinary rules that require only simple majorities, and they should easily pass. But Democrats are likely to be granted procedural votes of their own, which would be an opportunity to test how many Republicans would defy their leadership and vote to reopen the entire government without crippling President Obama’s health care law — the standoff that shut down the government at 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday.”

“A harsh reality began setting into Capitol Hill on Tuesday: The U.S. government may not reopen until the two parties reach a deal to raise the national debt ceiling, Politico reports.

“Indeed, if the standoff continues to creep toward the Oct. 17 deadline to raise the $16.7 trillion national debt ceiling, the two issues will become intertwined — and potentially intractable. House Republican leaders and top Senate Democrats privately began discussing this increasingly likely possibility Tuesday, but the two sides have yet to engage in any direct negotiations in the acrimonious budget dispute.”

Roll Call: “House Republicans tried to soften the blow — in reality and politically — of a government shutdown Tuesday with bills that would provide funding for veterans, for national parks and for the District of Columbia. But Democrats said no.”

“Republicans tried to pass the three bills under suspension of the rules, in which a two-thirds majority is required. But Democrats, who characterized them as face-saving measures after forcing a government shutdown, refused.”

Robert Costa: “The same question keeps popping up: Why doesn’t Speaker John Boehner just pass a ‘clean’ continuing resolution to fund the government? It’s a ubiquitous query at the Capitol, and it was asked many times this afternoon as House Republicans left their closed-door conference meeting. But most Republicans, when pressed by reporters, rolled their eyes. They know what Boehner knows: A clean CR has never been an option…”

“Instead, the leadership is digging in for an extended impasse with Senate Democrats. Based on my latest conversations with insiders, their plan isn’t to eventually whip Republicans toward a clean CR and back down after a few days of messaging the shutdown, as some have believed; it’s to keep fighting, and, in the process, preserve the House GOP’s fragile unity — and maybe, if they’re lucky, win a concession from Senate majority leader Harry Reid.”

Washington Post: “At the moment, neither side is feeling a clear imperative to end the shutdown.”

Wall Street Journal: “That was the message Tuesday from Senate Republican leaders and Democratic aides who said there is a growing likelihood that non-essential parts of the federal government remain shuttered for more than two weeks until lawmakers agree on how to increase the debt ceiling.”

“Two top Senate Democratic aides also said they thought the two issues would end up dovetailing together, saying that from their perspective the next move was up to House Republicans. Democrats are unlikely to negotiate with Republicans over a short-term government funding bill, so the delay will continue until House Republicans agree to take up a Senate-passed six-week funding bill.”

GOP pollster David Winston to Greg Sargent: “A long term shutdown is not a tenable solution in the eyes of Americans… All the parties involved had better realize there are repercussions here. The biggest concern people should have is the level of uncertainty this injects as voters think about who they are going to choose in 2014. People should be concerned about what that will look like.”

Chris Cillizza: “Tuesday should have been a banner day for Congressional Republicans, the day in which sequestration cuts to the federal government were locked in for another few months — a move that would have proved just how committed the GOP was to cutting federal spending and shrinking the debt.”

“Instead, the government is shuttered. Polling shows Republicans are in line to take the lion’s share of the blame. The party is fighting amongst itself about when and whether to make a deal. Party strategists are (semi) openly fretting about the political danger their side is courting with the shutdown.”

Said former Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA): “When is a win not a win? When it belongs to the GOP. These are constant self-inflicted wounds. We don’t need to learn how to be a good loser. We need to learn to be a good winner.”

Rep. Dennis Ross (R-FL) admitted to National Journal the budget showdown isn’t a winner for the Republican party and that Obamacare would be implemented despite GOP efforts.

Said Ross: “Ultimately that’s going to happen, in my opinion. We have voted 41 times to defund it or get rid of it. If my people back home say: Oh my gosh you voted to fund Obamacare, so be it. We’ve lost this battle. We need to move on to the next one.”