Washington (CNN) -- It's been 17 years since the last government shutdown. The next one might be just hours away.
For the second time Monday, the Senate has rejected a House Republican effort to derail Obamacare tied to a proposal that would avert a government shutdown at midnight.
The Democratic-controlled Senate voted to table amendments that would have delayed the individual mandate in the health care law and eliminated health insurance premium subsidies for members of Congress, their staffs and the president.
In the latest volley of legislative ping pong over a short-term spending plan needed to avoid the shutdown, House Republicans are expected to meet to discuss their next steps.
Earlier, Senate Democrats had rejected a House proposal by a 54-46 vote on strict party lines.
President Barack Obama made a previously unscheduled statement to reporters on Monday afternoon, blasting the attempts by House Republicans to undermine Obamacare that he said threaten to harm the economy with a shutdown.
"You don't get to extract a ransom for doing your job, for doing what you're supposed to be doing anyway, where just because there's a law there that you don't like," the president said.
Obama later called Speaker John Boehner and other party leaders in the House and Senate, the White House said, but a Boehner spokesman indicated there was no breakthrough.
It's just congress being petty.
