Rep. McMorris Rodgers: Senate Playing Games With Shutdown

As the clock continued to tick towards a federal government shutdown at midnight Monday, Republicans and Democrats held their ground during the Sunday political talk shows, refusing to budge on differences in a spending bill that includes a one-year delay implanting Obamacare.

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington, chair of the House Republican Conference, told CNN's "State of the Union" the fault lies with Democrats if the Senate refuses to pass the government spending bill before the deadline.

McMorris Rodgers also criticized the Senate for leaving Washington over the weekend. The Senate is not scheduled to reconvene until 2 p.m. on Monday, and the vote has yet to be scheduled.

"They're the ones who are playing games," Rodgers said. "They need to come back."

The House passed a continuing resolution early Sunday to keep the government operational until Dec. 15, but did not include money to fund Obamacare for one year.

The Democratic-controlled Senate is refusing to pass any spending bill, which would effectively shut down the government, unless Obamacare funding is included.

"People are panicked in this country over Obamacare," McMorris Rodgers said. "We're pushing the Senate to listen to the American people."

Former Rep. Artur Davis, a Democrat turned Republican from Alabama, also appeared on CNN and said Republicans have won the public relations war against Obamacare.

However, attaching Obamacare's death sentence to legislation that keeps government operating is a political tactic that would likely backfire against Republicans, Davis said.

"There's no question Obama has an incredibly weak hand – if you had said six months ago his approval ratings would be in the low-to-mid forties, no one would have bought that," Davis said.

"I think the Republicans win the substance on Obamacare. I'm not convinced the Republicans win on brinkmanship," Davis said.