It was a quiet group of lawmakers who left the floor of the House just before 1:30 am after a very long Monday at work. There was little in the way of chest thumping or back slapping amongst Republicans who had forced their leadership into a round of legislative chicken with Democrats in the Senate; instead it almost seemed like the reality of a government shutdown was just sinking in for members of both parties.

"I have no idea," one Republican said to me when asked what was next, privately expressing the fear of some GOP lawmakers that there was no good way to wrap this up, other than with Republicans caving in on their demand for major changes in the Obama health law.

As the final vote was being taken by the House on another version of a GOP stop gap budget, which included a formal request for negotiations with the Senate, not one Republican ventured out into the Speaker's Lobby off the House floor, where several dozen reporters waited.

It was much like earlier in the day after a House Republican closed door meeting in the basement of the Capitol, where dozens of lawmakers steered their way through reporters, not saying much about the issue at hand.

It was very different than the scene on Saturday, when Republicans cheered lustily in their conference meeting, almost a pep rally atmosphere for their push against the Obama health law.

On the other side, Democrats pounced even before the midnight deadline, rattling off a list of national parks and monuments that would be closed all around the country, all but accusing the GOP of going politically crazy.

"This is just uncalled for, totally unnecessary," said Rep. David Scott (D-GA), who spoke in hushed tones as if he couldn't believe what he was watching.

"Stand up for America!" yelled Rep. John Larsen (D-CT) on the House floor, demanding that Republicans not let the government shut down.

The first news of the morning from the polls showed why Democrats seemed to feel better about what was going on, as a Quinnipiac Poll showed 72% voters oppose a shutdown, and Democrats had surged 9 points on the generic Congressional ballot question.

The parliamentary situation

On Tuesday morning, the Senate is expected to reject the latest offer from the House, including that request for a joint House-Senate conference committee to work out differences on a stop gap budget.

"The best path forward right now is for both chambers to convene a formal conference committee where we can resolve our differences," said House Speaker John Boehner.

The request for that committee amplifies the GOP talking point in recent days that Democrats and President Obama are refusing to negotiate on the Obama health law and other issues.

But it also served to remind reporters of something else, as Senate Democrats have repeatedly asked for House-Senate negotiations on the budget resolution, the non-binding document that sets out the parameters of the budget debate.

18 times since April, GOP Senators have objected to Democratic efforts to start negotiations on the budget resolution, while Speaker Boehner has refused to appoint conferees for those talks.

After the Senate rejects this latest volley from Republicans in the House, it's not clear what comes next - as I mentioned above, rank and file GOP lawmakers didn't seem to have any hint of the next step as they left the Capitol early this morning.

What about the Obama health reform law?

For weeks, Republicans had sparred about the usefulness of a government shutdown, and whether it could derail the President's signature health law.

But as the sun came up on Tuesday in Washington, government offices may have been closed in many cases, but the health law was not missing a beat.

"Full steam ahead for 'Obamacare" as much of the federal government shuts down," said an AP report.

"The Affordable Care Act is moving forward. That funding is already in place.  You can’t shut it down," President Obama said to reporters on Monday before a meeting with his Cabinet.

The irony of the shutdown is this - on the very day that the health law really kicked in, with the opening of the various exchanges - that was a secondary story to the government shutdown.

Some GOP lamwakers immediately went on to the exchanges to try to sign up for health insurance, and instead found a balky web site that didn't work perfectly.

But that story won't get as much attention as the shutdown, the closure of national parks and local government facilities in cities and towns all across the nation.  It won't be ignored, but it won't be 'the' story of the day.

And if you are hoping the Democrats are getting weak in the knees about the Obama health law, I just don't sense that in the halls of Congress.

If anything, there are more wobbly knees among Republicans over their tactics, than there are Democrats worried about the health law right now.