“It’s time for us to say no,” exhorted House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, in a room near the House chamber Friday.

But with certainty that the bold stroke against the Affordable Care Act won’t advance in the Senate, the prospect of a sudden end to many government services loomed even larger than usual in a Congress unable to properly function.

“It is a terrible, self-imposed crisis imposed by Republicans in the House who are either controlled by the Tea Party or cowed by them,” Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the Senate’s No. 2 Democrat, contended in an interview.

The 230-189 vote on Friday was the 41st roll call in the House aiming to cripple the new health law or repeal it altogether. For Republicans, pressing the health care case has become a matter of urgency, both for policy’s sake and responding to the most active segments in the GOP.

Speaking in Liberty, Mo., on Friday, President Barack Obama accused Republicans of being overly focused on “how you get your base stirred up.”

Washington University’s Steven Smith said the approaching Oct. 1 signup at insurance exchanges has triggered “desperation” in the GOP’s most conservative wing.

“I think that Republicans realize that this is the last good chance they have to do something about Obamacare,” said Smith. a political science professor and director of the Weidenbaum Center on the Economy, Government and Public Policy.

He added: “Some of the young Republicans are basically uncompromising. They weren’t elected on just cutting taxes. They were elected on not compromising with the devil.”

At 33, Rep. Jason Smith, R-Sullivan, fits the description, age-wise at least. On the House floor Friday, he argued that the new insurance law is bringing “a tsunami of mandates, fines and confusions.”

Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, 61, of St. Elizabeth, is a not-so-young Republican who also believes the Republicans have adopted the right course.

“There’s a general consensus that we need to de-fund Obamacare, so we’re going give it a shot and see what happens,” he said.

What likely happens next is a swirl of parliamentary maneuvering in the Senate, the stripping of the anti-health law provisions and then 11th-hour negotiations through the weekend.

Meanwhile, with Congress able to focus on little else, instructions will be going out from federal agencies as to which federal worker employees should report to work Oct. 1 and which “nonessential” employees should stay home.

Republican Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt is among GOP senators who recognize the dim prospects for success in the House GOP’s initiative.

{span style=”color: #000000;”}Blunt has given no indication of siding with a determined element promising every rules trick to keep the anti-heath law offensive alive. Before that moment comes, all Republicans can weigh in heartily on the new law.

“I’m no supporter of the president’s health care plan. I believe it won’t work, there’s evidence every day of that, and I’ll vote to not move forward with it,” he said in a Friday interview.

He added: “I don’t know where we’ll be in the middle of the week.”

As vice chairman of the Republican conference and a senator with deep House ties, Blunt could have the profile to help forge compromise.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who often figures in the endgame, is waging a battle to keep his seat against a formidable primary challenger with Tea Party backing.

McConnell’s, second-in-command, Texas Sen. John Cornyn, is feeling grass-roots heat back home stoked by the aggressive ways of fellow Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, a potential candidate for the GOP presidential nomination in 2016.

Said Durbin: “Their two top leaders are unable to provide leadership. The question is whether there will be some leadership emerging from the ranks.”

Not mentioning McConnell or Senate leaders, Rep. Ann Wagner, R-Ballwin, said in a statement that it is up to Cruz and Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, “to lead the fight in the Senate to de-fund ObamaCare.”

Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., last week accused House Republicans of “Akin-itis.” Appearing with Cruz on Fox News Sunday, McCaskill contended the Texas Republican’s effort to vault himself to the forefront of the budget fight is about Cruz running for president. “This isn’t about meaningful statesmanship,” she said.

The House set the stage for a fiscal confrontation in coming days that has no predictable end. The only certainty is that avoiding costly failure will require one of the bipartisan coalitions that are increasingly elusive in Washington.

In the Senate, Mark Kirk, R-Ill., sounded as though he would be among Republicans inclined to reach speedy agreement.

“I am one of those who says, let’s not shut down the government just because you don’t get everything you want,” Kirk said in an interview. “That is an overwriting of our mandate. I think that our mandate was to not raise taxes, which we have succeeded in achieving.”