Doomed flight of fancy: They're shutting 'er down

House Republicans unveiled a plan on Saturday that would keep the government open until Dec. 15 in exchange for a one-year delay of Obamacare—an idea Democrats have vowed to reject.

That leaves Congress barreling toward a government shutdown on Oct. 1, the same day Americans can begin signing up for insurance under President Obama’s health care law.

Regardless of its prospects in the Democratic-controlled Senate, Republicans enthusiastically embraced the new plan in a special closed-door meeting on Saturday, breaking out into huge applause as members cheered “Let’s vote!”

“The whole room: ‘Let’s vote!’” Congressman John Culberson of Texas recalled. “I said, like 9/11, ‘let’s roll!’”

Culberson was referring to a quote from Todd Beamer aboard Flight 93, a plane hijacked by al Qaeda terrorists on September 11 that crashed in Pennsylvania after passengers fought to regain control.