Senate Reaches Deal to Reopen US Government

On Wednesday (today, for those of you without calendars), the Senate arrived at an agreement on a bipartisan deal to reopen the government and extend its borrowing authority. After three weeks of a government shutdown brought on by Republicans hoping to defund the Affordable Care Act, the final deal "yielded no concessions to the Republicans." So, to answer the prevailing question: Boehner blinked first.

Source: The New York Times

What does the agreement entail? It funds our government until January 15th and gives us the authority to keep borrowing through February 7th. Which, in essence, means that the problem isn't necessarily being fixed, but put off. One can't help but admire these politicians for continuing the teenage stereotype by going from stubborn refusal to procrastination. This is like handing the fate of our country to a classroom of high school juniors. And, at this point, I might have more faith in kids to handle this than our nation's "leaders." However, I am editorializing. Back to facts.

This announcement came when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid took the Senate floor this afternoon.

"We're going to do everything we can to change the atmosphere in the Senate," Reid said.  

During Reid's announcement, Senator Ted Cruz, the never ending conservative mouth piece, announced that he would NOT delay a senate vote on the deal. And the country sighed in relief.

At this point, however, there has been no mention of when the deal would be vote on in the House. As the House is Republican controlled, its not safe to say that we are not out of the woods yet, but judging by the tired look on Boehner's face, I can't imagine anyone wants to keep up this silly game much longer.