shutdown

A massive $1.1 trillion spending bill to fund the government through October and finally put to rest the bitter budget battles of last year is getting generally positive reviews from House Republicans eager to avoid another shutdown crisis with elections looming in 10 months. Veteran Republicans said the generally positive response to the all-encompassing spending bill reflected the desire of the rank and file to avoid a repeat of the politically damaging budget standoffs with the White House that led to last year's 16-day partial government shutdown

Republicans believe that a bad economy works for them at election time. The thinking is that the public will turn on Democrats for not making things better. So they do what they can to make the economy bad. Maybe they went too far this time. This hostage-taking episode has done real, serious, lasting damage to the economy on top of the ongoing damage Republicans have been doing. Will the public still blame Democrats, or will they finally see what is going on here?

The Ted Cruz Republicans made a horrible mess of everything, and the country and the economy are far worse for the experience, but there is one clear victor out of all this — the Democrats. With upcoming battles over Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid on the horizon, Dems need to remember the lessons learned in the shutdown debacle.

A bipartisan bill to fund and reopen the government passed both the Senate and House of Representatives. Though many from the right side of the aisle joined Democrats in stopping this kamikaze mission, nary a single Texas Republican voted for it.

Despite the end of the dramatics, progressive commentators note that no victories can be claimed in the political fight and warn that even with government workers back on the job Thursday and the threat of default now subsided, the painful austerity policies that have ruled Washington economic policy in recent years remain dangerously front and center for lawmakers in both major parties.

It’s a tale of two government shutdowns: For those orchestrating it, political adrenaline junkies, and Twitter groundlings, it’s a game of high-stakes theater. For others, it’s a matter of life and death. As we enter the third week of the shutdown, it’s becoming more clear that for women and babies it’s the latter.

Opposition to the birth control benefit has been framed by the bishops and their allies as an infringement of their religious liberty, turning the definition of the term on its head by claiming a right to impose their theological views on those who believe differently.

If ever there was a time to have a fully functional U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development it is now in the aftermath of the housing market crash, which began in 2007 and has yet to recover whole. But nearly two weeks after government shutdown, HUD has definitely suffered the hardest blow: 96 percent of their staff, or 8,372 out of 8,709 people, are out of work right now. HUD is the agency that chiefly handles public housing for low-income families and housing discrimination complaints

Under pressure from governors, the Obama administration said Thursday it will allow some shuttered national parks to reopen — as long as states use their own money to pay for park operations.

GOP aides say House Speaker John Boehner will ask House Republicans to approve a short-term extension of the government's ability to borrow to meet its bills.