The government appears like it will be reopening soon and the debt ceiling raised as GOP leaders admit defeat and agree to vote to end the shutdown.
According to CNN, a deal was announced by the Senate and House Speaker John Boehner is telling Republicans to support it.
Boehner said in an interview with an Ohio radio station, "We fought the good fight; we just didn't win." A Senate vote is expected Wednesday night, followed by a House vote. The deal could pass as Sen. Ted Cruz has said that he won't try to delay the deal.
"Blocking the bipartisan agreement reached today by the members of the Senate will not be a tactic for us," Boehner said. "Our drive to stop the train wreck that is the president's health care law will continue.
The New York Times notes that the deal comes only a day before the Treasury department said it would run dry of cash and have to likely default on its debt.
The deal struck in the Senate allows the government to remain funded to Jan. 15 and the debt ceiling to be raised through Feb. 7. By Dec. 13. the agreement will also have the Senate begin negotiating on plans to determine tax and spending policies for the next decade.
Sen. Mitch McConnell sat down with Sen. Harry Reid and worked on the deal. Republicans can claim a small victory as 2011 budget cuts were not halted. Something that McConnell said, "is far less than many of us hoped for, quite frankly, but far better than what some had sought."
Republicans seemed to realize the shutdown had not gone well for them. "We took some bread crumbs and left an entire meal on the table," Sen. Lindsey Graham said. "This has been a really bad two weeks for the Republican Party."
image: Wikimedia Commons
