Shutdown, Day Wev

Republicans still terrible. Government still shut down.

The Hill reports that Senate leaders are close to hammering out a deal to end the shutdown and temporarily raise the debt ceiling:

An emerging deal to reopen the government and raise the nation's debt ceiling until February gathered political momentum Monday evening after Senate Republicans signaled they would likely support it.

Lawmakers and aides said the legislation would fund the government until Jan. 15 and extend the nation's borrowing authority until February but leave ObamaCare largely untouched.

It would also establish a Senate-House budget committee to craft a replacement for the automatic spending cuts known as sequestration, which would have to report its work product to Congress by Dec. 13.

Senate Republicans, who have seen their party’s approval rating plummet during two weeks of a government shutdown, are eager to accept a deal as long as it keeps spending levels consistent with the 2011 Budget Control Act in place.

...Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) was briefed on the deal Monday, and members of his conference were taking a wait and see attitude.

...The Senate Republican Conference had been set to meet Monday evening to review the tentative compromise but will instead meet Tuesday morning when more lawmakers will be available to attend.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said the party's brutal poll numbers had made it clear to many of his colleagues they need to accept a deal and end the shutdown as soon as possible.

When asked why he was confident, he pointed to a piece of paper in his hands and read, "74 percent of Americans disapprove of the way Republicans in Washington are handling the nation's budget crisis. That's why!"

E.J. Dionne was on MSNBC last night, and said that when Republican Senator John McCain was handed the newest round of increasingly terrible poll numbers yesterday, he just responded by exclaiming, "We're living the dream!" LOL! I mean, I am definitely a fan of sarcasm, but maybe part of the problem with the Republican Party being an indecent shit-heap with straight-up garbage for a platform is that even its senior statesman who is supposed to be the integrity-bearer of the party is more concerned about THE NUMBERS than he is about the fact that people are having a difficult time getting enough to eat.

Just a thought.

Here's a great headline: Senators Near Fiscal Deal, but the House Is Uncertain. Of course they are.