Another last-minute deal struck, another crisis postponed in Washington.

But lawmakers have little time to bask in the temporary relief the bill provides. As furloughed federal employees return to work Thursday, Congress faces another budget deadline three months from now, and a deadline to raise the debt ceiling a few weeks after that.

After the chaos caused by the impasse of the last 16 days, officials are hoping this time to do more than simply meet those deadlines with another pair of stopgap measures.

“We believe there is common ground,” Senate Budget Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray, D-Wash., said Thursday.

Source: FOX News – FOX News: What Now? Obama, Congress face new budget deadlines after stopgap deal

President Obama and his congressional allies succeeded overnight in winning a virtually condition-free increase in the debt ceiling, along with funding to end the partial government shutdown — but in a deal that left America’s debt crisis un-addressed and teed up another battle three months from now.

The president signed the short-term bill early Thursday morning. With his signature, furloughed federal employees will return to work for the first time since Sept. 30. The White House directed all federal agencies to promptly restore staffing to normal levels.

The bill cleared the House late Wednesday on a 285-144 vote, lifted over the finish line by a large chunk of Democrats. All House Democrats voted in favor of the bill and 87 Republicans did as well; 144 Republicans voted against it. The Senate, where the plan originated, earlier voted 81-18 for the bill.

Source: FOX News – FOX News: Obama signs bill ending partial shutdown, raising debt ceiling

President Obama signed a short-term funding bill early Thursday morning that ended the partial government shutdown and raised the country’s debt ceiling.

The bill passed the House Wednesday night 285-144, with 87 Republicans joining all the House Democrats in passing the bill. The Senate, who originated the deal behind the bill, passed it 81-18.

The agreement funds the government through January 15th, raises the debt ceiling through February 7th and provides back-pay for furloughed federal employees. The Republicans were unable to get changes made to Obamacare beyond a provision to verify the income levels of those receiving Obamacare subsidies.

The bill also contained items that seemed unusual in a bill aimed at reopening the government including a nearly $3 billion earmark for a dam construction project in Kentucky.

“Tonight, a deal was struck to re-open the government and avoid the debt ceiling deadline. That is a good thing,” Kentucky Senator Rand Paul said in a statement. “However, our country faces a problem bigger than any deadline: a $17 trillion debt. I am disappointed that Democrats would not compromise to avoid the looming debt debacle.”

Sen. Paul voted against the bill.

A proposal from Republicans in the House of Representatives collapse on Tuesday evening forcing leaders to postponed a scheduled vote.

Sources inside the party said more conservative members were openly against the plan being rushed through by House Speaker John Boehner. The delay increases the chances that Congress would not be able to reach an agreement before Thursday’s debt ceiling limit.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell are working together to try and arrange a settlement that would be approved by the Senate. Any deal would need approval by the House and analysts say it’s unlikely the House will immediately approve any Senate proposal.

The Treasury Department said they only have $35 billion on hand to pay bills.

Fitch Ratings has announced a “rating watch negative” notice on the United States’ AAA credit rating because of the government shutdown.

“Although Fitch continues to believe that the debt ceiling will be raised soon, the political brinkmanship and reduced financing flexibility could increase the risk of a U.S. default,” the rating agency said in a statement.

U.S. stock index futures fell on the news but rallied later in the day.

Treasury Department personnel were quick to say the Fitch announcement showed the urgent need for Congress to pass legislation to raise the country’s debt ceiling. The country will hit the debt ceiling on Thursday.

Disarray among House Republicans surfaced Tuesday as the Senate closed in on an agreement to reopen the government and avoid a possible U.S. default as soon as this week.

House Speaker John Boehner was “struggling” to come up with enough votes to pass a GOP counter-proposal to the Senate plan, a House Republican leadership aide and other sources told CNN’s Dana Bash and Deirdre Walsh.

After a two-hour meeting with his caucus that lasted twice as long as scheduled, Boehner told reporters there was no final decision on what the GOP-led House would do.

Source: CNN – CNN: House GOP disarray surfaces over possible shutdown plan

House GOP leaders are struggling to settle on a plan to open the federal government and raise the country’s debt ceiling that would placate the most conservative members of their rank and file, while Senate leaders grow increasingly concerned that the House’s latest actions could stymie a bipartisan agreement they are close to brokering to end the standoff.

Republicans in the House aim to build off the work of Senate leaders, but adding new sweeteners to their own plan that could help more conservative members get on board with a compromise.

The House plan would likely include more changes to President Obama’s health care law, including a delay in a tax on medical devices and a provision that would force members of Congress, their staff and cabinet members to get their health insurance from exchanges.

But even before the details of the plan emerged, the White House signaled that President Obama would reject it.

Source: ABC News – ABC News: Splintered House GOP Undermines Senate Progress on Shutdown, Debt Ceiling

The government shutdown began with Democrats saying Republican demands about Obamacare were ‘extortion.’ Now, as the GOP resistance collapses, Senate Democrats are pushing back.

For the past few weeks, Democrats from the president on down decried Republican tactics on a potential government shutdown as political hostage-taking on a par with “extortion.” So, of course, now that the Republicans are on the run, the Democrats are doing the exact same thing in reverse.

They’re saying they want to undo major part of the sequester budget cuts as part of a deal to end the government shutdown and raise the debt limit. It’s as though Senate majority leader Harry Reid (D) of Nevada has finally sensed his moment to destroy that product of tea party Republicanism once and for all. One might not even be surprised if “Ride of the Valkyries” was booming from his Senate office this morning.

That is how dramatically the story in Washington has flipped during the two weeks since the government shutdown.

Source: Yahoo! News – Yahoo! News: Government shutdown backfires? GOP says Democrats now guilty of extortion

For the first time, optimism has come from both sides of the aisle in negotiations toward raising the country’s debt limit.

Senate majority leader Harry Reid told reporters there was “tremendous progress” in negotiations. Sources close to the negotiations said that a deal to ending the partial government shutdown is being neared as well.

“We hope with good fortune,” Reid told reporters. “Perhaps tomorrow will be a bright day. We’re not there yet.”

Closed door meetings of both parties were scheduled for Tuesday. However, there is concern that even if a deal is reached in the Senate on Tuesday, there will not be enough time for both houses of Congress to act before the Thursday deadline.

There is also concern that some Republicans would act to slow down any deal from being passed before the Thursday deadline.