*Government Shutdown

While House Republicans continue to deny the implications of not raising the debt ceiling against the advice of bipartisan economists and officials, several government agencies are preparing for the worst.

Despite claims from Republican leaders that Democrats have refused to negotiate on the budget, a look at the not-so-distant past shows that Democrats have a long history of attempting to negotiate with unwilling partners on a budget that would compromise between the House and Senate versions.  From the National Journal:

Despite claims from Sen. Cruz that “Republicans are winning,” a new poll today from Washington Post/ABC News shows some empirical evidence to the contrary:

This is what compromise looks like:

Now let’s vote on a bill to reopen the government. Speaker Boehner, say what you want, but the votes are there.

"[Republicans] are playing chicken with the credit and reputation of the United States of America." 

“Thank you very much Leader Pelosi. This is an important tool of the minority – motion to instruct.  Or, for that matter, anybody else in the House – to tell the conference committee what they ought to do.

In case you missed it earlier this week, Army Chief of Staff Ray Odierno warned that the Republican government shutdown would have a detrimental impact on our military operations:

Amongst all the other impacts we’ve seen, the GOP shutdown has caused Americans’ confidence in our economy to drop dramatically. A new Gallup poll shows the Economic Confidence Index has dropped to the lowest average since December 2011. From Gallup Economy: