It's time to wrap up this comedy of political errors.  —  The Beltway budget melodrama rolls on to its predictable and dreary end, with both sides now split over increasingly small differences.  None of this is worth a partial government shutdown, much less the risk of a debt default, and both sides are looking like losers.

Why we miss Kay Bailey Hutchison  —  Things surely would look far different with Sen. Hutchison in office in the nation's capital  —  Does anyone else miss Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison?  —  We're not sure how much difference one person could make in the toxic, chaotic, hyperpartisan atmosphere in Washington …

Houston Chronicle Yanks Ted Cruz Endorsement  —  As the federal government enters its sixteenth day of shutdown and stands just hours away from defaulting on the national debt, the largest newspaper in Texas has pulled its endorsement of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX).

Stunned Republicans React to Canceled Vote  —  Referring to his plan to preemptively send the Senate a House-passed bill, Speaker John Boehner told his conference this morning that he'd “rather throw a grenade than catch a grenade.”  But with his right-wing troops abandoning him again it was the speaker left holding the bomb.

House Republicans Show Themselves To Be Dangerously Incompetent, Again  —  House Republican leaders canceled plans to call a vote Tuesday evening on a Republican plan to raise the debt limit and reopen the government.  They couldn't round up enough Republican votes to pass it.

Senate Leaders ‘Very Close’ to Debt, Shutdown Deal … With less than a day remaining before the debt limit is reached, Congress will need to work feverishly today to pass compromise legislation that would extend the debt ceiling and end the government shutdown.

Ayotte urges Cruz to allow quick vote in Senate on debt deal  —  Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) on Wednesday urged her GOP colleague Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas) to allow a Senate budget deal to hit the floor without delay.  —  Ayotte said delaying a Senate bill with procedural tactics would have little point.

John Boehner's Bad Night Clears a Path for a Deal  —  House GOP pulls vote on debt bill, leaving Senate to probe a path forward  —  In another era, for a different leader, it would have been a stunning rebuke.  For John Boehner, it was just another embarrassing stumble in a speakership studded with them.

Breaking: Boehner to take vote on Senate compromise 1st, pass it with Dem votes  —  The endgame will arrive a little sooner than expected, thanks to a deal cut with John Boehner to take the first plunge on a bipartisan plan to end the budget standoff before the theoretical debt-ceiling limit gets breached.