Reid backs Boehner on deal to avoid government shutdown  —  After two years of constant fighting, Republicans and Democrats are laying down their arms and working to strike deals in the hopes of leaving town at the end of next week.  —  While there are voices of dissent in both parties …

A Pelosi bailout?  —  House GOP's deal to keep government open may fall apart without Democratic votes.  —  The government will shut down in just eight days unless Congress acts, and Republican lawmakers and aides in and around leadership fear their two-step government-funding plan cannot pass without help — from Nancy Pelosi.

Is Obamacare Destroying the Democratic Party?  —  Charles Schumer, the third-ranking Democrat in the Senate, has forced a debate over fundamental party priorities out into the open.  Should Democrats focus primarily on the problems of the poor or should they first address the economic struggles of the working and middle classes?

Kathleen Sebelius: Jonathan Gruber?  Who?  —  WASHINGTON — Former Health and Human Services secretary Kathleen Sebelius, disputing the description of MIT professor Jonathan Gruber as an architect of the Affordable Care Act, says she had never met with him and minimized the significance …