U.S. Capitol/ Creative Commons

What Happened

After more than two weeks of the government shutdown, Congress approved a deal to reopen the government. The deal included a temporary spending bill, known as a Continuing Resolution, to fund the government through Jan. 15. It also raised the debt ceiling through Feb. 7.

What's Next

Since this bill was just a short-term fix, we can expect to see some of these same debates resurface in just a couple months. Members of the budget committees in the House and Senate are now responsible for coming together to write a joint budget resolution which will be due on Dec. 13; this budget resolution will be an attempt to reconcile the very different budget blueprints passed by each chamber last spring.

Tax Reform and Entitlement Reform

There's talk of tax reform and entitlement reform forming part of an upcoming budget deal. For information on these issues and how they'll affect you, see our fact sheets on Taxes and Tax Reform, Social Security, and Medicare and Health.

This post was updated on Oct. 23