Week In The News: Shutdown, Senate Deal And ACA Struggles

Shutdown ends. Nuclear talks with Iran. An American Medal of Honor. Our weekly news roundtable goes behind the headlines.

Relief this week.  But not too much.  Imminent economic calamity averted.  That’s big.  Federal shutdown, over.  That’s big, too.  But the whole dance could start again, and soon.  Americans wondering how much of this the country can take.  We’ve got a transit strike in San Francisco.  More travail in the Affordable Care Act rollout.  A moving Medal of Honor winner who was very critical of the US Army.  Nuclear talks with Iran.  And felony charges against two girls for cyber-bullying in the death of a 12-year-old.  Up next On Point:  our weekly news roundtable goes behind the headlines.
-- Tom Ashbrook

Kristen Welker, White House Correspondent for NBC News. (@KWelkerNBC)

Bob Cusack, managing editor of The Hill. (@BobCusack)

Jack Beatty, On Point news analyst.

National Review: McConnell's Exit Interview — "This thing that passed the Senate, which, honestly, only maintained the status quo for a few more months, was better than what the House tried to pass and couldn’t pass, because it has a longer CR, which is what we wanted. That’s how challenging it is when you can’t get something more in line with what you’d like to achieve over here. So, my job is to acquaint our members, the best I can, with the reality of our situation, and try to get them to enable me to get us all out of the ditch—and my members weren’t happy being in a 16-day government shutdown and being a day away from rattling the markets by getting close to default."

Washington Post: Government reopens after shutdown; Obama urges Congress to resist ‘extremes’ — "Obama called on Congress to resist 'pressure from the extremes' and 'understand that how business is done in this town has to change.' He urged lawmakers to pursue a 'balanced' long-term budget and pass comprehensive immigration reform and a new farm bill. And he delivered a heartfelt 'thank you' to federal workers as they return to their jobs. 'What you do is important, and don’t let anybody else tell you different,' he said."

Christian Science Monitor: Why a little-noticed chat between the US and Iran is a big deal -- "Rarely has there been a greater study in contrasts in Iran than now, as outbursts of familiar, fierce anti-American rhetoric – a staple since Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution – are joined by the taboo-breaking surge of high-level US-Iran contact. But Iran experts note that Tehran’s new diplomatic push to resolve the nuclear issue should not be conflated with overcoming the far more challenging historical and ideological differences that have kept the US and Iran arch enemies for a generation."