Hello and welcome to Background Briefing, available 24-7 at Background Briefing.org.

I'm Ian Masters, and today we'll examine a number of stories and issues in the news.

We'll begin with

eight Senate Democrats and one independent caving to end the government shutdown with little

apparent gain in their strategy to hold out on funding the government for continued subsidies

for the Affordable Care Act to avert skyrocketing health care premiums, which the Republicans

compromised on,

allowing for a vote on funding the subsidies in December, that they are likely to vote down.

Joining us is Jeet here, a National Affairs correspondent for the nation,

and the host of the Weekly Nation podcast, The Time of Monsters.

He also pens the monthly column morbid symptoms,

and we will discuss his latest article at the nation.

After this shutdown, surrender.

Chuck Schumer needs to go.

Then we're looking to today's White House meeting

with Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Shada,

who only a year ago had a U.S US bounty of $10 million on his head,

but is now getting the golden handshake in the Oval Office.

Joining us to assess what kind of a deal the former jihadi is getting is Joshua Landis,

the Sandra Mackey Chair and Director of the Center for Middle East Studies

and the Farisne Family Center for Iranian and Persian Gulf Studies

at the University of Oklahoma.

...