From KCRW in Santa Monica and PRI, Public Radio International, this is To the Point.

Well, Congress kicked the can down the road.

Hello again, I'm Armin Alney, and this is To the Poet from Public Radio International.

A daily look at the issues Americans cut about most.

The government

will be reopened and the debt limit raised if Senate leaders get their way and if Speaker

Boehner allows a vote in the House. But the deal would last only until early next year.

Between now and then, Congress would hold the budget hearings it should have conducted this spring.

Can disagreements about spending and taxes and

Medicare be resolved in such a short time? What about the ongoing dispute over Obamacare? This may be

the moment to take a deep breath, but long-term relief could be a long time coming. Today's

talking point, the fine art of mocking a dysfunctional Congress. First, here's the news.

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Hello again, Warren. Alney back with To the Point. Both houses of Congress appear to be on the road to reopening the government and raising the debt limit before midnight tonight,

but the deals will last for only a few weeks. When new deadlines arise, will the U.S. and the rest of the world be faced with the risks of default and dysfunction all over again?

Today's talking point, Americans historically have been exasperated with the members of Congress failing to remember

who sent them there. First, this news update at noon, Washington Times. Senate leaders announced

an agreement to reopen the government and raise the debt limit by midnight tonight. There was

uncertainty, though, about whether House Republicans would go along until after they caucused

and conceded defeat.

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