The biggest news of the past week was the near-shutdown of the federal government, which was avoided in the hours just before the most recent continuing resolution (CR) was set to expire. Negotiations continued throughout the day on Friday afternoon, and the stalemate that would have resulted in a complete stoppage of federal government operations was avoided shortly before the midnight deadline. According to published reports, the deal means that $37.8 billion dollars would be cut from President Obama’s proposed 2011 budget through the remainder of the year. Shortly before midnight, the House and Senate passed a short-term CR to keep the government open for the week while the deal is put into legislative language and voted on sometime next week. It is clear that this agreement did not contain enough cuts for some of the more conservative members of the GOP, even though House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), called the deal “as good a deal as we could get,” as members of the Republican conference have already signaled their intention to vote against it.