Brief article explains the nuts and bolts of the congressional process

I just learned from this:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/10/15/hitchhiker-guide-to-tuesday-senate-budget-negotiations/

Full Article Here

Quote :

Just a day before the federal government reaches its borrowing limit, Senate leaders announced Wednesday that they have struck a deal to re-open the government and avert a potentially cataclysmic default on American debt payments.

The final package, announced by Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on the Senate floor, would fund the government through Jan. 15 and raise the debt ceiling thorough Feb. 7.

The bill would also provide time for both parties to appoint lawmakers to a conference committee to reconcile a broad budget resolution, which would be led by Budget Committee heads Republican Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin and Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington...

...It is not yet clear whether the House will vote on a Reid-McConnell deal or on legislation that would serve as a “vessel” for the final compromise, helping to strip away potential parliamentary procedural roadblocks.

But any House vote is expected to rely heavily on the lion’s share of Democrats’ 200 votes to secure passage. Depending on the legislation, that could leave the Senate to strike the final blow to a crisis that already has rattled bond markets and left observers around the world shaking their heads at Washington’s enthusiastic dysfunction.