Sen. Collins Hails Bipartisan Deal to Postpone the Shutdown Fight Until Safely After Voters Have Voted

WASHINGTON — Senate negotiators announced a bipartisan agreement to fund the government at existing levels until December 11, a triumph of statesmanship that both parties celebrated for the same unspoken reason: the shutdown fight has been rescheduled to a date when voters can no longer respond to it.

Sen. Murray, announcing the accord, praised the return of responsible governance. Colleagues in both parties agreed that keeping the government open before an election is responsible, and that whether it remains responsible in mid-December will depend on the November results, at which point responsibility will be recalculated.

The Press's civics desk offers readers the standing translation: a continuing resolution is a mutual agreement to have this argument later, louder, with the same participants and fresh mandates.

Each party privately briefed reporters that it had outmaneuvered the other, and both briefings were printed, and both were believed, by different readers, holding the same newspaper.

Asked what happens on December 12, negotiators from both sides smiled and said they were focused on the American people, who are, conveniently, scheduled to have just finished voting.