“We fought the good fight, we just didn’t win.”

— Speaker John Boehner, in an interview with WLW-AM, on the budget and debt limit showdown.

“With a deal to reopen the government apparently imminent Wednesday, it’s worth taking stock of what it was all for–the two and a half weeks without a fully functioning federal government, the nonstop chaos on Capitol Hill, the tiptoeing to the brink of default,” Molly Ball writes.

“For Republicans, it was basically for nothing. The GOP will actually get less out of the final deal being brokered than the party would have gotten had House conservatives never staged their revolt on Obamacare. In fact, the drama is likely to end with Republicans ceding policy concessions to Democrats.”

Rick Klein: “It has been called the shutdown about nothing. In bringing it to an
end, lawmakers are managing to accomplish even less than that.”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) “joined on the Senate floor Wednesday afternoon to formally announce a deal to reopen the government and extend the debt limit,” Roll Call reports.

No senators are expected to object to expediting the path forward for the legislation.

Robert Costa: “Votes on the measure will begin this afternoon. The Senate will vote
first, and then the House will consider the legislation. House
leadership aides predict if 70-plus senators support the deal, it’ll
have an easier chance of winning Republican votes in the House.”

First Read: “If the Senate and then the House can pass this deal — which would fund the government through Jan. 15, extend the debt limit until Feb. 7, and require the House and Senate to come up with a budget compromise by Dec. 13 — the story will then turn to the fallout. One prediction is that you will see plenty of GOP infighting. Another prediction (shared by many) is that we could be right back to another fiscal standoff two or three months from now. However, the White House and its allies are counting on the GOP getting almost nothing out of this fight — except for lower poll numbers — as the reason why this fight MIGHT NOT get repeated.”

“No matter the fallout, this is pretty clear: Almost a year removed from
the Obama-Romney presidential election, 2013 has been a lost year for
the Republican Party. Has it improved upon its image problem? Nope. Has
it fixed its shortcomings with women and minority voters? Nope. Is it in
a stronger place than it was in Oct. 2012? No way.”

Jonah Goldberg: “The ugliness of the GOP schism will probably have a long half life… I think conservatives and Republicans would be well-served by putting these disagreements behind us, like family fights at a Thanksgiving table that are best forgotten.”