Voting 91-9 on H.J. Res. 44, the Senate postponed the threat of a government shutdown for two weeks.

By agreeing to lop off $4 billion in federal spending for the current fiscal year, the Senate agreed to the House's latest measure to continue funding, for now at least, the operations of the federal government.

But this is really a "kick the can down the road" situation in which the question of how much to cut and from which programs from the rest of FY 2011 remains open. On the table is a House bill that would cut $61 billion from FY 2010 levels, an amount that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has called a "meat ax approach." So when this bill expires in two weeks, we're going to be right where we were a couple of days ago wondering if either side will blink.

Image by Flickr user GoneApey used under a Creative Commons license.