Votes Today On Shutdown

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid Minority Leader Mitch McConnell are hoping to shake hands and then hold votes today on an agreement to avert a government default and get furloughed federal employees back to work.

Midnight tonight is the deadline Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew set for the government to either raise the debt limit or risk going into default.

In other shutdown news, thousands of furloughed federal employees have been trickling back to work even as the partial government shutdown continues.

Hundreds of aviation safety inspectors have been called back and government scientists were brought back to track an outbreak of salmonella in raw chicken.

And members of Congress have called back staff. More than 400,000 federal workers remain at home.