Thumbs up: Shutdown halted after three days

So the U.S. government is back in operation - at least for the time being. The Senate and the House voted Monday to get the wheels of the federal government turning again, ending a three-day shutdown that, in the end, had minimal impacts, given that it occurred over a weekend.

But it could happen again. Congress has merely approved a temporary spending bill to reopen the government through Feb. 8. Much hinges on a promise by Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell to quickly tackle the issue of immigration reform and blocking deportation of so-called “Dreamers,” individuals who were brought to the country as children and are now here illegally.

McConnell’s promise had its skeptics, however. Among them is California Sen. Dianne Feinstein who voted against the stop-gap spending measure. Feinstein said she had her doubts about how a plan to help the roughly 700,000 recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program would fare in the House.

What’s also uncertain is how legislation that would extend DACA would be received by the president, whose position on the matter has been all over the map. For the time being, members of Congress seemed to be focused on working around him. That alone is worth a thumbs up.