Despite overnight talks, the failure of Congress to agree on a budget plan caused the government shutdown to begin at 12:01 a.m. on Oct. 1, 2013.According to CNN, this is the first government shutdown since Bill...

Presidential strength is determined by a wide variety of factors: popularity in the polls, cooperation from/with both houses of Congress, ability to present a strong legislative agenda, budgeting prowess, and international support/popularity are a few examples. Our current...