Semantics.....

"Bipartisan lawmakers have reached agreement on a $1 trillion measure financing scores of government agencies through next September, a bill that would avert a federal shutdown this weekend when temporary funding expires.

Democrats, though, are refusing to let the legislation move through Congress until the two parties broker a deal on the payroll tax measure. Democrats hope that will build pressure on Republicans to quickly reach agreement on the payroll tax bill, a tactic House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, called "outrageous.""

As I read the stories regarding the current kerfloffle in Congress, the Dems are offering a temporary (1 year) delay in raising taxes on middle class working folks in exchange for meeting their demand for a permanent increase in taxes on the 'rich' (IE: Anyone who can afford an apartment in New York City or Seattle).

Also, it seems the Dems are once again threatening to 'shut down the government' (Except the part that writes THEIR paychecks) if they don't get what they want.

Yup.... business as usual in DC.