text size - + reset what obama said .
house republicans had failed once again to pass critical legislation out of their chamber , so the democrats who control the senate had all the leverage .
after the house failed , it was up to the senate to broker a solution to the problem .
( photos : the government reopens ) he was overtaken by senate minority leader mitch mcconnell ( r - ky . )
the house republican conference ran roughshod over boehner , a 22 - year veteran of washington who started the fight demanding to strip funds for obamacare but settled in the end for the reaffirmation of a minor provision already in the law .
senate minority leader mitch mcconnell closed the deal to avert a fiscal crisis .
so over the final 24 hours of the drama , mcconnell , perhaps the most accomplished congressional dealmaker of his time , scrambled to pick up the pieces .
( the washington post ) senate minority leader mitch mcconnell closed the deal to avert a fiscal crisis .
all of washington was scrambling to put the pieces of a deal in place to reopen the federal government , avert a federal debt default and deliver republicans from the political disaster that had been haunting them for two weeks .