National Security Agency Director Gen. Keith Alexander will step down in the spring, a Pentagon spokeswoman told The Hill.

Tea Party favorability has hit a new low, according to a new Pew Research poll released Wednesday.

Forty-nine percent of the public view the Tea Party unfavorably, while 30 percent view the group favorably. A Pew poll in June found that 45 percent viewed the Tea Party unfavorably and 37 percent viewed it favorably. 

The latest Senate deal to reopen the government and raise the debt ceiling includes back pay for furloughed federal workers.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce announced Wednesday that it supports the new Senate plan to end the shutdown and raise the debt ceiling, and it will include the measure as a key vote.

"While important policy issues are at stake in the ongoing debate about federal spending, debts, deficits and entitlements, the full faith and credit of the United States should not be subjected to further brinksmanship," R. Bruce Josten, executive vice president for government affairs at the Chamber said in a letter to Congress. "The consequences to the U.S. economy and the American business community of a default are too extreme to be allowed to occur."

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) said Wednesday that using the threat of a government shutdown to defund the health care law was impossible.

"Too many were led to believe we could accomplish something that was never possible – namely defunding ObamaCare through a government shutdown," Hatch said in a statement, throwing his support behind the latest Senate deal. "This bill isn’t perfect, but it is a path forward to reopen the government and prevent an economy-shaking default."

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) said on Wednesday that the GOP effort to use the government shutdown to defund Obamacare was a mistake.

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Rush Limbaugh, prominent conservative radio show host, slammed the Republican party on Wednesday for being "irrelevant," lamenting that GOP leaders caved during their fight to defund Obamacare.

"I was trying to think earlier today if ever in my life I could remember any major political party being so irrelevant," Limbaugh said on his radio show. "I have never seen a major political party simply occupy placeholders, as the Republican party is doing."

Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-KS) said Wednesday that House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) is safe in his leadership position, despite concessions GOP leaders have made during the shutdown and debt ceiling debate.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) announced a new plan to reopen the government and raise the debt ceiling Wednesday on the Senate floor.

"It's my hope that today we can put some of those most urgent issues behind us," McConnell said. "After yesterday's events the Majority Leader and I began a series of conversations about a way to get the government reopened and to prevent default. I'm confident we'll be able to do both those things later today."

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is not pleased with the latest Senate deal to end the shutdown and raise the debt ceiling, but accepts that it is the only remaining option to avert default.