Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) said in a tweet that the shutdown will end on Wednesday, now that House Republicans failed to pass their own bill last night.

Having exhausted all alternatives, today looks to be the day we do the right thing and end the shutdown.

— Jeff Flake (@JeffFlake) October 16, 2013

Jeremy Scahill, a national security reporter, and Laura Poitras, a filmmaker who focuses on surveillance issues, will both be working with Glenn Greenwald on his new media outlet, according to the Huffington Post.

President Barack Obama on Tuesday placed blame for the current fiscal impasse on House Speaker John Boehner's (R-OH) inability to reign in the Republican caucus.

Heritage Action announced Tuesday that it will include the House GOP's scheduled vote to fund the government and raise the debt ceiling Tuesday evening as a key vote in its scorecard, according to a statement.

Glenn Greenwald, the reporter who first published Edward Snowden's NSA documents, will be leaving the Guardian to start his own news venture, Buzzfeed reports.

The news organization will be "a very well-funded… very substantial new media outlet," Greenwald told Buzzfeed. He could provide only a few details because news was leaked before he was prepared to announce it, but Greenwald said that he will have more details soon.

After the bipartisan co-chairs of the House Disabilities Caucus condemned a sign that read "Thank You Tea-Tards" at an Organizing for Action shutdown rally in front of the Capitol Tuesday, OFA also condemned the display, according to Buzzfeed. 

Condemnations came after reporters tweeted photos of the sign.

OFA rally on the Capitol steps pic.twitter.com/INqPs9Jknu

— Reid J. Epstein (@reidepstein) October 15, 2013

Tortilla Coast, a Tex-Mex restaurant on Capitol Hill, took advantage of its new fame on Tuesday, after it was revealed that a few House Republicans met with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) in the restaurant's basement.

Republican members of the House sang 'Amazing Grace' at a caucus meeting Tuesday morning, according to the Huffington Post. 

Rep. Steve Southerland (R-FL) led the members in the hymn instead of the usual opening prayer. Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX) told the Huffington Post that it was "impressive" that the members could sing three verses of the song from memory.

Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY) on Tuesday compared the small faction of Tea Party Republicans in the House to Civil War Confederates while discussing the government shutdown.

"This is all about a handful of people who got elected as Republicans that want to bring down our government. You can see it in the streets. You can see where they're coming from," Rangel said on CNN. "And the same way they fought as Confederates, they want to bring down the government and reform it."

Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Monday blamed the current fiscal crisis on both the White House and Republican leaders, lamenting the lack of trust between the two parties. 

Panetta said that President should not walk away from negotiations.