Are political parties losing power?

The big stories of the week were the partial shutdown of the federal government and the opening of the health care exchanges. Our Friday Roundtable guests discuss the fallout from the showdown in D.C. and what this standoff means for the power of political parties.

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LEARN MORE ABOUT THE SHUTDOWN AND THE ACA:

• Focus shifts to looming debt-ceiling deadline
President Obama and business leaders warned that the clash has raised the chances of a historic default on the national debt, which would occur if Congress doesn't agree to raise the $16.7 trillion debt ceiling later this month and could cause a new recession. (Washington Post)

• Why the Health Care Law Scares the G.O.P.
Flawed though it may turn out to be, Obamacare, as the Affordable Care Act is popularly known, could fundamentally change the relationship between working Americans and their government. This could pose an existential threat to the small-government credo that has defined the G.O.P. for four decades. (New York Times)

• Staunch Group of Republicans Outflanks House Leaders
[Rep. Steve] King is part of a hard-core group of about two dozen or so of the most conservative House members who stand in the way of a middle path for Mr. Boehner that could keep most of his party unified while pressuring the Senate to compromise. Their numbers may be small, but they are large enough to threaten the speaker's job if he were to turn to Democrats to pass a spending bill that reopened the government without walloping the health law. Their strategy is to yield no ground until they are able to pass legislation reining in the health care law; if the federal government stays closed, so be it. (New York Times)

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