As the government reopens, Villanova University's Matthew Kerbel, PhD, Professor and Chair of the Department of Political Science believes that this is a huge political defeat for the Tea Party and may be the beginning of the end of their outsized influence in the Republican Party. "They shut down the government for two weeks and brought the country to the brink of default, then got absolutely nothing for it," says Kerbel. "This agreement will infuriate the far right and drive a wedge into the Republican Party. Although the agreement just kicks the can down the road a few months, I doubt anyone in the process has the stomach for another shutdown."