A U.S. government shutdown 2011 was averted at the last minute Friday night after the House and Senate reached a temporary spending agreement.

The measure, which will keep the government running until Thursday, postponed an impending furlough of some 800,000 federal workers.

Friday's "bridge" agreement calls for $39 billion in short-term spending cuts, and pushes off the contentious issue of abortion funding, which Republicans sought to block.

By Thursday, the House and Senate will schedule votes on a longer-term budget that will carry the government through Sept. 30, the end of the current fiscal year.

The news was greeted with a mixture of relief over a crisis averted, and frustration over continued wrangling that will spill into next week. And harsh rhetoric left its mark.

Throughout the afternoon leading up to the midnight deadline, Democrats said abortion funding was a crucial sticking point, as Republicans held fast to their demand to cut off Title 10 "women's health" programs. Roughly 25 percent of Title 10 funds go to Planned Parenthood, the nation's leading abortion provider.

One-third of Planned Parenthood's annual $1.1 billion budget comes from the taxpayers, and Democrats were equally determined to keep the money flowing. Both sides reportedly agreed to vote on the issue separately next week.

Earlier in the day, Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., called the GOP position "extremist ideology" and accused Republicans of "pouting in the corner."

Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., was even more vitriolic.

Speaking at an abortion rally Thursday in Washington, D.C., Slaughter said, “This is probably one of the worst times we’ve seen. ... In ’94, people were elected simply to come here to kill the National Endowment for the Arts. Now they’re here to kill women.”

Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., blasted Senate Democrats and President Barack Obama for "hypocritical games."

On Friday afternoon, Price, the House Republican Policy Committee chairman, assailed Democrats' opposition to passing a troop funding bill and agreeing to fund the government for the remainder of the fiscal year.  

Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta, said the blame for the protracted budget process lay "solely on the Democrats, who last year failed to write a budget and failed to pass one single appropriations bill."

Senate Democrats had refused to take up this week's House-passed stopgap bill that cut $12 billion in short-term spending and blocked the abortion funds.

Prior to the eleventh-hour agreement, Rep. Sandy Adams, R-Orlando, noted, "After failing to lead during the previous Congress and pass a budget, the same Democrats have once again shown that they are incapable of leading this country into anything other than astronomical debt.

"The House passed a long-term budget plan 48 days ago that would continue to fund the government at responsible budget levels, but Senate Democrats refuse to take action."

That GOP bill cut spending by $61 billion.

Earlier in the week, Democratic negotiators said they were willing to consider $38 billion in reductions over the same period -- just $1 blllion less than what was ultimately agreed to Friday night.

Either way, the figures were tiny in comparison to the budget deficit that is $1.6 trillion and growing.

Obama had complained that a budget agreement "could have gotten done three months ago."

But Republicans pointed out that Democrats previously controlled both houses of Congress and the White House, yet failed to even propose a budget for the current fiscal year.


THE ODD COUPLE: BACHMANN AND REID

Though much of the rhetoric in the final hours was as predictable as it was harsh, there were a few off-script surprises from the right.

Even as Democrats accused tea party groups of pushing House Speaker John Boehner into "extreme" positions, one congressional tea party favorite took a more moderate stance.