Reading the headlines, Floridians might well conclude that Rick Scott is a governor under siege. After 100 days in office, hardly a day goes by when the state's chief executive isn't accused of victimizing the poor, bashing government employees or taking an ax to public services.

Booed at baseball games and other public events, Scott is used to seeing signs like the one at a recent rally in St. Lucie County: "Rick Scott -- Murderer of the Disabled."

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.

Donald Trump, toying with a run for the Republican presidential nomination and popping in the latest polls, will make his pitch to a tea party gathering in Boca Raton on Saturday.

The Donald is scheduled to deliver the keynote speech to the third annual South Florida Tax Day rally at Sanborn Square, 72 N. Federal Hwy. The event starts at 1 p.m.

"This is big," said Sid Dinerstein, chairman of the Palm Beach County Republican Party. "The country needs him in the mix."

"Non-essential" federal employees will be getting an extended weekend if Republicans and Democrats in Washington don't reach a spending agreement by midnight Friday.

How long workers would be off the job is anyone's guess, as congressional negotiators and President Barack Obama continued to spar into the night Thursday.

Roughly one in four workers who collect federal paychecks could be furloughed in a government shutdown beginning Saturday. Military personnel and Postal Service workers are exempt from any layoffs.

Reflexively attacked by Democrats, Rep. Paul Ryan's "Path to Prosperity" budget isn't getting an overwhelmingly warm reception from conservatives, either.

Though the Wisconsin congressman touts nearly $6 trillion in cuts over 10 years, he measures his numbers against President Barack Obama's projected outlays. Which is to say, they're not so much actual cuts as they are reductions in the rate of increase.

Conservatives say that spreading the spending blueprint over 10 years will bring little, if any, immediate relief.

Despite apocalyptic scenarios painted by some members of the Democrat-media complex, a U.S. government "shutdown" looming on Friday would affect barely one in four workers.

But it's President Barack Obama's call.

If Obama follows the direction set by Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton in previous shutdowns, less than half of the 2.1 million federal workers subject to a shutdown would be forced off the job.

School-choice advocates hailed this week's U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding Arizona's tax-credit scholarship program.

The 5-4 ruling affirmed a 2002 high court decision for a Cleveland voucher program, and gives added support to the 10-year-old Florida Tax Credit Scholarship (FTC) program which awarded $106 million in private tuition grants to 28,927 last year.

A national business group fighting Obamacare remains hopeful that the law will be overturned, but says spiraling health insurance costs are inflicting fiscal pain in the meantime.

"What's killing them now are the direct mandates on insurers. We are seeing 30-60 percent increases in premiums now, and more cancellations," said Karen Harned, executive directorof theNational Federation of Independent Business Small-Business Legal Center.