As part of the agreement to end the federal shutdown and raise the debt ceiling, a joint committee, led by U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., was tasked with trying to reach a budget agreement. On Monday, U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., called for the committees meetings to be open to the public.

A new national poll from Rasmussen finds a slim majority of likely voters -- 51 percent -- of those surveyed said the federal shutdown had some impact on them. Almost as many Americans -- 46 percent -- said the shutdown had no impact on them.

Only 11 percent of those surveyed said the shutdown had a major impact on them while 40 percent said it had a minor impact.

The former chief of staff for U.S. Rep.Joe Garcia, D-Fla., will be heading to jail for arranging a fraudulent absentee-ballot request scheme during the 2012 election.

With two escaped inmates who were released by mistake from the Franklin Correctional Institute captured in Panama City on Saturday night, Florida Sen. Rob Bradley, R-Orange Park, is promising to hold a hearing on the matter. Bradley chairs the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Criminal and Civil Justice.