The federal government shutdown is over — for the moment. Now what?

The answer will likely be forged over the next two months by a bipartisan congressional budget panel charged with preventing another shutdown and debt ceiling crisis in early 2014.

The stakes couldn't be higher, said Sens. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., and Angus King, I-Maine, who are on the committee.

"Finding a resolution is going to be exceedingly difficult, and there has to be movement on both sides, which both sides have been unwilling to make up until now," King said.

"I am hoping that people come into this realizing that what we have just been through is not good for the economy or for our constituents," Ayotte said. "I hope that will provide extra motivation."

The Budget Conference Committee, as the panel is known, is charged with creating a 2014 budget, at the very least, and a nine-year substitute for automatic budget cuts, at its optimistic best.

Under a plan passed by Congress on Wednesday, the federal government is funded until Jan. 15 and borrowing is permitted until Feb. 7. The conference committee has until Dec. 15 to come up with an alternate long-term plan.

The two senators come into the conference committee having served in a bipartisan group of senators that created a plan similar to the one passed on Wednesday. Senate leaders adopted key provisions of that plan.

"I was encouraged by that," Ayotte said. "We served as a model, in the sense of proving that a group of us can work together even when the sides are entrenched."

Both senators bring different sensibilities to the table.

Ayotte said she would like to see what she termed some "mandatory savings" replaced by "discretionary savings." Mandatory programs include Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid — so-called "entitlement programs" — and interest on the debt. Discretionary funds go through congressional appropriations.

Under automatic budget cuts called sequestration, across-the-board reductions have to be made to all discretionary spending. The military portion comprises 50 percent and all other programs comprise 50 percent.

While federal departments need flexibility to determine how to make cuts, "flexibility doesn't add money," Ayotte said. "We need to add some money back, particularly for defense."

She said she and a small group of Republican senators met over the summer with the White House, and she believes there is some appetite for at least looking at some shifting of funds from the mandatory side of the ledger.

However, she added, "if we make changes to entitlements, we have to make them carefully because we have to preserve them for the long term."

Medicaid, and particularly Medicare, are growing at such a clip that any budget discussion has to focus on how to deal with them, King said.

"Medical costs are what's driving the deficit," he said. "Everything else is pretty flat. Health care is where the growth is. The problem is, if you have a cap on revenues, what we're saying is we're going to let health care eat everything else — including defense."

He said House Budget Committee chairman Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., wants to deal with the growth by shifting costs from the federal government to seniors through a voucher program.

King suggests the tax code be reformed to reduce income tax deductions and exemptions — something the Ryan budget looks to do. But instead of taking the savings and instituting tax cuts for top-earning Americans, King would like to see it used to help handle health care costs.

"What I'm going to argue is, 'You guys have already crossed the Rubicon (by proposing exemptions), so let's talk about where it goes.' I think there can also be some entitlement reform."

King and Ayotte both said some path has to be found forward, because the recent congressional stalemate was manifestly unfair to government workers.

"They don't want to go through this again. This uncertainty is not acceptable," Ayotte said.

King said he went to Syria in July, "and my overall impression is that we have a marvelous group of people working for the U.S. government — like intelligence and State Department folks," he said. "They're idealistic and hard-working. And they haven't had a raise in three years, they've been furloughed and they're a long way from home. It's not right."

Ayotte said she'd like to see the committee tackle a full nine-year plan that would substitute for the sequestration measure imposed by the Budget Control Act of 2011. "But if we can't do that, we need to get a funding plan for a year. People need to know they don't have to go through this again."

King said "as a matter of dollars and the financial ability to do it," reaching an agreement is "very doable. It won't be without pain, but we can do it." Laughing, he added, "tell your readers King said help is on the way. Maybe."

Ayotte office hours

A member of Sen. Kelly Ayotte's staff will hold office hours Monday, Oct. 21, in five Seacoast towns to assist citizens with official business. Residents can stop by at the following times or call Simon Thomson at 622-7979 to schedule an appointment.

New Castle Town Office: 49 Main St., 9 to 10 a.m.

Portsmouth City Hall: 1 Junkins Ave., 10:30 to 11:30 a.m.

Greenland Town Office, 575 Portsmouth Ave., noon to 1:00 p.m.

Newington Town Office, 205 Nimble Hill Road, 1:30 to 2:30 p.m.

Hampton Falls Town Office, 1 Drinkwater Road, 3 to 4 p.m.