WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Congress has reached a deal to avert a government shutdown this week, but lawmakers bought themselves just two weeks to hammer out a new agreement, keeping the threat of a shutdown alive. A government shutdown, last seen in the mid-1990s, would actually be a partial — not total — halt to federal operations. Services deemed essential would continue, but other services, operations and payments could come to a stop. “‘Shutdown’ is, in our view, an overused term since much of the government does not actually shut down — the military continues to operate, Social Security checks go...