As Obama Signs Budget Bill Above Sequester Levels We Ask: Do Fairytales Come True After All

     Ok, maybe a little over the top for what on the face of it is a pretty modest bill. 

     "President Barack Obama signed into law Thursday the two-year budget agreement passed this month by the House and Senate."

      "Over the next two years, the deal replaces $63 billion of the automatic cuts known as sequestration with more targeted spending cuts and new revenue via, among other things, higher airline ticket fees. It is projected to lower the federal deficit by $23 billion in the next decade."

     "The budget had passed with solid majorities in each chamber: 64-36 in the Senate and 332-94 in the House."

     http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/obama-signs-budget

     Still, this is the U.S. Congress-there hadn't been a bipartisan budget deal since the time of Tip O'Neil previously to this deal. Thanks to this rare moment of legislative functionality others are daring to dream of more-even some Republicans are in suggesting maybe immigration does get done this year after all:

    "The Hill reports that a top ally of John Boehner, Rep. Tom Cole, now predicts House Republicans may vote on multiple reform measures in 2014:

With the caveat that the House will not vote on the Senate-passed bill, Cole envisions a situation where Boehner allows a vote on a couple or all of the four-House-Judiciary Committee-passed measures on immigration reform/border security.

Noting that Boehner has made it “abundantly clear” that he’d like to move immigration bills, Cole said that “we just saw a budget deal that made progress that brought people together from both sides from very different perspectives and I suspect that can be done on immigration as well.”

       http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/12/20/the-morning-plum-immigration-reform-coming-in-2014/

       Fairy tales do come true they can happen to you if you're young at heart. Ok, getting a little carried away. I'll believe it after the Dems get back the House. 

      Again, kudos to Money Illusion commentator Daniel for giving us the best working definition of 'monetary offset' yet: code for letting poor people starve. 

      http://diaryofarepublicanhater.blogspot.com/2013/12/dont-tell-sumner-does-outrage-over.html

      This is a keeper.