It is 1,582 pages of give and take—some might even dare to call it compromise—that provides at least a nine-month truce in the fierce fighting over the federal budget that has torn Congress asunder for years.
Like the budget agreement that preceded it, the omnibus spending bill for the remainder of fiscal 2014 unveiled Monday night by congressional appropriators represents a small deal that provides few changes and no major overhauls to key programs targeted by each party.