The House passed a $162-billion bill Thursday providing funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Of course, in the parlance of the swamp, “war bill” includes completely unrelated domestic spending, such as extending unemployment benefits for another 13 weeks and increased education benefits for veterans. Democrats claimed victory over the president, who gave up his threats to veto the bill over the unemployment benefits. “He is reversing three distinct veto threats and signing them into law. If that ain’t a victory, I don’t know what is,” said Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-IL).

After months of negotiations, the White House and congressional leaders reached a deal Thursday on a comprehensive overhaul of U.S. intelligence-surveillance laws. The main compromise in the bill is that telecommunications companies potentially will receive immunity for cooperation with terrorist surveillance if a U.S. district court approves on a case-by-case basis. The House will take up the legislation Friday, followed by the Senate next week.