The House on Tuesday pushed ahead with the first budget bill for next year, easily approving a $73.3 billion plan that increases funding for veterans programs. The vote was 421-4.
But while that margin was overwhelming, it by no means signaled that the Congress is ready to break an 18 year streak in which it has failed to finish the budget bills for the federal government by October 1, the start of the new fiscal year.
"There is not a snowball's chance in hell that the House and Senate can cut a deal on the budget by October 1," said Jim Manley, a former spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
And that certainly seems to be the feeling at this point, as Democrats demand that Republicans reach an agreement to wipe away $85 billion in sequester cuts, while GOP lawmakers have no interest in Democratic plans to do that by enacting a new round of tax increases.
As of now, Republicans don't even seem interested in any kind of negotiations on the budget, as a small group of GOP Senators continues to block efforts to start House-Senate talks on the "budget resolution" for next year, which sets out the framework for the federal budget.
Their concern is that those talks would be used by leaders in both parties to find a way to raise the nation's debt ceiling.
"I don't think that we object to moving to the budget conference," said Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL). "We object to moving the budget conference and having the debt limit raised within that conference."
The argument has given some fellow Republicans heartburn, especially after the GOP successfully scored political points by pointing out that Democrats in the Senate had not even tried to approve a budget resolution for four straight years.
"What are we on my side of the aisle doing?" asked Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), who has sparred repeatedly with the group that includes Rubio, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY).
So with Republicans objecting to House-Senate negotiations, Democrats are having a field day pointing out that now it is Republicans blocking work on the budget, making the lack of Senate Democratic work on a budget for four years seem like ancient political history.
"Republicans were for passing a budget before they were against it," said a video put out by Sen. Reid, a play on the lethal GOP attack in 2004 against Democratic Presidential nominee John Kerry and his stance on funding for the Iraq War.
As for the VA-Military Construction bill approved by the House on Tuesday, it had a number of interesting provisions added on the floor, as lawmakers used their 'power of the purse' to deal with a series of issues.
+ Lawmakers voted to limit funding for "maintenance and repair" of Flag officers' quarters to $15,000 annually, trying to crack down on excessive spending by military brass.
+ Aggravated with the backlog of VA cases, lawmakers approved a plan to cut the salaries of top VA officials by 25 percent if the backlog of VA claims isn't reduced by 40 percent by July 2014.
+ The House added an amendment that limits spending on VA conferences to no more than $500,000.
+ Another amendment prohibits any funding for bonuses to senior officials at the VA.
+ The House also approved a plan that blocks funding for a new round of miltiary base closures, the latest signal from both parties that Pentagon calls for reductions in the US military base structure will go nowhere.
One amendment that was not adopted also deserves a mention, as the House voted 254-170 against a plan from Democrats that would have allowed terrorist detainees at Guantanamo Bay to be brought to the U.S. for trials in civilian courts.
The House will next take up a bill that funds operations at the Department of Homeland Security.
