I wrote back in March that Republicans were unhappy with the administration's "wild lands" policy, which lets the Department of the Interior use public lands for conservation. The policy doesn't put public lands out of commission permanently but provides the option to keep the land wild, instead of developing it for uses like recreation or mining.

The White House wants everyone to know that the deal President Obama cut with Speaker Boehner over the weekend counts as "the largest annual spending cut in our history." That's as measured in total dollars, of course. The cuts account for less than 1 percent of the government's overall spending and can't compete with massive cutbacks after World War I or World War II, when spending decreased by fewer dollars but in leaps and bounds as a percentage of the budget.