Stars and Stripes reports that “after months of inaction, congressional negotiators moved with surprising speed in announcing a budget deal late Tuesday that would restore tens of billions of dollars to defense and non-defense programs removed by the cuts known as sequestration.”

“The deal was unexpectedly bold — not only is it a two-year deal, instead of only one, but also it proved wrong the conventional wisdom that the forced spending cuts were here to stay. Instead, it restores money that Pentagon leaders had said they desperately needed if the nation’s military was to maintain its readiness and capability.”

“Not all sequestration funds are restored; the deal puts back about half of sequestration’s cuts in 2014, and about a fourth of them in 2015.”