Obama, Greasing the Skids

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The president, in need of some positive news, seems to be in a horse-trading mood:

Exhibit A:

Washington (CNN) — In a bid to ratify the new nuclear missile agreement with Russia during the lame-duck session of Congress, the Obama administration is offering to spend $4 billion more over five years for nuclear weapons modernization.

Some Republican senators, led by Sen. John Kyl, R-Arizona, had questioned whether the Obama administration will provide enough money for modernization of the nuclear force remaining after the proposed START treaty cuts the number of deployed warheads to 1,550. The Obama administration already has proposed spending more than $80 billion to modernize the U.S. nuclear weapons complex over the next decade.

Kyl wanted an additional $4 billion. A senior administration official confirmed to CNN that the Obama administration is prepared to meet his demand.

Exhibit B:

According to the offer Israel would stop construction in the West Bank for 90 days. The freeze includes construction that began after the end of the first settlement moratorium on September 26….

In return for an Israeli freeze, the U.S. government would deliver 20 F-35 fighter jets to Israel, a deal worth $3 billion.

Hey, maybe we can put the $3 billion from the arms sales towards the $4 billion in nuclear modernization….