We asked for $4 billion in savings in 2005 and got only $300 million, but we dusted ourselves off and asked for the savings again, and more, and got $6.5 billion the next year. Persistence pays off if you're doing the right thing.

This is where we got dusted.

Cost savings of $3.3 billion were achieved last year, which was more than our target,

You think a million billion more things will come your way, a million billion more versions of everything. But no, everything that actually causes that infinite feeling, the circumstances of every infinite feeling, is so, so finite.

As GAO states in its letter, OMB did not advise agencies to withhold funds and OMB staff specifically instruct agencies not to improperly withhold funding in the case of cancellations.

The federal government's near-term fiscal improvements give us the chance and the responsibility to deal with the long-term budget challenges posed by demographic changes and ever-rising health care costs.