Obama Signs Tax-Cut Package

After weeks of intense partisan wrangling, President Obama has signed into law a tax-cut compromise. The measure, which was hammered out by the president and Republican leadership, easily passed the Senate but by a smaller margin in the House, where liberal Democrats fought to change a provision concerning the estate tax. Democrat leaders Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid skipped out on the ceremony, opting instead to focus on legislative housekeeping in a lame-duck session with a long to-do list. "It's a good deal for the American people; this is progress and that's what they sent us here to achieve," Obama said during the press conference.