The political future for Democrats is daunting.

We must also recognize the new realities of modern warfare and the modern landscape of a battlefield.

The president doesn't get an automatic pay raise, so they can't freeze it for him. But it also does extend the pay rate - they pay increases or pay freeze for pay increases for members of Congress. They've had a pay freeze since 2009, but most civil servants will see a small pay bump in 2016 thanks to a separate order from President Obama.

There's dozens of unrelated policy provisions tucked inside of it. I'll give you a sense of a handful of them. One is a visa waiver program change. It's going to make it harder for people who've traveled to places with terrorist activity to get into the U.S. They're going to have to go through an added layer of security.

It ends a 40-year ban on exporting U.S. oil. It's changed - it's included in its cyber-security legislation - that says to private companies, hey, if you share with us your data on your cyber-attacks, your potential cyber-attacks, we'll give you liability protection. And they authorized a health care program for 9/11 responders for 75 years to cover the length of their lifespans.

Another agency - the IRS - did not do as well under Republicans who control Congress. The IRS is largely flatlined in their spending, but they did get about 300 million more funding. But I can only be used to help people pay their taxes and answer questions. It can't be used for any other purpose.

Democrats don't have a lot of time to turn the party around.