The administration quickly stepped up to take credit, proclaiming Obamacare a success at reining in health care costs. And I guess the president can take credit, but only in the sense that this prolonged recession — and recovery — are bigger contributors to slower health care spending than anything else.

In fact, the number crunchers conclude the president's health care law probably contributed about 1 percent toward that growth rate since 2010.

I would expect, much like the authors of this report, that next year's numbers will be dramatically different — and higher. We'll see.

Meanwhile, we have a Republican senator up in Wisconsin who's filed a lawsuit to stop the feds from paying subsidies for members of Congress and their aides, who got dumped into the exchanges last year. (Whatever happened to tort reform?)

Oddly, Sen. Ron Johnson claims, the subsidy amounts to special treatment, despite the fact that everyone gets it. Oh, and in case you were wondering, by most accounts Congressional aides earn somewhere around $30,000 to $40,000 annually. Oh, and they work in D.C., a place that ranks in most top 10 lists for (high) cost of living.

I'd be all for members of Congress not getting the subsidy, especially given what they earn, but why can't they leave the poor staffers alone?

Welcome back to work. And welcome to 2014, where things make about as much sense as they did last year.