Congress the Grinch

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CNBC reports

t's the most wonderful time of the year, but for 1.3 million jobless Americans, it could be a bleak holiday season if Congress fails to extend federal unemployment benefits.

A program known as Emergency Unemployment Compensation provides federal checks to long-term unemployed when their state benefits run out. It expires at the end of the year, and Congress is engaged in political gamesmanship about whether to renew the program or make cuts. Uncertainty about its future has left those receiving the federal checks anxious and in belt-tightening mode ahead of the holiday season.

"As far as I'm concerned this year, there are no holidays," said Andrea Hinninge, of Syracuse, N.Y., who was laid off in March from a job at a physical therapist's office. She's hardly in a position to think about shopping for gifts or a special holiday meal, she said, fearing that her federal benefits might not be there after Dec. 31

Will Congress be the grinch this year and cut off benefits? I think it is intent of most progressive and some moderate conservative to extend unemployment benefits for at least another six months to a year. However, partisan rancor over Obama Care, Iran, and Harry Reid going nuclear will mostly turn Congress into the grinch and cut off benefits. The problem is that both sides recognize there is a need for unemployment benefits, but coming to agreement on a common set of metrics that will eventually cut off unemployment benefits after specific metrics are reached for the U6 rate has gone downward and the labor participation rates have increase.