Noble Prize

Nearly 400,000 jobless Americans are going to see their long-term unemployment benefits cut off after Congress failed to pass a short-term extension before taking a two-week break.

Members of the House already had voted to extend jobless benefits and went home for the spring break. Everyone knew those benefits would be running out Monday should the Senate fail to act.

On the Senate's last day in session, Iowa Democrat Tom Harkin pleaded with his Republican colleagues on the Senate floor: "Let's have a little heart. Let's have a little compassion. Let's have a little understanding of what these people are going through every day in their lives, the stress that they have. Let's do the right thing, and extend the unemployment benefits for one month."

Oklahoma Republican Tom Coburn objected. He said he was all for extending unemployment benefits as long as they were paid for, which they were not in the measure the House passed.

Coburn's objection meant Democrats would have to muster 60 votes and spend days more debating to get past his opposition. "Whether you call it filibuster, whether you call it obstruction, as a grandfather of five children that is truly reflective of tons of grandparents out there and tons of grandkids out there, I'm not gonna agree," he said.

Michigan Democrat Debbie Stabenow complained of being lectured to about fiscal responsibility; after all, she said, the last time the budget was balanced and the treasury built up a big surplus was under President Clinton.

"Under President Bush, under the Republican Congress, that went away pretty fast," Stabenow said. "By not paying for tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, somehow, that was OK."

In fact, none of the Bush tax cuts were paid for, and all of them expire at the end of this year. Still, Democrats plan to extend those for incomes up to a $250,000 a year.

Nothing is being done to make up for the $1.3 trillion that will mean in lost revenues, but that doesn't bother Kyl. He says tax cuts should be extended for those in the top income bracket as well.

"The money belongs to them," Kyl said. "If we want to extract less from them in the future, we shouldn't have to somehow make that up by finding another way to tax them to 'make it up for Washington.' "