If members of Congress are clueless as to why so many Americans hold them in low regard, they need only look at what they did on unemployment benefits.
Both parties played pure politics over a bill to extend jobless checks, which Congress finally approved Thursday night. Democrats figured they could portray Republicans as hardhearted ideologues for standing in the way of the legislation. Republicans, who wanted the bill's cost offset by cutting other federal spending, thought they could make hay by painting Democrats as reckless spendthrifts.
As they postured and dithered, people in need twisted in the wind. The 11-day standoff may have ended, but it had already done damage.
Since funding for part of the unemployment program ran out April 5, an estimated 425,000 Americans who should have been getting benefits weren't.
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