After Debt Debate, Congress' Next Crisis: Unemployment Extensions, Again

It seemed like only yesterday that Congress was embroiled in a no-holds-barred fight over whether or not to approve emergency funding for unemployment extensions that would affect at least 4 million jobless Americans who had seen their regular benefits already expire.

In fact, that battle was waged almost throughout 2010 and, after deferring actually doing something about the 2011 budget and the approaching debt ceiling (both battles that took up far too much time and political capital in 2011), the December 2010 deal allowed for the continuation of the unemployment extensions (a four-tier program that allows up to 99 weeks of unemployment if the applicant qualifies and dependent on applicant's state of residence, which could allow for fewer weeks) through December 2011.

Already August and with the economy showing no signs of an energetic upturn anytime soon, the enormous number of long-term unemployed looks to be locked in for months, extending far into 2012. It appears that Congress will be gearing up to fight over unemployment extension benefits relatively soon.