The payroll tax cut, unemployment benefits and the Medicare "doc fix" are all set to expire at the end of the month, meaning 160 million American workers could see their paychecks shrink, unemployed Americans could be shit out of luck and seniors may lose their doctors. In 20 days. Congress is scheduled to go on a week-long recess on Feb. 20.
What does the leader of the House of Representatives do? Blames the Democrats for dragging their feet:
“Right now the only ones blocking an agreement are Democrats and the president,” Boehner said. “It’s time for them to act.”
"Time is running short,” Boehner said.
... and then sends all of his members home for a four-day weekend. Obviously, Boehner's sense of urgency on the issue is at best doubtful.
But there is some good news from the negotiations that they got around to before the House left, again: Democrats formally rejected the Republicans' efforts to make life even more miserable for unemployed Americans, by refusing to force them to into GED programs or be drug tested. And while Republicans have wanted to shrink the unemployment benefits eligibility period from 99 weeks to 59, Democrats have offered to shrink it to 93.