What I Want to Know

is WHO in the hell put in the "fine print" in the EUI legislation which would allow for a giant hole in the law not covering millions of other unemployed whose benefits will expire in or after January?

But many legislators, state aid officials and struggling workers apparently failed to read the fine print. The added federal benefits, built on a series of previous extensions, are slated to end on Dec. 31; it was assumed that Congress would vote to prolong those programs. While discussions have started, Congress is not yet considering a specific proposal. And unless it acts before the Christmas break, officials warn, the extensions will end, leaving large numbers of workers with no coverage. If Congress, now caught up with the health care overhaul, delays action until next year, millions would still face painful gaps in aid.

“There are six people looking for every available job, and these payments are enabling people to pay their mortgages and put food on the table,” said Representative Jim McDermott, Democrat of Washington, who championed the Nov. 6 law and hopes to light a new fire under Congress.

“It’s a horribly complicated system, and most people didn’t pay attention,” Mr. McDermott said of the need for quick Congressional renewal.

Nancy E. Dunphy, deputy commissioner for employment security with the New York State Department of Labor, said that officials in New York and most if not all other states “were taken by surprise by this.”

“It makes no sense,” Ms. Dunphy said. “You had the president and others saying that the intent was to add 20 weeks of benefits, and now we have this glitch, if you want to call it that.”

There is no doubt Congress will fix this glitch, but the question is whether these goddamned fools will give it the immediate attention it needs.