more checks? jim angle is live in washington with more on that. jim? >> reporter: well, jon, yeah, the reason they would expire is because senator bunning of kentucky has been protesting a stop gap funding bill that would extend the unemployment benefits, but simply add the cost to the decifit. congress has just once again embraced the idea of what is called pay-go, meaning pay as you go, meaning no new spending without finding offsetting revenues or spending cuts, but then congress charges right on spending money without paying for it by making exceptions such as unemployment benefits or what is known as the doctor fix. now, that is a long standing bill that has never been allowed to take effect, it's scheduled cuts to reimburse doctors who treat medicare patients. as of today, that also goes into effect, reimbursements are cut 21 percent. congress, of course, cannot let that happen, but they also don't -- don't want to pay for it so they've used -- it used to be in the