heels over another partisan battle over extending unemployment benefits. on its first day back after a two-week recess the senate will vote on the issue. democrats need at least one republican supporter to get the 60 votes needed to move forward. nbc's luke russert is on capitol hill this morning. so, luke, i cannot imagine republican senators voting to make sure that the unemployed people in their states don't get anymore benefits. >> reporter: it certainly is going to be an interesting political fight today and for the rest of the week. what we're talking about here is democrats saying emergency spending, $9 billion to extend unemployment benefits to people across the country. as we know the unemployment rate is around 10% so these benefits are really important to a lot of people in order to put food on the table and make certain payments towards their homes. that being said there is a huge fight in washington right now about deficit spending. republicans are trying to frame the politics and frame the issue of paying democrats as a party of taxing and spending with