what congress is going to do to help them. fred, the president is trying to drum up support. now, in a statement the white house said, quote, the president as well as the democratic congressional leadership has made clear the importance of extending the benefits immediately upon congress' retu return. this tees up a nasty fight for the new year. some republican ps say it's time to end the program altogether. they argue it's too expensive. a year's extension costs about $25 billion. people have gotten dependent. and they say the economy is strong enough now without them. now, here's a little preview of what the tough love argument will hear from some republicans. >> it's long been known that they're going to expire. people should have been making the tough decisions they needed to make to find a job. and the problem when the welfare state gets too expansive is that people tend to depend too much on government. the message for the future i