nation. you are baseded in the midwest and kor the midwest for a while. what do you think the politics are like for mark kirk and rob portman on this extension? i think they re pretty intense. i think you identified the right folks. i might also throw senator toomey into that mix as well. one of the things that you have to understand and i think that most of your viewers do, is that the great lake states and that s what you re really talking about there, those states have suffered incredible industrialization. so, in a number of cities, places that don t get covered much in national media, western new york, head across, they ve had a lot of job losses and people have been put into very tough situations. right now, it s some of the cold e weather that we ve had in years. lot of snow. this is not a time when businesses are putting on new workers. it s not a time when it s going
and folks have been through this. it s very real for a lot of voters. thank you so much. joining me now, politics editor of business insider. i feel like there s a bunch of things we point to in the obama e era as moments of radical departure of what s happened before and this long-term benefit extension is one of them. this was sort of a routine thing and now, it s not. what is the explanation? i think there are two things that happened. one is that this recovery has just taken so long. it s unprecedented that we are more than four years after the end of the recession and we still have a long-term unemployment problem. i think you have to go back to the great depression. while we have this level of unemployment, long-term
get those jobless benefits extended and so, benefits made a promise. it was a commitment that when they got back, they would go to the wall on this one. now, everybody knew they were going to have to get some republicans to make it happen and the republicans who are in play here, it s clear who they are, where they live. to my mind, the message has to be one that s very focused, very intense, i would hope. that groups engaged, unions, community groups, engage on those issues. and one thing to understand, chris, is that these votes are concentrated in certain areas. and a lot of folks who aren t look i looking for an extension of benefits is because they have a job. they retire, they understand the reality of jobless benefits. there are a lot of places that have had a boom and bust economy
back in three months, but probably hopefully we only need another 12 to 18 months of this extension. and that s the big question. to pass that, six months and nine months. at some point, you look at the american labor market and say, the thing is broken. right? or there is some deep problem that needs to be addressed as job number one, macro economic policy in this country, which is to get people back to work. you say it s broken or that the problems are completely structural. there are problems that can be dealt with throughout this. wee not there yet. the unemployment benefit extension will grow the economy and great kraet jobs, but in a normal economy, you have about two job analpplicants for everyb opening. the kitchen sink still firmly
watch it on the fox news extreme weather. and you are very accurate all the time, janice dean, and by the way, your map there with the pretty pictures, great weather in florida, but absolutely. thank you, all right, janice dean, thank you very much. meanwhile, the budget battle still looming as congress preps for holiday break. now lawmakers could take up whether to extend unemployment benefits and if it will be attached to any sort of budget deal. republicans pressing against the benefits citing against the overall costs and recent drops in the unemployment rate, while democrats are encouraging the benefit extension. if members of congress don t act before they leave on their vacations, 1.3 million americans will lose this lifeline. these are people we know, they re our friends and neighbors. they sit next to us in church and volunteer in oush communities. their kids play with our kids