unemployment benefits which ran out on saturday. now it s up to congress to extend those benefits. but the democrat leading the charge told me this morning that any deal they reach will likely be short-term. take a listen. i d like to be able to say we have a year. to keep the program going, we thought and the senator and i thought a three-month extension giving us the time to look at changes in funding mechanisms and all those things would be the appropriate way to go, not leave people high and dry, give them some hope we re going to fix this on longer term basis. with me to break it down jonathan capehart, writer for washington post and msnbc contributor. mark murray political editor and karen a political editor with the washington post. thanks to all of you for joining me. happy new year. i want to go around the horn. mark, i ll start with you. what are the prospects for