Cable News Fail: Unemployment 'Extension' Not Quite What It Seems

As I flip through the cable news channels this evening, I see a lot of reporting about the Senate's vote today to pass a jobs bill which will "extend" unemployment benefits through the end of the year.

While I won't say the coverage is lazy, I will say that the reporting is misleading. This bill "extends" benefits in the same way that Obama's health care will lead to death panels.

First, the facts. The jobs bill doesn't "extend" coverage. What it does is extend some of the deadlines so that people who were laid off later in 2009 and into 2010 can still qualify for the extra unemployment benefits provided in last year's stimulus bill.

But once someone has moved through the various tiers of coverage (which is combined with a Federal/State Extended Benefits program), you're out of luck. At best, after 99 weeks your unemployment coverage is over and this bill doesn't address that.

UPDATE (12:40 p.m. CT): Several people have emailed me the news that they have called the offices of their local Senator, and have been assured that a separate bill addressing extra weeks of coverage will be brought up in the Senate as early as next week. I've heard that as well, but I'm hesitant to rely on that, since no one has any firm details. Also, the reason the additional weeks weren't included in this jobs bill is that adding more weeks is a tougher sell to Republicans and conservative Democrats. There is also an Easter break coming up soon. So even if a new bill is proposed next week, getting it passed and signed by the President before April is going to be a tough battle.