Somebody really needs to take Jim Bunning (R-KY) out the woodshed and whoop his butt for this. Then they need to wash out his mouth with soap.

Bunning was the lone holdout against an emergency extension of unemployment benefits for the 1.2 million people whose benefits will run out in March. Other senators tried to reason with him until nearly midnight. The highlight of the proceeding may have been Bunning's telling Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) "Tough shit" in response to Merkley's impassioned entreaty that he change his mind.

Bunning objects to the cost of the extension being added to the deficit. Why are Republicans such deficit hounds when it comes to anything that helps people? They never object to the nearly $1 trillion we are spending on war-related efforts right now, barely 10 percent of which actually goes toward paying the salaries and benefits of the troops.

Anyway...

Unanimous consent is needed to ram something like this through. Without it, the item needs to go through the normal process which can take weeks -- too long for the families that will be going hungry.

Additionally, putting it through that process adds millions of dollars in administrative costs as extension programs are shut down and re-started.

Congratulations, Senator Bunning, you probably earned a tiny footnote in some history book for this one. It will appear in the chapter on Congressional Asshats of the 21st Century.

Ugh.

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