But maybe you're not tired of hearing Diane Lim Rogers, an economist with the deficit-obsessed Concord Coalition, say it:

Hey, let’s get real: extended unemployment benefits are an effective form of stimulus spending, and although they do add to the short-term deficit, they are not part of the longer-term deficit problem. Nowhere in CBO’s report on the long-term budget outlook will you find different assumptions about unemployment benefits. It’s all about what we do with the Bush tax cuts and how well health reform will work. ...

Let’s face it: those who use their “worry” about our longer-term fiscal outlook as a reason to oppose extended unemployment benefits don’t want to reduce the deficit as much as they want to get rid of unemployment benefits.