Jobless bill looks like a go

Looks like there are enough votes in the Senate to extend benefits through November for 2.5 million Americans. The two Republican senators from Maine have agreed to support the measure after Democrats agreed to drop unrelated items and trim the bill to $34 billion. From the WSJ:

If the extension is approved, unemployed workers in the hardest-hit states would again be able to draw up to 99 weeks of aid. That includes 26 weeks of basic aid offered by states, plus long-term federal payments. The expiration of the previous extension June 2 has had a rolling impact on the unemployed, as thousands exhausted their benefits each week.

This is necessary and a long time coming, but lawmakers (and not just Republicans) must be wondering how long they can keep this up. From Derek Thompson:

There are no obvious cut-off points. It doesn't make a lot of sense to say, for example, that once the job-openings/unemployed ratio sinks below 4.5 (now it's at 5) we immediately cancel the extended benefits program. At some point, however, unemployment benefits will discourage workers from seeking real job openings. For now, the San Francisco Fed estimates that UI artificially inflates the unemployment rate by about 0.4%. But in a healthy economy, Paul Krugman has acknowledged that especially generous or long benefits are a disincentive to work, as we've seen in Europe. Over time, this very real stimulus will become a very real drag. Reining in the extended benefits program, necessary as it may be, will be a very real drag, too.

Senate vote is expected Tuesday.