Let me translate this: We don’t actually have the money. We’re not taking cash out of our wallet and giving it to the unemployed. We don’t have cash in our wallet. Congress is taking out the taxpayer credit card and charging the expense.

In the end, Democrats refused to cut pork elsewhere in order to fund the unemployment benefits extension. They weren’t willing to give up their precious pork. So they swore-in Robert Byrd’s replacement and suddenly had sixty votes.