Over the past few months, the following pattern emerged in Washington:
* Legitimate concerns about long-term unemployment led to calls for Congress to extend federal unemployment benefits.
* Multibillion-dollar extensions of benefits were proposed, and Democrats and Republicans agreed that the aid ought to be provided to those who could not find jobs.
* Democrats said the billions of dollars to pay for the benefits ought to be added to the national debt.
* Republicans insisted that the $12.9 trillion debt was already too big, and that new unemployment benefits should be paid for by cutting wasteful spending in other parts of this year’s $3.7 trillion budget.