It looks like the Senate will finally act on extending unemployment insurance for those whose benefits are about to run out, albeit several weeks late. There will be a procedural vote in just a couple hours, with final passage expected on Thursday. The needless delay has cost as many as hundreds of thousands of people their benefits. The House is expected to pass whatever comes out of the Senate on Thursday, with a speedy signature by the President to follow.

As I have noted, in exchange for $2 billion in unemployment extension, the Senate added on a $10 billion homebuyer tax credit for relatively wealthy people who can afford to purchase a home, and $10 billion in business tax breaks. So the add-ons cost ten times as much as the benefit to the jobless.

UPDATE: Cloture passed on this bill just now, 97-1, with only Jim DeMint opposing. We’ll see a final vote tomorrow. Again, Jim DeMint, from one of the hardest-hit states in the country, can’t be bothered to give a damn about the unemployed. The whole bill is paid for, by the way.