Former Baseball player and current Senator, Jim Bunning (R - Kentucky) has, for the fifth day in a row, blocked the extension of unemployment benefits in the Senate.  On top of that, by blocking the $10 billion bill, it also triggers the end of a legislative bandaid renewed each year in Congress because no one can decide on a permanent solution, whereby the compensation from Medicare to doctors was reduced by 21%. 

Senator Bunning claims that he has decided to put a hold on this bill because only one third of it was being paid for, while the rest was being added to the deficit.  He said today that Senator Reid (D - Nevada), should have filed for cloture and brought the bill to a vote on the floor, where he was certain that it would receive the 60 votes needed to end debate.  In fact, he said he supported the bill, and Senator Susan Collins (R - Maine) urged Bunning to release his hold on the bill because it was an ill conceived way to make a point while people were suffering. 

Despite having voted against continuing PayGo (the pay as you go law) when President Bush 43 pushed for its end, he is now claiming that he's concerned with spending.  If not for the fact that his change of heart is hypocritical when looking at his voting record, and that the United States is still suffering from a recession with high unemployment, it would seem prudent to pay as you go.  However, there is a recession and there are tons of people out of work, so it seems that Senator Bunning is playing politics.

Senator Reid will no doubt file for cloture, but now there will be a delay for people who are waiting for cheques, and honestly, government should first work for the people then work on balancing it's books.

UPDATE: After a threat to run an all night session of the Senate by Democratic leadership, Senator Bunning agreed to drop his hold on the bill so long as an amendment was voted on to pay for the entire bill.  An agreement was reached and the mini crisis is over, after gaining a lot of attention.  The amendment is expected to fail because if the bill is changed from its current version, the amended Senate bill would have to be sent back to the House to pass again, which would delay benefits by weeks.