Over the past three months, Republicans have offered one excuse after another for not extending unemployment insurance. With the Senate passing a UI extension on Monday night, House Republican leaders are searching for any reason to oppose the bill—and openly admitting that they only care about the politics of the long-term unemployment crisis.

Republicans have offered at least four reasons for refusing to extend unemployment insurance:

1. It discourages work. This one, championed by Senator Rand Paul, holds that the long-term unemployed have been passing over jobs and choosing to collect benefits instead. But the academic evidence on this issue shows that UI, at most, has a small disincentive effect on work.

2. It doesn’t have a spending offset. A number of Republicans have refused to vote for any UI extension that increases the deficit. Fair enough. The Senate bill includes a spending offset, although part of it is an accounting gimmick that does not deliver any real savings. Republicans, particularly in the House, have objected to this gimmick, but that hasn’t stopped them from supporting such gimmicks in other legislation.

3. It doesn’t have a provision to create jobs. Boehner has repeatedly made this demand, but it’s still not clear why this is a reason to oppose a UI extension. In addition, the Congressional Budget Office has found that the extension of unemployment benefits would boost demand and create jobs.