We have a deal. Five Senate Democrats and five Senate Republicans have agreed upon legislation to extend emergency unemployment insurance for five months, retroactive to December 28. Here’s everything you need to know:

Wait, a deal on what? Unemployment benefits? I remember something going on with those. What’s happening again?

When the economy collapsed in 2008, Congress did what it has customarily done: It bolstered unemployment insurance, by allowing people who were out of work for more than 26 weeks to collect benefits for up to 73 weeks (though states had discretion over the precise length). Congress twice renewed the program, called, Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC). when it was set to lapse. But on December 28, Congress failed to renew it again. The program expired and 1.3 million people immediately lost their benefits. More than 700,000 have had their benefits run out since the new year.

Democrats have been fighting for an extension of the program since it expired and have come up short a couple of times. They originally wanted to extend it for a full year, without any spending offset. Republicans wouldn’t go along—in some cases, like Rand Paul’s, because they believe the program discourages work (even though the best evidence suggests otherwise). But other senators, like Rob Portman and Kelly Ayotte, said they wanted an extension—just as long as it had some kind of offsetting spending cuts. Democrats went to work on that, floating various combinations of shorter extensions and payment gimmicks. Last month, they came within one vote of breaking a filibuster for a six-month extension, paid for with something called “pension smoothing” as an offset.

Pension smoothing?