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There was never much doubt that Speaker John Boehner would try to block the deal to extend unemployment benefits that was reached in the Senate last week. The only real question was what ridiculous justification he would come up with, and the one he chose on Wednesday exceeded expectations.

It turns out that giving five months of additional aid to 2 million desperate unemployed people can’t possibly happen because, he said, it would be too complicated to administer.

“The Senate bill would be costly, difficult to administer, and difficult to determine an individual’s eligibility,” according to a blog post on the speaker’s web site, announcing his rejection of the deal. “This could increase the likelihood of fraud and abuse.”



Fraud and abuse… where we have we heard that one before? Only every time Republicans have to justify their opposition to a social program, or explain why they have to make it harder for certain people to vote. In this case, he based his concern on a letter from the National Association of State Workforce Agencies (the people who actually send out the unemployment checks), which said that backdating the benefits to Dec. 29 would make it hard to ensure that recipients were looking for work during that period.

The proper answer to that complaint is: Tough, find a way to do it. Just like the state agencies did in 2010, when benefits were also restored after a lapse. It’s no reason not to agree to the deal.

But the letter from the states goes on, objecting to the difficulty in enforcing a provision that would deny unemployment benefits to millionaires. Mr. Boehner apparently needs reminding that this showy provision (which would only affect about 3,000 taxpayers with high investment or household income) was demanded by Republican senators who needed to demonstrate that they were cracking down on someone or other in order to agree to the deal. If that’s really a big problem for the speaker, he can take the provision out of the House version and dare the Senate to pass it anyway.

The real reason for Mr. Boehner’s objection is that many in his caucus simply don’t believe in unemployment insurance, because they believe these benefits discourage people from working. If he put the Senate deal on the floor for a vote, it would pass easily with Democratic and some Republican support, but his hard-right members would be furious. The flimsiness of these excuses is a pretty good indication of the pressure he is under.

The best response to the speaker’s prevarications came from a Senate Republican, Dean Heller of Nevada, who represents a high-unemployment state and is tired of the endless blockades put up by members of his own party.

“It is extremely disappointing,” he said, referring to Mr. Boehner’s comments, “that, no matter what solution is reached, there is some excuse to deny these much-needed benefits.”