I was talking to a fellow in the office about Social Security last night. He said that despite the new bill, the the 99ers are SOL. The Wall St Journal says he's right:

Last week Washington approved new funds for extended unemployment-insurance benefits as part of a larger tax package.

But that deal, which extends funds for special federal unemployment-insurance benefits through 2011, won't help Brown or others who have exhausted their benefits. That is, jobless workers in states with the worst labor markets will still only be able to collect benefits for up to 99 weeks.

Exasperating for [Deborah Brown, who has exhausted her benefits,] is that the benefits were part of a package of tax cuts. Obama had struck a deal with Republicans on the tax package -- a package that Democrats had criticized as too generous to the wealthy.

Call me dumb, but I thought part of the deal for prolonging tax cuts for the wealthy was to extend benefits for the 99ers, too.