Because Missouri senators still haven't approved a bill allowing another 20 weeks of unemployment benefits, about 10,000 Missourians will lose their payments this weekend.
And, the state Labor Department reported, extended unemployment benefits will be denied to about 24,000 additional residents who would be eligible for the extended benefits - if the Legislature will approve them.
But for four Republican state senators - Jim Lembke, Lemay; Brian Nieves, Washington; Will Kraus, Lee's Summit; and Rob Schaaf, St. Joseph - it's an issue of priorities.
"The federal government is broke," Lembke explained. "The state is broke. And the federal government continues to try to give us an extension to unemployment benefits with money they don't have. ...
"It's the easiest thing in the world for a politician to say, "Yes.' The toughest thing for a politician to do is say, "No.'
"And, quite frankly, I think it's incumbent on the states to start standing up (to Washington, D.C.) and say, "We will no longer be willing accomplices to your overspending and your ruining of this nation.'"
Sen. Jolie Justus, D-Kansas City, voiced her frustration in a short speech to colleagues Thursday morning.
"Remember something that we didn't do this week - and that was to protect the 10,000 families who are going to lose their unemployment benefits because of our failure to act," Justus said, her voice breaking at times. "I've heard several senators say that the four senators who stopped this are the ones who "own' this, and that it's not our fault.
"But the reality is, we own this. We did it - all 34 of us. So I want you to go home this weekend and talk to those families who will no longer be able to feed themselves because we're cutting off their benefits."