问题详情

根据短文，回答16~20题With a new Congress drawing near。Democrats and Republicans are busily designing competing economic stimulus packages．The Republicans are sure to offer tax cuts。the Democrats～among other things— financial relief for the states．There is one measure，however，that would provide not only an immedlate boost to the economy but also immediate relief to those most in need：a carefully crafted extension of the federal unemployment insurance program．The Senate approved such an extension before it adjourned in November． The House of Representatives refused to go along．It was among the greatest failures of the l07th Congress． One consequence is that jobless benefits for an estimated 780000 Americans will abruptly stop tomorrow， even though most recipients have not yet exhausted their benefits．President Bush failed to show any leader— ship on this matter during the November Congress．Later，he finally asked Congress to extend the program for these workers and to make the benefits effective from Dec．28． That’s not enough．The way unemployment insurance typically works is that states provide laid-off workers with 26 weeks of benefits，followed by l3 weeks of federal aid Under Mr Bush’s scheme．federal benefits would be extended only for those who were already receiving them on Dec．28．The extension would not cover the jobless workers who will exhaust their regular state-funded benefits after Dec．28一an estimated 95000 every week——but will receive no federal help unless the program is re-authorized．By the end of March。1．2 million workers could fallinto this category． The Senate saw this problem comin9，and under the leadership of Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Don Nickles of Oklahoma，passed abill that would not only have covered people already enrolled in the federal program but provided l3 weeks of assistance for those losingtheir state benefits in the new year．The House，for largely trivial reasons，refused to go along． Bill Frist，the new Senate majority leader，says he is looking for ways to put a kinder，gentler face on the Republican Party．Passing the Clinton-Nickles bill would be a good way to begin．The House should then follow suit．One of the House’s complaints last year was that，at$5 billion，the Clinton-Nickles bill was too expensive．That’s ridiculous，considering the costs of the tax cuts that House Republicans have in mind． The unemployment rate last month stood at 6 percent，the highest since mid-1994．The country could use a$5 billion shot in the arm right about now．So could a lot of increasingly desperate people． According to the author，the proposed extension is——． [A]what the coming Congress should reconsider[B]excluded from the economic stimulus packages[C]a relief program carefully designed by the House [D]put forward by both Republicans and Democrats请帮忙给出正确答案和分析，谢谢！