THE HOUSE PLANS to show up today for what looks to be its sole day of work this month; the Senate will put in an appearance Tuesday. After that, lawmakers will likely leave for a long Christmas break, but unless Republican leaders change their minds, Congress will leave a major task undone: extending emergency benefits for the long-term unemployed. The emergency program will begin to phase out starting Dec. 21; as a result, an estimated half million of the nation's jobless will be without benefits by the time lawmakers come back to town Jan. 20. Ordinarily, unemployed workers are entitled...