Terrible news, everyone: The economy is improving.

I suppose I should clarify that statement. For most of us, it’s very good news. It’s only terrible news if you’re a Republican who anticipated riding a continuing recession to victory in November. Now Republicans in Congress are working desperately to reverse what they see as a devastating trend.

Unfortunately for us, there are a few tools at the Republicans’ disposal. I’ve written before about how Republicans may once again try to block an extension of the payroll tax cut. Now they’re also threatening to block an extension of unemployment benefits.

A Democratic bid for a breakthrough on payroll-tax negotiations fell flat on Thursday, as Congress closes in on a Feb. 29 deadline with few signs of progress.

If Congress fails to act: the Social Security payroll tax that comes out of every paycheck will revert back to 6.2 percent from the current 4.2 percent tax “holiday,” doctors treating Medicare patients will see their reimbursements drop 27 percent as the “doc fix” expires, and millions of long-term unemployed workers will lose benefits.

On Thursday, Republicans on the panel rejected a new Democratic proposal to cut federal unemployment insurance from its current 99 weeks to 93 weeks. Republicans propose cutting back insurance to a maximum of 59 weeks.

While the economy is getting better, and hopefully seems to be picking up steam, the fact remains that it has a long way to go. If we start pulling the rug out from under the unemployed, many of whom have been searching for jobs for years at this point, we’re just going to prolong the recession.

Of course, maybe the Republican understand that. To them, maybe that’s a feature, not a bug.