alex brill served as an economist on capitol hill and on the council of economic advisors under george w. bush. even if congress extends these benefits again, he only expects a temporary fix, not a solution. >> our other problems, longer- term issues around social security, medicare, those issues will remain in the background while we focus on these nearer- term, temporary issues. >> reporter: that could leave consumers and investors in limbo. >> people are hesitant, they're not sure what the rules of the game are going to be in the future, they don't know what the energy policy's going to be, they don't know what the tax policy's going to be. the result is a lot of workers and investors just simply wait. >> reporter: 12 months down the road, even more deadlines loom. the bush tax cuts are set to expire at the end of 2012. that's the same time the pentagon faces steep spending cuts triggered earlier this year when the supercommittee failed. analysts don't see this sharply divided congress moving on any of these issues until after the november election. >> lame ducks are traditionally o