Washington took a smart, compassionate step in extending unemployment benefits last week. But while federal leaders giveth, they also have taken away monies that help get unemployed workers back on the job.

Last year, Congress approved a rescission of $250 million in Workforce Investment Act funding. That is, the federal government yanked back money it had given to the states.

The missing money is seriously hurting the network of one-stop career centers that states run, says Larry Temple, president of the National Association of State Workforce Agencies professional group. Temple, who also serves as executive director of the Texas Workforce Commission, says that in his state alone, at least 15 centers and satellite offices are closing as a result of the take-back. The closures will lower the number of workforce centers and satellite offices to fewer than 250 in Texas, which lost a little more than $10 million in the rescission.

One-stop centers offer assistance such as skills training, career planning help, job-seeking strategies and help preparing for job interviews.

To Temple, providing extra unemployment insurance benefits while paring back services available through public career centers makes little sense.

“That’s where the rubber meets the road,” he says.

The shutting of one-stop centers comes after another public employment resource was killed by federal authorities last year. Despite evidence that it provided a useful, cost-effective service, public online job board America’s Job Bank, a public online job board was axed by the Bush administration.

Federal workforce funding is caught up in a debate about whether the current system of state and locally run programs is too bureaucratic. The Bush administration has called for replacing it with “career advancement accounts” designed to give workers more control over retraining dollars.

There’s evidence, though, suggesting the existing system can be effective.

However the debate plays out, one thing is clear: Washington has come up with a partial solution to the growing problem of unemployment today. And the more important piece of the puzzle may be missing. As Temple puts it: “We’re treating the symptom, and we’re not going at the cause.”