Reopening America by Supporting Workers and Businesses Act of 2021

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2188 To provide relief to workers impacted by COVID–19 and support for reopening businesses, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 26, 2021 Mr. BRADY (for himself, Mr. HERN, Mrs. MILLER of West Virginia, Mr. SCHWEIKERT, Mr. LAHOOD, Mrs. WALORSKI, Mr. KELLY of Pennsyl- vania, Mr. SMITH of Nebraska, Mr. WENSTRUP, Mr. FERGUSON, Mr. RICE of South Carolina, Mr. ESTES, Mr. NUNES, Mr. SMITH of Missouri, and Mr. SMUCKER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committees on Rules, and the Budget, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall with- in the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To provide relief to workers impacted by COVID–19 and support for reopening businesses, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Reopening America 4 by Supporting Workers and Businesses Act of 2021’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:05 May 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2188.IH H2188 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2188 IH SEC. 2. TIME-LIMITED BACK-TO-WORK BONUSES. 1 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 2104(b) of the Cares Act 2 (Public Law 116–136) is amended— 3 (1) by redesignating paragraph (4) as para- 4 graph (5); and 5 (2) by inserting after paragraph (3) the fol- 6 lowing: 7 ‘‘(4) BACK-TO-WORK BONUSES.— 8 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Any agreement under 9 this section may also provide that the State 10 agency of the State may make a one-time lump 11 sum payment to each individual who— 12 ‘‘(i) was eligible for Federal Pandemic 13 Unemployment Compensation under para- 14 graph (1) for any week beginning after the 15 date of enactment of the Reopening Amer- 16 ica by Supporting Workers and Businesses 17 Act of 2021; 18 ‘‘(ii) is no longer so eligible (as deter- 19 mined by the State), as a result of earn- 20 ings due to commencing employment; and 21 ‘‘(iii) as verified by the individual’s 22 employer pursuant to subparagraph (E)— 23 ‘‘(I) has been employed by a non- 24 governmental employer throughout 25 the individual’s qualifying period; 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:05 May 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2188.IH H2188 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2188 IH ‘‘(II) is employed for wages 1 equivalent to an annual salary of not 2 more than $75,000; and 3 ‘‘(III) remains employed with an 4 intent to continue such employment. 5 ‘‘(B) AMOUNT.—A payment made to an 6 individual under this paragraph shall be paid in 7 a lump sum amount of— 8 ‘‘(i) $1,200 in the case of an indi- 9 vidual who on average is working at least 10 30 hours or more per week during the 11 qualifying period; or 12 ‘‘(ii) $600 in the case of an individual 13 who on average is working at least 20 14 hours or more per week, but less than 30 15 hours, during the qualifying period. 16 ‘‘(C) QUALIFYING PERIOD.—For purposes 17 of this paragraph, the term ‘qualifying period’ 18 means, with respect to an individual, a period— 19 ‘‘(i) beginning on the date the indi- 20 vidual commenced employment as de- 21 scribed in subparagraph (A)(ii); and 22 ‘‘(ii) extending at least 4 consecutive 23 weeks from such date. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:05 May 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2188.IH H2188 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2188 IH ‘‘(D) DURATION.—No lump sum payment 1 may be made to any individual under this para- 2 graph with respect to a qualifying period begin- 3 ning on or after July 1, 2021. 4 ‘‘(E) EMPLOYER VERIFICATION.—Before 5 making a lump sum payment to an individual 6 pursuant to this paragraph, a State agency 7 shall require verification from the individual’s 8 employer— 9 ‘‘(i) of the individual’s employment 10 status; 11 ‘‘(ii) of the wages paid to the indi- 12 vidual during the qualifying period; and 13 ‘‘(iii) of the hours worked by the indi- 14 vidual during the qualifying period. 15 ‘‘(F) LIMITATION.—A State may not pro- 16 vide more than one payment under this para- 17 graph to an individual. 18 ‘‘(G) SPECIAL RULE.—Payments made 19 pursuant to an agreement under this paragraph 20 shall not be considered to violate the withdrawal 21 requirements of section 303(a)(5) of the Social 22 Security Act (42 U.S.C. 503(a)(5)) or section 23 3304(a)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code of 24 1986.’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:05 May 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2188.IH H2188 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 2188 IH (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 2104 of 1 such Act is amended— 2 (1) in subsections (d) and (f), by inserting ‘‘, 3 payments under subsection (b)(4),’’ after ‘‘Federal 4 Pandemic Unemployment Compensation’’ each place 5 it appears; and 6 (2) in subsection (g)— 7 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 8 the end; 9 (B) in paragraph (2), by striking the pe- 10 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 11 (C) by adding at the end the following: 12 ‘‘(3) the purposes of the preceding provisions of 13 this section, as such provisions apply with respect to 14 payments under subsection (b)(4), shall be applied 15 with respect to unemployment benefits described in 16 subsection (i)(2) to the same extent and in the same 17 manner as if those benefits were regular compensa- 18 tion.’’. 19 SEC. 3. ACCELERATED FUNDING INCREASE FOR REEM- 20 PLOYMENT SERVICES AND ELIGIBILITY AS- 21 SESSMENTS. 22 Section 314(g)(1)(D) of the Congressional Budget 23 Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 645(g)(1)(D)) is amended by— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:05 May 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2188.IH H2188 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 2188 IH (1) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘$133,000,000’’ 1 and inserting ‘‘$433,000,000’’; and 2 (2) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘$258,000,000’’ 3 and inserting ‘‘$433,000,000’’. 4 SEC. 4. ELIGIBILITY FOR REEMPLOYMENT SERVICES. 5 (a) CARES ACT.— 6 (1) PANDEMIC UNEMPLOYMENT ASSISTANCE.— 7 Section 2102 of the Cares Act (Public Law 116– 8 136) is amended by adding at the end the following: 9 ‘‘(i) ELIGIBILITY FOR REEMPLOYMENT SERVICES.— 10 Pandemic unemployment assistance under this section 11 shall be treated as unemployment compensation for the 12 purposes of section 306 of the Social Security Act (42 13 U.S.C. 506).’’. 14 (2) PANDEMIC EMERGENCY UNEMPLOYMENT 15 COMPENSATION.—Section 2107 of the Cares Act 16 (Public Law 116–136) is amended by adding at the 17 end the following: 18 ‘‘(h) ELIGIBILITY FOR REEMPLOYMENT SERVICES.— 19 Pandemic emergency unemployment compensation under 20 this section shall be treated as unemployment compensa- 21 tion for the purposes of section 306 of the Social Security 22 Act (42 U.S.C. 506).’’. 23 (b) SOCIAL SECURITY ACT.—Section 306(a) of the 24 Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 506(a)) is amended— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:05 May 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2188.IH H2188 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 2188 IH (1) by striking ‘‘individuals referred to reem- 1 ployment services as described in section 303(j)’’ 2 and inserting ‘‘claimants for unemployment com- 3 pensation, including claimants referred to reemploy- 4 ment services as described in section 303(j),’’; and 5 (2) by striking ‘‘such individuals’’ and inserting 6 ‘‘such claimants’’. 7 SEC. 5. REINSTATING FEDERAL WORK SEARCH REQUIRE- 8 MENT. 9 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 4102(b) of the Families 10 First Coronavirus Relief Act (26 U.S.C. 3304 note) is 11 amended by striking ‘‘work search,’’ after ‘‘with respect 12 to’’. 13 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made under 14 subsection (a) shall take effect on the date that is 30 days 15 after the date of enactment of this Act. 16 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:05 May 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2188.IH H2188 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS