II Calendar No. 391 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1759 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES APRIL 10, 2019 Received DECEMBER 18, 2019 Read the first time DECEMBER 19, 2019 Read the second time and placed on the calendar AN ACT To amend title III of the Social Security Act to extend reemployment services and eligibility assessments to all claimants for unemployment benefits, and for other pur- poses. 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 ‘‘Building on Reemploy- 4 ment Improvements to Deliver Good Employment for 5 Workers Act’’ or the ‘‘BRIDGE for Workers Act’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:13 Dec 20, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1759.PCS H1759 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 HR 1759 PCS SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 1 Congress finds the following: 2 (1) The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 (Public 3 Law 115–123) improved program accountability for 4 effectively serving unemployed workers and made a 5 significant new investment in reemployment services. 6 (2) Research shows the longer workers are out 7 of work, the harder it can be to maintain their skills, 8 professional network, and stable home life. 9 (3) Reemployment services give workers who 10 might otherwise struggle to find new jobs the tools 11 that they need to get back to work—such as individ- 12 ualized career counseling and job search help as well 13 as local labor market information—and they can 14 serve as an entry point to the workforce development 15 system. 16 (4) Reemployment services have been dem- 17 onstrated to reduce the number of weeks that pro- 18 gram participants receive unemployment benefits by 19 improving their employment outcomes, including 20 earnings. 21 (5) Unemployment benefits replace less than 22 half of working income, on average, so workers who 23 find new jobs quickly suffer less financial hardship. 24 (6) Combining targeted reemployment services 25 with unemployment benefits helps keep people at- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:13 Dec 20, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1759.PCS H1759 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 HR 1759 PCS tached to the labor force who might otherwise be- 1 come discouraged and drop out. 2 (7) The Congressional Budget Office estimates 3 that, over time, investments in reemployment serv- 4 ices create savings for taxpayers and unemployment 5 trust funds by reducing spending on unemployment 6 benefits. 7 (8) Many different types of workers can benefit 8 from reemployment services. Reemployment services 9 should be used to shorten the duration of unemploy- 10 ment for workers even if they are not projected to 11 fully exhaust their unemployment benefits. 12 SEC. 3. ELIGIBILITY FOR REEMPLOYMENT SERVICES. 13 Section 306(a) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 14 506(a)) is amended— 15 (1) by striking ‘‘individuals referred to reem- 16 ployment services as described in section 303(j)’’ 17 and inserting ‘‘claimants for unemployment com- 18 pensation, including claimants referred to reemploy- 19 ment services as described in section 303(j),’’; and 20 (2) by striking ‘‘such individuals’’ and inserting 21 ‘‘such claimants’’. 22 Passed the House of Representatives April 9, 2019. Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, Clerk. VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:13 Dec 20, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1759.PCS H1759 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS Calendar No. 391 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1759 AN ACT To amend title III of the Social Security Act to ex- tend reemployment services and eligibility assess- ments to all claimants for unemployment bene- fits, and for other purposes. DECEMBER 19, 2019 Read the second time and placed on the calendar VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:13 Dec 20, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6651 Sfmt 6651 E:\BILLS\H1759.PCS H1759 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS