WASHINGTON - Ways and Means Ranking Member Sander Levin (D-MI) and Human Resources Subcommittee Ranking Member Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) issued the following statements today in response to Chairman Camp’s plan to overhaul the unemployment insurance program:
“This is the opposite of a jobs bill - it is a hatchet job on the unemployment insurance program. With this legislation, Republicans are proposing to end this year’s guaranteed benefit for the long-term unemployed, just like they’ve proposed ending the guaranteed benefit for Medicare recipients," said Committee Ranking Member Levin. “At stake are extended benefits for more than four million unemployed Americans. This legislation takes money out of the pockets of the long-term unemployed and throws it to states, many of which have mismanaged their trust funds. Their timing couldn’t be worse given today’s news that applications for jobless benefits jumped to the highest levels in eight months."
“This is a surprise assault on the jobless, which encourages the states to terminate assistance to 4 million long term unemployed Americans," said Subcommittee Ranking Member Doggett. “It takes from the unemployed to give to state governments that failed to manage their budgets or to prepare for recession. Like the rest of the Republican legislative agenda, this mislabeled ‘JOBS’ Act creates no new jobs. It represents only the latest attempt by Republicans to blame the unemployed for unemployment on the very day that ongoing unemployment claims had their largest weekly increase since last July."
BACKGROUND
Cutting Assistance to Those Who Need it Most
Legislation introduced by Republicans on the Committee on Ways and Means would likely eliminate extended unemployment benefits in many States given a provision in the bill allowing States to spend those funds for other purposes. If every State took this option, over 4 million Americans could lose extended unemployment benefits.
* The legislation would allocate the remaining balance now estimated to be spent on temporary, federally-funded extended benefits ($31 billion) to the States and allow them to use it for a number of purposes, including cutting unemployment insurance (UI) taxes on employers and paying off UI loans from the Federal government.
Second, the legislation would permanently allow regular UI funds to be diverted for other purposes, potentially undermining the foundation of the unemployment system which ensures some wage replacement for workers who lose their jobs through no fault of their own.
* The bill would allow States to seek waivers from the Department of Labor (DOL) to use unemployment funds to pay for something other than UI as long as it relates to employment. This waiver authority could allow a State (if approved by DOL) to provide wage insurance or private accounts to a potential UI recipient, instead of unemployment benefits. Alternatively, a State could use UI funds to pay wage subsidies to employers hiring UI recipients.
Third, it would impose new training and work search requirements for UI recipients that States already have the flexibility to put in place even as Republican budget proposals slash funding for training and employment services.
* The measure would impose new training and/or education requirements for UI recipients who are referred to employment-related services by the States.
