I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4183 

To amend the Assistance for Unemployed Workers and Struggling Families 

Act and the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2008 to provide for the 

temporary extension of programs providing unemployment benefits, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 2, 2009 

Mr. MCDERMOTT (for himself, Mr. NADLER of New York, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. 

SIRES, Mr. ACKERMAN, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. HIRONO, Mr. LEWIS of 

Georgia, Mr. CAPUANO, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. MICHAUD, Ms. WOOLSEY, 

Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. LEVIN, Mr. CARDOZA, Ms. BERKLEY, 

Mr. ELLISON, Mr. DEFAZIO, Ms. PINGREE of Maine, Mr. LANGEVIN, and 

Ms. MCCOLLUM) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Ways and Means 

A BILL 

To amend the Assistance for Unemployed Workers and 

Struggling Families Act and the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2008 to provide for the temporary extension of programs providing unemployment benefits, and 

for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Helping Unemployed 

5 Workers Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. TEMPORARY EXTENSION OF CERTAIN UNEMPLOY2 MENT BENEFITS. 

3 (a) EMERGENCY UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSA4 TION.—Section 4007 of the Supplemental Appropriations 

5 Act, 2008 (Public Law 110–252; 26 U.S.C. 3304 note) 

6 is amended— 

7 (1) by striking ‘‘December 31, 2009’’ each 

8 place it appears and inserting ‘‘March 31, 2011’’; 

9 (2) in the heading for subsection (b)(2), by 

10 striking ‘‘DECEMBER 31, 2009’’ and inserting 

11 ‘‘MARCH 31, 2011’’; and 

12 (3) in subsection (b)(3), by striking ‘‘May 31, 

13 2010’’ and inserting ‘‘August 31, 2011’’. 

14 (b) ADDITIONAL REGULAR COMPENSATION.—Section 

15 2002(e) of the Assistance for Unemployed Workers and 

16 Struggling Families Act, as contained in Public Law 111– 

17 5 (26 U.S.C. 3304 note; 123 Stat. 438), is amended— 

18 (1) in paragraph (1)(B), by striking ‘‘January 

19 1, 2010’’ and inserting ‘‘April 1, 2011’’; 

20 (2) in the heading for paragraph (2), by strik21 ing ‘‘JANUARY 1, 2010’’ and inserting ‘‘APRIL 1, 

22 2011’’; and 

23 (3) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘June 30, 

24 2010’’ and inserting ‘‘September 30, 2011’’. 

25 (c) FULL FUNDING OF EXTENDED BENEFITS.—Sec26 tion 2005 of the Assistance for Unemployed Workers and 


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1 Struggling Families Act, as contained in Public Law 111– 

2 5 (26 U.S.C. 3304 note; 123 Stat. 444), is amended— 

3 (1) by striking ‘‘January 1, 2010’’ each place 

4 it appears and inserting ‘‘April 1, 2011’’; 

5 (2) in subsection (c), by striking ‘‘June 1, 

6 2010’’ and inserting ‘‘September 1, 2011’’; and 

7 (3) in subsection (d), by striking ‘‘May 30, 

8 2010’’ and inserting ‘‘August 31, 2011’’. 

9 SEC. 3. FUNDING FOR TEMPORARY EXTENSION OF CER10 TAIN UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS. 

11 Section 4004(e)(1) of the Supplemental Appropria12 tions Act, 2008 (Public Law 110–252; 26 U.S.C. 3304 

13 note) is amended by striking ‘‘by reason of’’ and all that 

14 follows and inserting the following: ‘‘by reason of— 

15 ‘‘(A) the amendments made by section 

16 2001(a) of the Assistance for Unemployed 

17 Workers and Struggling Families Act; 

18 ‘‘(B) the amendments made by sections 2 

19 through 4 of the Worker, Homeownership, and 

20 Business Assistance Act of 2009; and 

21 ‘‘(C) the amendments made by section 2(a) 

22 of the Helping Unemployed Workers Act; and’’. 


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1 SEC. 4. TEMPORARY FINANCING OF CERTAIN SHORT-TIME 

2 COMPENSATION PROGRAMS. 

3 (a) PAYMENTS TO STATES WITH CERTIFIED PRO4 GRAMS.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 30 days after 

6 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 

7 shall establish a program under which the Secretary 

8 shall make payments to any State unemployment 

9 trust fund to be used for the payment of unemploy10 ment compensation if the Secretary approves an ap11 plication for certification submitted under paragraph 

12 (4) for such State to receive reimbursement for a 

13 short-time compensation program (as referred to in 

14 section 3304(a)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code of 

15 1986 and section 303(a)(5) of the Social Security 

16 Act). 

17 (2) REQUIREMENTS FOR CERTIFICATION.—A 

18 program may not be certified, for purposes of this 

19 section, unless such program requires— 

20 (A) a participating employer to submit and 

21 comply with the terms of a written plan ap22 proved by the State agency; 

23 (B) a participating employer to certify that 

24 continuation of health and retirement benefits 

25 under a defined benefit pension plan (as defined 

26 by section 3(35) of the Employee Retirement 


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1 Income Security Act of 1974) is not affected by 

2 participation in the program; and 

3 (C) in the case of employees represented 

4 by a union, that the appropriate official of the 

5 union has agreed to the terms of the employer’s 

6 written plan and implementation is consistent 

7 with employer obligations under the National 

8 Labor Relations Act. 

9 (3) FULL REIMBURSEMENT.—Subject to sub10 section (d), the payment to a State under paragraph 

11 (1) shall be an amount equal to 100 percent of the 

12 total amount of benefits paid to individuals by the 

13 State pursuant to the short-time compensation pro14 gram for weeks of unemployment— 

15 (A) beginning on or after the date as of 

16 which a certification is issued by the Secretary 

17 with respect to such program; and 

18 (B) ending on or before December 31, 

19 2011. 

20 (4) CERTIFICATION PROCEDURES.— 

21 (A) IN GENERAL.—Any State seeking re22 imbursement under this subsection shall submit 

23 an application for certification at such time, in 

24 such manner, and complete with such informa25 tion as the Secretary may require (whether by 


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1 regulation or otherwise), including information 

2 relating to compliance with the requirements of 

3 paragraph (2). The Secretary shall, within 30 

4 days after receiving a complete application, no5 tify the State agency of the State of the Sec6 retary’s findings with respect to the require7 ments of paragraph (2). 

8 (B) FINDINGS.—If the Secretary finds 

9 that the short-time compensation program oper10 ated by the State meets the requirements of 

11 paragraph (2), the Secretary shall certify such 

12 State’s short-time compensation program, 

13 thereby making such State eligible for reim14 bursement under this subsection.

15 (b) TERMS OF PAYMENTS.—Payments made to a 

16 State under subsection (a)(1) shall be payable by way of 

17 reimbursement in such amounts as the Secretary esti18 mates the State will be entitled to receive under this sec19 tion for each calendar month, reduced or increased, as the 

20 case may be, by any amount by which the Secretary finds 

21 that the Secretary’s estimates for any prior calendar 

22 month were greater or less than the amounts which should 

23 have been paid to the State. Such estimates may be made 

24 on the basis of such statistical, sampling, or other method 


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1 as may be agreed upon by the Secretary and the State 

2 agency of the State involved. 

3 (c) LIMITATIONS.— 

4 (1) GENERAL PAYMENT LIMITATIONS.—No 

5 payments shall be made to a State under this sec6 tion for benefits paid in excess of 26 weeks to an in7 dividual by the State pursuant to a short-time com8 pensation program. 

9 (2) EMPLOYER LIMITATIONS.—No payments 

10 shall be made to a State under this section for bene11 fits paid to an individual by the State pursuant to 

12 a short-time compensation program if such indi13 vidual is employed by an employer— 

14 (A) whose workforce during the 3 months 

15 preceding the date of the submission of the em16 ployer’s short-time compensation plan has been 

17 reduced by temporary layoffs of more than 20 

18 percent; 

19 (B) on a seasonal, temporary, or intermit20 tent basis; or 

21 (C) engaged in a labor dispute. 

22 (3) PROGRAM PAYMENT LIMITATION.—In mak23 ing any payments to a State under this section pur24 suant to a short-time compensation program, the 


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1 Secretary may limit the frequency of employer par2 ticipation in such program. 

3 (d) COMPLIANCE OVERSIGHT.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—A participating employer 

5 under this section is required to comply with the 

6 terms of the written plan approved by the State 

7 agency, including provisions related to retaining par8 ticipating employees. 

9 (2) OVERSIGHT AND MONITORING.—The Sec10 retary shall establish an oversight and monitoring 

11 process by which State agencies will ensure that par12 ticipating employers comply with the requirements of 

13 paragraph (1). 

14 (e) FUNDING.—There are appropriated, from time to 

15 time, out of any moneys in the Treasury not otherwise 

16 appropriated, to the Secretary, such sums as the Secretary 

17 certifies are necessary to carry out this section (including 

18 to reimburse any administrative expenses incurred by the 

19 States in operating such short-time compensation pro20 grams). 

21 (f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 

22 (1) the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary 

23 of Labor; 


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1 (2) the term ‘‘State’’ includes the District of 

2 Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and 

3 the Virgin Islands; and 

4 (3) the terms ‘‘State agency’’ and ‘‘week’’ have 

5 the respective meanings given them by section 205 

6 of the Federal-State Extended Unemployment Com7 pensation Act of 1970. 

Æ 


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