I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1759 

To amend title III of the Social Security Act to extend reemployment services 

and eligibility assessments to all claimants for unemployment compensation, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 14, 2019 

Mrs. MURPHY (for herself, Mrs. WALORSKI, Ms. TORRES SMALL of New Mexico, and Mr. LAHOOD) introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on Ways and Means 

A BILL 

To amend title III of the Social Security Act to extend 

reemployment services and eligibility assessments to all 

claimants for unemployment compensation, 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 ‘‘Building on Reemploy5 ment Improvements to Deliver Good Employment for 

6 Workers Act’’ or the ‘‘BRIDGE for Workers Act’’. 

7 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

8 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 (Public 

2 Law 115–123) improved program accountability for 

3 effectively serving unemployed workers and made a 

4 significant new investment in reemployment services. 

5 (2) Research shows the longer workers are out6 of-work, the harder it can be to maintain their skills, 

7 professional network, and stable home life. 

8 (3) Reemployment services give workers who 

9 might otherwise struggle to find new jobs the tools 

10 that they need to get back to work—such as individ11 ualized career counseling and job search help as well 

12 as local labor market information—and they can 

13 serve as an entry point to the workforce development 

14 system. 

15 (4) Reemployment services have been dem16 onstrated to reduce the number of weeks that pro17 gram participants receive unemployment benefits by 

18 improving their employment outcomes, including 

19 earnings. 

20 (5) Unemployment benefits replace less than 

21 half of working income, on average, so workers who 

22 find new jobs quickly suffer less financial hardship. 

23 (6) Combining targeted reemployment services 

24 with unemployment benefits helps keep people atVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:56 Mar 28, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1759.IH H1759

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1 tached to the labor force who might otherwise be2 come discouraged and drop out. 

3 (7) The Congressional Budget Office estimates 

4 that, over time, investments in reemployment serv5 ices create savings for taxpayers and unemployment 

6 trust funds by reducing spending on unemployment 

7 benefits. 

8 (8) Many different types of workers can benefit 

9 from reemployment services. Reemployment services 

10 should be used to shorten the duration of unemploy11 ment for workers even if they are not projected to 

12 fully exhaust their unemployment benefits. 

13 SEC. 3. ELIGIBILITY FOR REEMPLOYMENT SERVICES. 

14 Section 306(a) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 

15 506(a)) is amended— 

16 (1) by striking ‘‘individuals referred to reem17 ployment services as described in section 303(j)’’ 

18 and inserting ‘‘claimants for unemployment com19 pensation, including claimants referred to reemploy20 ment services as described in section 303(j),’’; and 

21 (2) by striking ‘‘such individuals’’ and inserting 

22 ‘‘such claimants’’. 

Æ 


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