II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1759 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 10, 2019 

Received 

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 purposes. 

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


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Building on Reemploy3 ment Improvements to Deliver Good Employment for 

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

5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

6 Congress finds the following: 

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

8 Law 115–123) improved program accountability for 

9 effectively serving unemployed workers and made a 

10 significant new investment in reemployment services. 

11 (2) Research shows the longer workers are out 

12 of work, the harder it can be to maintain their skills, 

13 professional network, and stable home life. 

14 (3) Reemployment services give workers who 

15 might otherwise struggle to find new jobs the tools 

16 that they need to get back to work—such as individ17 ualized career counseling and job search help as well 

18 as local labor market information—and they can 

19 serve as an entry point to the workforce development 

20 system. 

21 (4) Reemployment services have been dem22 onstrated to reduce the number of weeks that pro23 gram participants receive unemployment benefits by 

24 improving their employment outcomes, including 

25 earnings. 


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1 (5) Unemployment benefits replace less than 

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

3 find new jobs quickly suffer less financial hardship. 

4 (6) Combining targeted reemployment services 

5 with unemployment benefits helps keep people at6 tached to the labor force who might otherwise be7 come discouraged and drop out. 

8 (7) The Congressional Budget Office estimates 

9 that, over time, investments in reemployment serv10 ices create savings for taxpayers and unemployment 

11 trust funds by reducing spending on unemployment 

12 benefits. 

13 (8) Many different types of workers can benefit 

14 from reemployment services. Reemployment services 

15 should be used to shorten the duration of unemploy16 ment for workers even if they are not projected to 

17 fully exhaust their unemployment benefits. 

18 SEC. 3. ELIGIBILITY FOR REEMPLOYMENT SERVICES. 

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

20 506(a)) is amended— 

21 (1) by striking ‘‘individuals referred to reem22 ployment services as described in section 303(j)’’ 

23 and inserting ‘‘claimants for unemployment com24 pensation, including claimants referred to reemploy25 ment services as described in section 303(j),’’; and 


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

2 ‘‘such claimants’’. 

Passed the House of Representatives April 9, 2019. 

Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, 

Clerk. 


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