II 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1853

To provide extended unemployment benefits to displaced workers. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 12, 2003

Mr. KENNEDY (for himself, Mrs. CLINTON, Mr. DASCHLE, Mr. DURBIN, Mrs. 

MURRAY, Ms. CANTWELL, Mr. SARBANES, Mr. LEVIN, Mr. BINGAMAN, 

Mr. SCHUMER, Mr. BAUCUS, Mr. REED, Mr. ROCKEFELLER, and Mr. 

KERRY) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL

To provide extended unemployment benefits to displaced 

workers.

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; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘Unemployment Compensation Extension Act’’. 

6 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 

7 this Act is as follows:

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 

TITLE I—TEMPORARY EXTENDED UNEMPLOYMENT 

COMPENSATION 
2

•S 1853 IS 

Sec. 101. References. 

Sec. 102. Extension of the Temporary Extended Unemployment Compensation 

Act of 2002. 

Sec. 103. Entitlement to additional weeks of temporary extended unemployment 

compensation. 

Sec. 104. TEUC–X trigger fix. 

TITLE II—RAILROAD UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE 

Sec. 201. Temporary increase in extended unemployment benefits under the 

Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act.

1 TITLE I—TEMPORARY EX2 TENDED UNEMPLOYMENT 

3 COMPENSATION 

4 SEC. 101. REFERENCES. 

5 Except as otherwise expressly provided, whenever in 

6 this title an amendment is expressed in terms of an 

7 amendment to a section or other provision, the reference 

8 shall be considered to be made to a section or other provi9 sion of the Temporary Extended Unemployment Com10 pensation Act of 2002 (Public Law 107–147; 26 U.S.C. 

11 3304 note). 

12 SEC. 102. EXTENSION OF THE TEMPORARY EXTENDED UN13 EMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION ACT OF 2002. 

14 (a) SIX-MONTH EXTENSION OF PROGRAM.—Section 

15 208 is amended to read as follows: 

16 ‘‘SEC. 208. APPLICABILITY. 

17 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subsection (b), an 

18 agreement entered into under this title shall apply to 

19 weeks of unemployment—
3

•S 1853 IS 

1 ‘‘(1) beginning after the date on which such 

2 agreement is entered into; and 

3 ‘‘(2) ending before July 1, 2004. 

4 ‘‘(b) TRANSITION.—In the case of an individual who 

5 is receiving temporary extended unemployment compensa6 tion for the week which immediately precedes the first day 

7 of the week that includes July 1, 2004, temporary ex8 tended unemployment compensation shall continue to be 

9 payable to such individual for any week thereafter from 

10 the account from which such individual received com11 pensation for the week immediately preceding that termi12 nation date. No compensation shall be payable by reason 

13 of the preceding sentence for any week beginning after De14 cember 31, 2004.’’. 

15 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

16 this section shall take effect as if included in the enact17 ment of the Temporary Extended Unemployment Com18 pensation Act of 2002 (Public Law 107–147; 26 U.S.C. 

19 3304 note). 

20 SEC. 103. ENTITLEMENT TO ADDITIONAL WEEKS OF TEM21 PORARY EXTENDED UNEMPLOYMENT COM22 PENSATION. 

23 (a) WEEKS OF TEUC AMOUNTS.—Paragraph (1) of 

24 section 203(b) is amended to read as follows: 
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•S 1853 IS 

1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The amount established in 

2 an account under subsection (a) shall be equal to 26 

3 times the individual’s weekly benefit amount for the 

4 benefit year.’’. 

5 (b) WEEKS OF TEUC–X AMOUNTS.—Section 

6 203(c)(1) is amended by striking ‘‘an amount equal to the 

7 amount originally established in such account (as deter8 mined under subsection (b)(1))’’ and inserting ‘‘7 times 

9 the individual’s weekly benefit amount for the benefit 

10 year’’. 

11 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—The amendments made by 

13 this section—

14 (A) shall take effect as if included in the 

15 enactment of the Temporary Extended Unem16 ployment Compensation Act of 2002 (Public 

17 Law 107–147; 26 U.S.C. 3304 note); but 

18 (B) shall apply only with respect to weeks 

19 of unemployment beginning on or after the date 

20 of enactment of this Act, subject to paragraph 

21 (2). 

22 (2) SPECIAL RULES.—In the case of an indi23 vidual for whom a temporary extended unemploy24 ment compensation account was established before 

25 the date of enactment of this Act, the Temporary 
5

•S 1853 IS 

1 Extended Unemployment Compensation Act of 2002 

2 (as amended by this title) shall be applied subject to 

3 the following: 

4 (A) Any amounts deposited in the individ5 ual’s temporary extended unemployment com6 pensation account by reason of section 203(c) 

7 of such Act (commonly known as ‘‘TEUC–X 

8 amounts’’) before the date of enactment of this 

9 Act shall be treated as amounts deposited by 

10 reason of section 203(b) of such Act (commonly 

11 known as ‘‘TEUC amounts’’), as amended by 

12 subsection (a). 

13 (B) For purposes of determining whether 

14 the individual is eligible for any TEUC–X 

15 amounts under such Act, as amended by this 

16 title—

17 (i) any determination made under sec18 tion 203(c) of such Act before the applica19 tion of the amendments made by this title 

20 shall be disregarded; and

21 (ii) any such determination shall in22 stead be made by applying section 203(c) 

23 of such Act, as amended by this title—

24 (I) as of the time that all 

25 amounts established in such account 
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•S 1853 IS 

1 in accordance with section 203(b) of 

2 such Act (as amended by this title, 

3 and including any amounts described 

4 in subparagraph (A)) are in fact ex5 hausted, except that 

6 (II) if such individual’s account 

7 was both augmented by and exhausted 

8 of all TEUC–X amounts before the 

9 date of enactment of this Act, such 

10 determination shall be made as if ex11 haustion (as described in section 

12 203(c)(1) of such Act) had not oc13 curred until such date of enactment. 

14 SEC. 104. TEUC–X TRIGGER FIX. 

15 Section 203(c)(2)(B) is amended to read as follows: 

16 ‘‘(B) such a period would then be in effect 

17 for such State under such Act if—

18 ‘‘(i) section 203(d) of such Act were 

19 applied as if it had been amended by strik20 ing ‘5’ each place it appears and inserting 

21 ‘4’; and 

22 ‘‘(ii) with respect to weeks of unem23 ployment beginning on or after the date of 

24 enactment of this clause—
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•S 1853 IS 

1 ‘‘(I) paragraph (1)(A) of such 

2 section 203(d) did not apply; and 

3 ‘‘(II) clause (ii) of section 

4 203(f)(1)(A) of such Act did not 

5 apply.’’. 

6 TITLE II—RAILROAD 

7 UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE 

8 SEC. 201. TEMPORARY INCREASE IN EXTENDED UNEM9 PLOYMENT BENEFITS UNDER THE RAILROAD 

10 UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE ACT. 

11 Section 2(c)(2) of the Railroad Unemployment Insur12 ance Act (45 U.S.C. 352(c)(2)) is amended by adding at 

13 the end the following: 

14 ‘‘(D) TEMPORARY INCREASE IN EXTENDED

15 UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS.—

16 ‘‘(i) EMPLOYEES WITH 10 OR MORE

17 YEARS OF SERVICE.—Subject to clause 

18 (iii), in the case of an employee who has 

19 10 or more years of service (as so defined), 

20 with respect to extended unemployment 

21 benefits—

22 ‘‘(I) subparagraph (A) shall be 

23 applied by substituting ‘‘130 days of 

24 unemployment’’ for ‘‘65 days of un25 employment’’; and 
8

•S 1853 IS 

1 ‘‘(II) subparagraph (B) shall be 

2 applied by inserting ‘‘(or, in the case 

3 of unemployment benefits, 13 con4 secutive 14-day periods’’ after ‘‘7 con5 secutive 14-day periods’’. 

6 ‘‘(ii) EMPLOYEES WITH LESS THAN 10

7 YEARS OF SERVICE.—Subject to clause 

8 (iii), in the case of an employee who has 

9 less than 10 years of service (as so de10 fined), with respect to extended unemploy11 ment benefits, this paragraph shall apply 

12 to such an employee in the same manner 

13 as this paragraph would apply to an em14 ployee described in clause (i) if such clause 

15 had not been enacted. 

16 ‘‘(iii) APPLICATION.—The provisions 

17 of clauses (i) and (ii) shall apply to an em18 ployee who received normal benefits for 

19 days of unemployment under this Act dur20 ing the period beginning on July 1, 2002, 

21 and ending before July 1, 2004.’’.

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