I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 291 

To provide for certain temporary additional unemployment benefits. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 8, 2009 

Mr. MCDERMOTT introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Ways and Means 

A BILL 

To provide for certain temporary additional unemployment 

benefits. 

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 ‘‘Unemployment Supple5 mental Assistance Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. INCREASE IN UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION 

7 BENEFITS. 

8 (a) FEDERAL-STATE AGREEMENTS.—Any State 

9 which desires to do so may enter into and participate in 

10 an agreement under this section with the Secretary of 

11 Labor (hereinafter in this section referred to as the ‘‘SecVerDate Nov 24 2008 03:17 Jan 10, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H291.IH H291

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1 retary’’). Any State which is a party to an agreement 

2 under this section may, upon providing 30 days’ written 

3 notice to the Secretary, terminate such agreement. 

4 (b) PROVISIONS OF AGREEMENT.— 

5 (1) ADDITIONAL COMPENSATION.—Any agree6 ment under this section shall provide that the State 

7 agency of the State will make payments of regular 

8 compensation to individuals in amounts and to the 

9 extent that they would be determined if the State 

10 law of the State were applied, with respect to any 

11 week for which the individual is (disregarding this 

12 section) otherwise entitled under the State law to re13 ceive regular compensation, as if such State law had 

14 been modified in a manner such that the amount of 

15 regular compensation (including dependents’ allow16 ances) payable for any week shall be equal to the 

17 amount determined under the State law (before the 

18 application of this paragraph) plus an additional 

19 $50. 

20 (2) ALLOWABLE METHODS OF PAYMENT.—Any 

21 additional compensation provided for in accordance 

22 with paragraph (1) shall be payable either— 

23 (A) as an amount which is paid at the 

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1 ular compensation otherwise payable for the 

2 week involved; or 

3 (B) at the option of the State, by pay4 ments which are made separately from, but on 

5 the same weekly basis as, any regular com6 pensation otherwise payable. 

7 (c) NONREDUCTION RULE.—An agreement under 

8 this section shall not apply (or shall cease to apply) with 

9 respect to a State upon a determination by the Secretary 

10 that the method governing the computation of regular 

11 compensation under the State law of that State has been 

12 modified in a manner such that— 

13 (1) the average weekly benefit amount of reg14 ular compensation which will be payable during the 

15 period of the agreement (determined disregarding 

16 any additional amounts attributable to the modifica17 tion described in subsection (b)(1)) will be less than 

18 (2) the average weekly benefit amount of reg19 ular compensation which would otherwise have been 

20 payable during such period under the State law, as 

21 in effect on December 31, 2008. 

22 (d) PAYMENTS TO STATES.— 

23 (1) IN GENERAL.— 

24 (A) FULL REIMBURSEMENT.—There shall 

25 be paid to each State which has entered into an 


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1 agreement under this section an amount equal 

2 to 100 percent of— 

3 (i) the total amount of additional 

4 compensation (as described in subsection 

5 (b)(1)) paid to individuals by the State 

6 pursuant to such agreement; and 

7 (ii) any additional administrative ex8 penses incurred by the State by reason of 

9 such agreement (as determined by the Sec10 retary). 

11 (B) TERMS OF PAYMENTS.—Sums payable 

12 to any State by reason of such State’s having 

13 an agreement under this section shall be pay14 able, either in advance or by way of reimburse15 ment (as determined by the Secretary), in such 

16 amounts as the Secretary estimates the State 

17 will be entitled to receive under this section for 

18 each calendar month, reduced or increased, as 

19 the case may be, by any amount by which the 

20 Secretary finds that his estimates for any prior 

21 calendar month were greater or less than the 

22 amounts which should have been paid to the 

23 State. Such estimates may be made on the 

24 basis of such statistical, sampling, or other 


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1 method as may be agreed upon by the Secretary 

2 and the State agency of the State involved. 

3 (2) CERTIFICATIONS.—The Secretary shall 

4 from time to time certify to the Secretary of the 

5 Treasury for payment to each State the sums pay6 able to such State under this section. 

7 (3) APPROPRIATION.—There are appropriated 

8 from the general fund of the Treasury, without fiscal 

9 year limitation, such sums as may be necessary for 

10 purposes of this subsection. 

11 (e) APPLICABILITY.— 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—An agreement entered into 

13 under this section shall apply to weeks of unemploy14 ment— 

15 (A) beginning after the date on which such 

16 agreement is entered into; and 

17 (B) ending before January 1, 2010. 

18 (2) TRANSITION RULE FOR INDIVIDUALS RE19 MAINING ENTITLED TO REGULAR COMPENSATION AS

20 OF JANUARY 1, 2010.—In the case of any individual 

21 who, as of the date specified in paragraph (1)(B), 

22 has not yet exhausted all rights to regular com23 pensation under the State law of a State with re24 spect to a benefit year that began before such date, 

25 additional compensation (as described in subsection 


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1 (b)(1)) shall continue to be payable to such indi2 vidual for any week beginning on or after such date 

3 for which the individual is otherwise eligible for reg4 ular compensation. 

5 (3) TERMINATION.—Notwithstanding any other 

6 provision of this subsection, no additional compensa7 tion (as described in subsection (b)(1)) shall be pay8 able for any week beginning after June 30, 2010. 

9 (f) FRAUD AND OVERPAYMENTS.—The provisions of 

10 section 4005 of the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 

11 2008 (Public Law 110–252; 122 Stat. 2356) shall apply 

12 with respect to additional compensation (as described in 

13 subsection (b)(1)) to the same extent and in the same 

14 manner as in the case of emergency unemployment com15 pensation. 

16 (g) APPLICATION TO OTHER UNEMPLOYMENT BENE17 FITS.— 

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—Each agreement under this 

19 section shall include provisions to provide that the 

20 purposes of the preceding provisions of this section 

21 shall be applied with respect to unemployment bene22 fits described in subsection (h)(3) to the same extent 

23 and in the same manner as if those benefits were 

24 regular compensation. 


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1 (2) ELIGIBILITY AND TERMINATION RULES.— 

2 Additional compensation (as described in subsection 

3 (b)(1))— 

4 (A) shall not be payable, pursuant to this 

5 subsection, with respect to any unemployment 

6 benefits described in subsection (h)(3) for any 

7 week beginning on or after the date specified in 

8 subsection (e)(1)(B), except in the case of an 

9 individual who was eligible to receive additional 

10 compensation (as so described) in connection 

11 with any regular compensation or any unem12 ployment benefits described in subsection (h)(3) 

13 for any period of unemployment ending before 

14 such date; and 

15 (B) shall in no event be payable for any 

16 week beginning after the date specified in sub17 section (e)(3). 

18 (h) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section— 

19 (1) the terms ‘‘compensation’’, ‘‘regulation com20 pensation’’, ‘‘benefit year’’, ‘‘State’’, ‘‘State agency’’, 

21 ‘‘State law’’, and ‘‘week’’ have the respective mean22 ings given such terms under section 205 of the Fed23 eral-State Extended Unemployment Compensation 

24 Act of 1970 (26 U.S.C. 3304 note); 


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1 (2) the term ‘‘emergency unemployment com2 pensation’’ means emergency unemployment com3 pensation under title IV of the Supplemental Appro4 priations Act, 2008 (Public Law 110–252; 122 Stat. 

5 2353); and 

6 (3) any reference to unemployment benefits de7 scribed in this paragraph shall be considered to refer 

8 to— 

9 (A) extended compensation (as defined by 

10 section 205 of the Federal-State Extended Un11 employment Compensation Act of 1970); and 

12 (B) unemployment compensation (as de13 fined by section 85(b) of the Internal Revenue 

14 Code of 1986) provided under any program ad15 ministered by a State under an agreement with 

16 the Secretary. 

Æ 


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