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. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Unemployment Supple-
mental Assistance Act’’. 
SEC. 2. INCREASE IN UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION 
BENEFITS. 
(a) FEDERAL-STATE
AGREEMENTS.—Any State 
which desires to do so may enter into and participate in 
an agreement under this section with the Secretary of 
Labor (hereinafter in this section referred to as the ‘‘Sec-
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retary’’). Any State which is a party to an agreement 
under this section may, upon providing 30 days’ written 
notice to the Secretary, terminate such agreement. 
(b) PROVISIONS OF AGREEMENT.— 
(1) ADDITIONAL COMPENSATION.—Any agree-
ment under this section shall provide that the State 
agency of the State will make payments of regular 
compensation to individuals in amounts and to the 
extent that they would be determined if the State 
law of the State were applied, with respect to any 
week for which the individual is (disregarding this 
section) otherwise entitled under the State law to re-
ceive regular compensation, as if such State law had 
been modified in a manner such that the amount of 
regular compensation (including dependents’ allow-
ances) payable for any week shall be equal to the 
amount determined under the State law (before the 
application of this paragraph) plus an additional 
$50. 
(2) ALLOWABLE METHODS OF PAYMENT.—Any 
additional compensation provided for in accordance 
with paragraph (1) shall be payable either— 
(A) as an amount which is paid at the 
same time and in the same manner as any reg-
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ular compensation otherwise payable for the 
week involved; or 
(B) at the option of the State, by pay-
ments which are made separately from, but on 
the same weekly basis as, any regular com-
pensation otherwise payable. 
(c) NONREDUCTION RULE.—An agreement under 
this section shall not apply (or shall cease to apply) with 
respect to a State upon a determination by the Secretary 
that the method governing the computation of regular 
compensation under the State law of that State has been 
modified in a manner such that— 
(1) the average weekly benefit amount of reg-
ular compensation which will be payable during the 
period of the agreement (determined disregarding 
any additional amounts attributable to the modifica-
tion described in subsection (b)(1)) will be less than 
(2) the average weekly benefit amount of reg-
ular compensation which would otherwise have been 
payable during such period under the State law, as 
in effect on December 31, 2008. 
(d) PAYMENTS TO STATES.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.— 
(A) FULL REIMBURSEMENT.—There shall 
be paid to each State which has entered into an 
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agreement under this section an amount equal 
to 100 percent of— 
(i) the total amount of additional 
compensation (as described in subsection 
(b)(1)) paid to individuals by the State 
pursuant to such agreement; and 
(ii) any additional administrative ex-
penses incurred by the State by reason of 
such agreement (as determined by the Sec-
retary). 
(B) TERMS OF PAYMENTS.—Sums payable 
to any State by reason of such State’s having 
an agreement under this section shall be pay-
able, either in advance or by way of reimburse-
ment (as determined by the Secretary), in such 
amounts as the Secretary estimates the State 
will be entitled to receive under this section for 
each calendar month, reduced or increased, as 
the case may be, by any amount by which the 
Secretary finds that his estimates for any prior 
calendar month were greater or less than the 
amounts which should have been paid to the 
State. Such estimates may be made on the 
basis of such statistical, sampling, or other 
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method as may be agreed upon by the Secretary 
and the State agency of the State involved. 
(2) 
CERTIFICATIONS.—The 
Secretary 
shall 
from time to time certify to the Secretary of the 
Treasury for payment to each State the sums pay-
able to such State under this section. 
(3) APPROPRIATION.—There are appropriated 
from the general fund of the Treasury, without fiscal 
year limitation, such sums as may be necessary for 
purposes of this subsection. 
(e) APPLICABILITY.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—An agreement entered into 
under this section shall apply to weeks of unemploy-
ment— 
(A) beginning after the date on which such 
agreement is entered into; and 
(B) ending before January 1, 2010. 
(2) TRANSITION RULE FOR INDIVIDUALS RE-
MAINING ENTITLED TO REGULAR COMPENSATION AS 
OF JANUARY 1, 2010.—In the case of any individual 
who, as of the date specified in paragraph (1)(B), 
has not yet exhausted all rights to regular com-
pensation under the State law of a State with re-
spect to a benefit year that began before such date, 
additional compensation (as described in subsection 
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(b)(1)) shall continue to be payable to such indi-
vidual for any week beginning on or after such date 
for which the individual is otherwise eligible for reg-
ular compensation. 
(3) TERMINATION.—Notwithstanding any other 
provision of this subsection, no additional compensa-
tion (as described in subsection (b)(1)) shall be pay-
able for any week beginning after June 30, 2010. 
(f) FRAUD AND OVERPAYMENTS.—The provisions of 
section 4005 of the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 
2008 (Public Law 110–252; 122 Stat. 2356) shall apply 
with respect to additional compensation (as described in 
subsection (b)(1)) to the same extent and in the same 
manner as in the case of emergency unemployment com-
pensation. 
(g) APPLICATION TO OTHER UNEMPLOYMENT BENE-
FITS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Each agreement under this 
section shall include provisions to provide that the 
purposes of the preceding provisions of this section 
shall be applied with respect to unemployment bene-
fits described in subsection (h)(3) to the same extent 
and in the same manner as if those benefits were 
regular compensation. 
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(2) ELIGIBILITY AND TERMINATION RULES.— 
Additional compensation (as described in subsection 
(b)(1))— 
(A) shall not be payable, pursuant to this 
subsection, with respect to any unemployment 
benefits described in subsection (h)(3) for any 
week beginning on or after the date specified in 
subsection (e)(1)(B), except in the case of an 
individual who was eligible to receive additional 
compensation (as so described) in connection 
with any regular compensation or any unem-
ployment benefits described in subsection (h)(3) 
for any period of unemployment ending before 
such date; and 
(B) shall in no event be payable for any 
week beginning after the date specified in sub-
section (e)(3). 
(h) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section— 
(1) the terms ‘‘compensation’’, ‘‘regulation com-
pensation’’, ‘‘benefit year’’, ‘‘State’’, ‘‘State agency’’, 
‘‘State law’’, and ‘‘week’’ have the respective mean-
ings given such terms under section 205 of the Fed-
eral-State Extended Unemployment Compensation 
Act of 1970 (26 U.S.C. 3304 note); 
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(2) the term ‘‘emergency unemployment com-
pensation’’ means emergency unemployment com-
pensation under title IV of the Supplemental Appro-
priations Act, 2008 (Public Law 110–252; 122 Stat. 
2353); and 
(3) any reference to unemployment benefits de-
scribed in this paragraph shall be considered to refer 
to— 
(A) extended compensation (as defined by 
section 205 of the Federal-State Extended Un-
employment Compensation Act of 1970); and 
(B) unemployment compensation (as de-
fined by section 85(b) of the Internal Revenue 
Code of 1986) provided under any program ad-
ministered by a State under an agreement with 
the Secretary. 
Æ 
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