I 
112TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3234 
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow penalty-free with-
drawals from pension plans for unemployed individuals who have ex-
hausted their rights to unemployment compensation. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 14, 2011 
Mr. PLATTS (for himself and Mr. LYNCH) introduced the following bill; which 
was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means 
A BILL 
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow pen-
alty-free withdrawals from pension plans for unemployed 
individuals who have exhausted their rights to unemploy-
ment compensation. 
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 ‘‘Unemployed Worker 
Assistance Act of 2011’’. 
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SEC. 2. PENALTY-FREE WITHDRAWALS FOR THE UNEM-
PLOYED 
WHO 
HAVE 
EXHAUSTED 
THEIR 
RIGHTS 
TO 
UNEMPLOYMENT 
COMPENSA-
TION. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Paragraph (2) of section 72(t) of 
the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to subsection 
not to apply to certain distributions) is amended by adding 
at the end the following new subparagraph: 
‘‘(H) DISTRIBUTIONS TO UNEMPLOYED IN-
DIVIDUALS
WHO
HAVE
EXHAUSTED
THEIR 
RIGHTS TO UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION.— 
‘‘(i) IN
GENERAL.—Distributions to 
an individual after separation from em-
ployment if— 
‘‘(I) such individual exhausted all 
rights to unemployment compensation 
under any Federal or State unemploy-
ment compensation law with respect 
to such separation, and 
‘‘(II) such distribution is made 
while such rights are exhausted and 
before reemployment or self-employ-
ment. 
‘‘(ii) AMOUNT DISTRIBUTED MAY BE 
REPAID.— 
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‘‘(I) IN
GENERAL.—Any indi-
vidual who receives a qualified dis-
tribution may, at any time during the 
5-year period beginning on the day 
after the date on which such distribu-
tion was received, make one or more 
contributions in an aggregate amount 
not to exceed the amount of such dis-
tribution to an eligible retirement plan 
of which such individual is a bene-
ficiary and to which a rollover con-
tribution of such distribution could be 
made under section 402(c), 403(a)(4), 
403(b)(8), 408(d)(3), or 457(e)(16), 
as the case may be. 
‘‘(II) TREATMENT
OF
REPAY-
MENTS OF DISTRIBUTIONS FROM ELI-
GIBLE
RETIREMENT
PLANS
OTHER 
THAN
IRAS.—For purposes of this 
title, if a contribution is made pursu-
ant to subclause (I) with respect to a 
qualified distribution from an eligible 
retirement plan other than an indi-
vidual retirement plan, then the tax-
payer shall, to the extent of the 
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amount of the contribution, be treated 
as having received the qualified dis-
tribution in an eligible rollover dis-
tribution 
(as 
defined 
in 
section 
402(c)(4)) and as having transferred 
the amount to the eligible retirement 
plan in a direct trustee to trustee 
transfer within 60 days of the dis-
tribution. 
‘‘(III) TREATMENT
OF
REPAY-
MENTS
FOR
DISTRIBUTIONS
FROM 
IRAS.—For purposes of this title, if a 
contribution is made pursuant to sub-
clause (I) with respect to a qualified 
distribution from an individual retire-
ment plan (as defined by section 
7701(a)(37)), then, to the extent of 
the amount of the contribution, the 
qualified distribution shall be treated 
as a distribution described in section 
408(d)(3) and as having been trans-
ferred to the eligible retirement plan 
in a direct trustee to trustee transfer 
within 60 days of the distribution. 
‘‘(iii) SPECIAL RULES.— 
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‘‘(I) QUALIFIED
DISTRIBUTIONS 
TREATED
AS
MEETING
PLAN
DIS-
TRIBUTION
REQUIREMENTS.—For 
purposes of this title, a qualified dis-
tribution shall be treated as meeting 
the 
requirements 
of 
sections 
401(k)(2)(B)(i), 
403(b)(7)(A)(ii), 
403(b)(11), and 457(d)(1)(A). 
‘‘(II) EXEMPTION OF DISTRIBU-
TIONS
FROM
TRUSTEE
TO
TRUSTEE 
TRANSFER
AND
WITHHOLDING 
RULES.—For purposes of sections 
401(a)(31), 402(f), and 3405, quali-
fied distributions shall not be treated 
as eligible rollover distributions. 
‘‘(iv) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of 
this subparagraph— 
‘‘(I) 
QUALIFIED
DISTRIBU-
TION.—The term ‘qualified distribu-
tion’ means any distribution meeting 
the requirements of clause (i). 
‘‘(II) 
ELIGIBLE
RETIREMENT 
PLAN.—The term ‘eligible retirement 
plan’ has the meaning given such 
term by section 402(c)(8)(B). 
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‘‘(v) REEMPLOYMENT AND SELF-EM-
PLOYMENT.—Rules similar to the rules of 
clauses (ii) and (iii) of subparagraph (D) 
shall apply for purposes of this subpara-
graph.’’. 
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 
subsection (a) shall apply to distributions made after the 
date of the enactment of this Act. 
Æ 
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