Building on Reemployment Improvements to Deliver Good Employment for Workers Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. LaHOOD. Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Smith for his leadership on this bill.

I rise today in strong support of our bill, H.R. 5861, the BRIDGE for Workers Act. This bipartisan bill demonstrates our joint commitment in Congress to supporting American workers.

Unemployment insurance is meant to help people without a job get through a rough patch and find new opportunity to support themselves and their families.

Reemployment Services and Eligibility Assessment grants allow States to provide services to recipients of unemployment benefits who are identified as those who could return to work more quickly. These grants are used for job skills training, resume preparation, English as a second language classes, and career exploration to connect unemployed workers to in-demand jobs.

Reemployment services have been demonstrated to improve employment outcomes and reduce the number of weeks that participants receive unemployment benefits. In addition, the program strengthens program integrity by ensuring claimants are complying with eligibility rules.

The bill before us today would make a technical correction to clarify that reemployment services provided through these Federal grants can be provided to all unemployment insurance claimants, not just those most likely to exhaust their benefits, as has been interpreted by the Department of Labor.

I thank my bill's co-lead and fellow Illinoisan and friend, Danny Davis, the ranking member of the Work and Welfare Subcommittee, for his work on this bill, which passed out of the Committee on Ways and Means with unanimous bipartisan support.

This legislation provides the permanent flexibility States need to make reemployment services a successful tool for those who have lost their job through no fault of their own. This really is a bridge to help workers. I urge my colleagues to support it.

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