Building on Reemployment Improvements to Deliver Good Employment for Workers Act

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 5861, the BRIDGE for Workers Act. I am glad to see that the House is moving forward to ensure that State reemployment service programs serve the workers who can benefit from most of them, as we intended in our original bipartisan legislation.

The Ways and Means Committee reported out this bill nearly a year ago, and I hope we can work together to finally enact it this year. As you know, this important technical clarification first passed our committee, and then the full House on an overwhelming, bipartisan vote in 2019, and Senate Republicans prevented it from becoming law.

Our economic recovery has been historically strong, both in comparison to past recessions and compared to our peer countries. The right policies in the Biden-Harris American Rescue Plan Act resulted in strong GDP growth. Americans are back at work and earning higher wages than they were before. Inflation, which was always lower than in our peer countries, appears to be leveling off.

American workers are the heart of our strong economy, and the best way to preserve and grow it is to ensure that they can get and keep good jobs while also caring for their families. Research shows one way we can help people go back to work faster is to ensure that they get simple services like job market information or resume help.

This bipartisan legislation, which I was proud to work with the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. LaHood) to introduce and move ahead, is key to ensuring that the right workers get these job-finding supports. Even a week or two of getting a paycheck instead of an unemployment benefit makes a difference for a household budget.

I hope this bill is just the first effort to provide commonsense help so that Americans can work and support their families. A good next step would be to enact universal paid family and medical leave and guaranteed childcare. It is an embarrassment that some continue to block enactment of these essential supports that all other developed countries provide.

Mr. Speaker, I look forward to working with my colleagues to support workers and enact this bipartisan bill before the end of the year. I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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