[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 291 Introduced in House (IH)]







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 Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Unemployment Supplemental 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 
``Secretary''). 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 agreement 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 receive regular compensation, 
        as if such State law had been modified in a manner such that 
        the amount of regular compensation (including dependents' 
        allowances) 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 regular compensation 
                otherwise payable for the week involved; or
                    (B) at the option of the State, by payments which 
                are made separately from, but on the same weekly basis 
                as, any regular compensation 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 regular 
        compensation which will be payable during the period of the 
        agreement (determined disregarding any additional amounts 
        attributable to the modification described in subsection 
        (b)(1)) will be less than
            (2) the average weekly benefit amount of regular 
        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 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 expenses 
                        incurred by the State by reason of such 
                        agreement (as determined by the Secretary).
                    (B) Terms of payments.--Sums payable to any State 
                by reason of such State's having an agreement under 
                this section shall be payable, either in advance or by 
                way of reimbursement (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 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 payable 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 unemployment--
                    (A) beginning after the date on which such 
                agreement is entered into; and
                    (B) ending before January 1, 2010.
            (2) Transition rule for individuals remaining 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 compensation under 
        the State law of a State with respect to a benefit year that 
        began before such date, additional compensation (as described 
        in subsection (b)(1)) shall continue to be payable to such 
        individual for any week beginning on or after such date for 
        which the individual is otherwise eligible for regular 
        compensation.
            (3) Termination.--Notwithstanding any other provision of 
        this subsection, no additional compensation (as described in 
        subsection (b)(1)) shall be payable 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 compensation.
    (g) Application to Other Unemployment Benefits.--
            (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 benefits described in subsection (h)(3) 
        to the same extent and in the same manner as if those benefits 
        were regular compensation.
            (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 
                unemployment 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 subsection 
                (e)(3).
    (h) Definitions.--For purposes of this section--
            (1) the terms ``compensation'', ``regulation 
        compensation'', ``benefit year'', ``State'', ``State agency'', 
        ``State law'', and ``week'' have the respective meanings given 
        such terms under section 205 of the Federal-State Extended 
        Unemployment Compensation Act of 1970 (26 U.S.C. 3304 note);
            (2) the term ``emergency unemployment compensation'' means 
        emergency unemployment compensation under title IV of the 
        Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2008 (Public Law 110-252; 122 
        Stat. 2353); and
            (3) any reference to unemployment benefits described in 
        this paragraph shall be considered to refer to--
                    (A) extended compensation (as defined by section 
                205 of the Federal-State Extended Unemployment 
                Compensation Act of 1970); and
                    (B) unemployment compensation (as defined by 
                section 85(b) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986) 
                provided under any program administered by a State 
                under an agreement with the Secretary.
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