WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today, the U.S. Senate voted to move forward with an unemployment insurance agreement crafted by Senator Susan Collins and a bipartisan group of her colleagues, including Senators Dean Heller (R-NV) and Jack Reed (D-RI.) Senator Collins worked to ensure that the bill is fully paid-for and includes important reforms to better align the long-term unemployed with training and employment opportunities.
“This is a fiscally responsible path forward to provide unemployment benefits to those who lost their jobs through no fault of their own and continue to search for work but are unable to find it,” said Senator Collins. “This bill includes important reforms that I authored that would require that Emergency Unemployment Compensation applicants be assessed by the appropriate state or federal agency to determine why he or she remains unemployed and identify steps the individual should take to improve employment prospects, such as enrollment in a job training program. The goal is to better align our workforce training programs with the needs of our nation’s employers in an effort to promote hiring and to reduce the number of unemployed Americans.”
The Senate is expected to take a final vote on this legislation next week before it is sent to the House of Representatives for consideration.
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