The Flexibility To Promote Reemployment Act
In my earlier years, I never thought about running for Congress. I was a businessman who enjoyed giving back to my community by serving as volunteer firefighter, on Wadsworth’s Planning Commission and Board of Zoning Appeals, President of the Wadsworth City Council, and later as mayor. However, I grew more and more concerned about the direction our country was moving and I strongly believed that we must change course. In 2010, the good people of Northeast Ohio elected me to represent them in Washington, and I thank them for the opportunity to change business as usual.
Earlier this month, we were all discouraged by the worst jobs report we have seen in three years, which is the direct result of Washington over-regulation that continues to stifle economic growth. Though the unemployment rate ticked down, it was largely due to our shrinking labor force. It was hard evidence that we must turn to pro-growth solutions that will help get Northeast Ohioans get back to work.
That is why this past week, I introduced the Flexibility to Promote Reemployment Act with my friend John Carney from Delaware, the co-founder of our Bipartisan Working Group. This bipartisan bill would encourage job creation by providing states with more flexibility to help unemployed individuals collect paychecks instead of benefit checks.
Under the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012, the Department of Labor (DOL) was granted waiver authority within the unemployment insurance (UI) program. The waivers would allow unprecedented flexibility in the use of state UI funds, enabling states to operate demonstration projects designed to assist the unemployed in their efforts to re-enter the workforce. To date, Texas is the only state that has applied for a waiver and its application was swiftly denied. Many states have described the rigorous application process created by the DOL as onerous and time consuming.
At a time when too many continue to struggle with unemployment, we should be doing everything we can to help incite growth and investment in our local communities. It is time for DOL to go back to the drawing board and reassess its application requirements.
The Flexibility to Promote Reemployment Act would require the DOL to do just that, benefiting both employers and employees. It would implement a series of reforms to the current waiver in an attempt to make it more appealing to states, increasing states’ flexibility to help unemployed individuals find employment. Among the reforms in the Flexibility to Promote Reemployment Act, this billwould clarify application requirements and demonstration activities, allow for greater transparency in the demonstration termination process, and shift the responsibility of evaluation from the states to the DOL. Additionally, this legislation furthers extends the deadline for waiver applications from 2015 to 2017.
It is critical that we reduce the unnecessary Washington red tape that continues to stand in the way of job growth in Ohio’s 16th district and throughout the country. A good place to start is by working with states to make unemployment programs more effective for both job seekers and job creators. Encouraging job creation is not a partisan issue, Democrats and Republicans alike agree we must advance policies that will fuel the economic recovery we so desperately need. I fully expect that my colleagues on both sides of the aisle will support the Flexibility to Promote Reemployment Act, and I look forward to seeing this bipartisan, commonsense legislation swiftly move through the legislative process.