Thune offered an interesting Amendment to UI Extension bill

Yesterday morning Senator Thune introduced an Amendment to the Emergency Unemployment Compensation Extension Act (S 1845). I found this to be an interesting Amendment because as I listen to CSPAN today I keep hearing “The Republicans haven’t provided any solutions”. The bill text is available in the Congressional record (starting on page S151).

Here is my understanding of the four things this bill is trying to accomplished based upon listening to Thune speak on the Senate floor yesterday and reading the amendment from the Congressional record:

1. TITLE I–EXEMPTION FROM AFFORDABLE CARE ACT MANDATE FOR LONG-TERM UNEMPLOYED
   This section of the amendment is pretty straightforward. It says the term “full-time employee” shall not include anyone hired falls in the category of long-term unemployed. Basically if a company hires someone who has been unemployed for an extended time they don’t have to include that employee in their official employee count for the ACA employer mandate. This is an interesting approach. I would prefer true delay of the overall employer mandate, but this does at least offer minor relief from the healthcare law. I have a feeling the Democrats will fight this provision because it exempts that employee as long as they work for that employer.
2. TITLE II–EMPLOYER PAYROLL TAX HOLIDAY FOR LONG-TERM UNEMPLOYED
   The second section provides a temporary payroll tax holiday for employers that hire someone who has been unemployed for 27 weeks or longer. Thune mentioned during his floor time that this would be a six month holiday. But reading the bill it appears as if this provision applies to all long-term unemployed employees hired for the two-year period following enactment, or when long-term unemployment falls under 2,000,000, whichever comes first. Either way this provision could save a company a lot of money when hiring a an employee that has been unemployed for a long period.
3. TITLE III–EMPLOYMENT RELOCATION LOANS
   This is an interesting provision. It allows a $10,000 loan to long-term unemployed individuals so they can move to another state or metropolitan area. The individual must have a letter of acceptance to hire in the target State/metro; or they can move to a State/metro that is not the individuals initial residence and has an employment rate that is at least 2% lower than where the individual currently lives. The ‘initial residence’ means where the individual lives before the loan is issued, this makes sure people are not moving and then asking for the loan. The loan would have to be paid back over a 10 year period.
4. TITLE IV–SUPPORTING KNOWLEDGE AND INVESTING IN LIFELONG SKILLS
   Section 4 is basically the Skills Act (HR 803) that was passed in the House early last year. This part of the amendment would consolidate and modernize many separate government programs aimed at training the workforce. Doing so should save a lot of taxpayer dollars and allow the programs to function more efficiently.

Overall this is an interesting bill. On the floor Thune said the ACA mandate relief and payroll tax holiday would give business owners another $5,000 to hire new employees. I like what these first two sections are trying to do. But honestly I think there would be a more significant impact if the employer mandate was delayed for all employers and a payroll tax holiday was enacted for all employees. Businesses could then use that money to expand and hire more employees. Plus, it would be a nightmare for payroll administrators to track these one-off employees. The unintended burden from the first two sections almost outweigh the intended good Thune is trying to provide.

I don’t really have much to say about the third section. I don’t feel it is the place of the federal government to act as a lender and don’t feel it has a place in this bill.

As to the Skills Act. The better answer would be to get Senator Reid to take up and pass the Skills Act that already made it through the House. This would be a great chance for Reid to show he cares about reducing the federal bureaucracy. Unfortunately Reid is unlikely to do so…

This amendment provided by Thune is unlikely to ever see a vote. Senator Reid has “filled the amendment tree” on the UI extension bill, basically preventing anyone from adding amendments to the bill. In the last year Reid has filled the amendment tree on almost every major piece of legislation, meaning Republicans get no say on legislation. Ironically while doing this Reid is calling the Republican’s “obstructionists”. I think it is time for Reid to look up the word obstructionist and let amendments such as this one be debated and voted upon. Even though I think this interesting amendment is bad, I do think Thune should be able to at least give it a chance.

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