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Monday, June 27, 2011

Job/employment bills

I believe thesae are the right bills, if I have made a mistake let me know....











S.782 
Latest Title: Economic Development Revitalization Act of 2011 
Sponsor: Sen Boxer, Barbara [CA] (introduced 4/8/2011)      Cosponsors (5) 
Latest Major Action: 6/21/2011 Senate floor actions. Status: Cloture on the bill not invoked in Senate by Yea-Nay Vote. 49 - 51. Record Vote Number: 94. 
Senate Reports: 112-15

There is 1 other version of this bill.


S.904 
Latest Title: JOBS Act of 2011 

S.782 -- Economic Development Revitalization Act of 2011 (Introduced in Senate - IS)
Sponsor: Sen Hatch, Orrin G. [UT] (introduced 5/5/2011)      Cosponsors (None) 
Related Bills: H.R.1745 
Latest Major Action: 5/5/2011 Referred to Senate committee. Status: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.


SUMMARY AS OF: 
5/5/2011--Introduced.Jobs, Opportunity, Benefits, and Services Act of 2011 or JOBS Act of 2011 - Amends title III (Grants to States for Unemployment Compensation Administration) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to require state unemployment compensation laws to require, as a condition of eligibility for regular compensation for any week, that an unemployment compensation claimant be able to work, available to work, and actively seeking work.
Requires a claimant to meet minimum educational requirements, that is, to: (1) have earned a high school diploma, (2) have earned the General Educational Development (GED) credential or other state-recognized equivalent (including by meeting recognized alternative standards for individuals with disabilities), or (3) be enrolled and making satisfactory progress in classes leading to satisfaction of the latter requirement.
Authorizes waiver of such requirements for an individual by a state agency if they would be unduly burdensome.
Authorizes the Secretary of Labor to enter into agreements with states to allow them to conduct demonstration projects to test and evaluate measures designed to: (1) expedite the reemployment of individuals who establish initial eligibility for unemployment compensation under state law, or (2) improve the effectiveness of a state in carrying out its state law with respect to reemployment.
Amends SSA title XII (Repayment by States of Advances to State Unemployment Funds) to repeal the requirement that a state meet certain funding goals if no payment of interest shall be required with respect to any advances made to it out of the federal unemployment account during any calendar year. (Thus repeals the requirement for higher state taxes.)
Amends the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2008 (SAA of 2008) to repeal the requirement (nonreduction rule) that makes a federal-state agreement inapplicable for a state upon a determination by the Secretary that the method governing the computation of regular compensation under state law has been modified to make the average weekly UC benefit paid less than what would have been paid before June 2, 2010.
Amends the SSA title IX (Miscellaneous Provisions Relating to Employment Security) to require the Secretary to designate codes and identifiers for any category of information required for data matching in the federal-state unemployment insurance system.
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to require states (which, currently, are merely authorized) to reduce current unemployment benefits to recover prior unemployment benefit overpayments.
Amends the SSA to require the Secretary of the Treasury to makes special transfers, in FY2011-FY2012, from the extended unemployment compensation (EUC) account to each state's account in the Unemployment Trust Fund an amount determined by using a specified formula. Requires states to spend these funds: (1) to pay current federal unemployment benefits; or (2) for regular or extended unemployment benefits, for repaying federal unemployment loans, or for reemployment services, as specified by a state law passed after enactment of this Act.
Repeals requirements under the SAA of 2008 that federal payments to states cover 100% of EUC for a certain period of time.
Amends such Act to require the Secretary of the Treasury to transfer from the general fund of the Treasury to the EUC account any sums the Secretary of Labor estimates to be necessary to make payments to states because of certain amendments made by this Act.
Amends the Assistance for Unemployed Workers and Struggling Families Act to accelerate from January 4, 2012, to July 6, 2011, termination of the temporary requirement that federal payments to states cover 100% of EUC.
Amends the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 to accelerate similarly from December 31, 2011, to June 30, 2011, termination of the period during which a state may determine its "on" and "off" indicators according to specified temporary substitutions in its formula.


H.R.1745 -- JOBS Act of 2011 (Introduced in House - IH)

Latest Title: JOBS Act of 2011 
Sponsor: Rep Camp, Dave [MI-4] (introduced 5/5/2011)      Cosponsors (3) 
Related Bills: S.904 
Latest Major Action: 5/23/2011 Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 48. 
House Reports: 112-87 Part 1


SUMMARY AS OF: 
5/23/2011--Reported to House amended, Part I.    (There is 1 other summary)Jobs, Opportunity, Benefits, and Services Act of 2011 or JOBS Act of 2011 - Title I: Reforms of Unemployment Compensation to Promote Work and Job Creation - (Sec. 101) Amends title III (Grants to States for Unemployment Compensation Administration) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to require state unemployment compensation (UC) laws to require, as a condition of eligibility for regular compensation for any week, that an UC claimant be able to work, available to work, and actively seeking work.
(Sec. 102) Requires a claimant to meet minimum educational requirements, that is, to: (1) have earned a high school diploma, (2) have earned the General Educational Development (GED) credential or other state-recognized equivalent (including by meeting recognized alternative standards for individuals with disabilities), or (3) be enrolled and making satisfactory progress in classes leading to satisfaction of the latter requirement.
Authorizes waiver of such requirements for an individual by a state agency if they would be unduly burdensome.
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to revise the requirement that the Secretary of Labor approve any state law prohibiting denial of compensation to an individual for any week in which the individual is in training with the approval of the state agency (or because of the application, to any such week in training, of state law relating to availability for work, active search for work, or refusal to accept work). Refers instead to any week in which the individual is enrolled and making satisfactory progress in education or, as under current law, training which has been previously approved by the state agency.
(Sec. 103) Authorizes the Secretary to enter into agreements with states to allow them to conduct demonstration projects to test and evaluate measures designed to: (1) expedite the reemployment of individuals who establish initial eligibility for UC under state law, or (2) improve the effectiveness of a state in carrying out its state law with respect to reemployment.
(Sec. 104) Amends SSA title XII (Repayment by States of Advances to State Unemployment Funds) to repeal the requirement that a state meet certain funding goals if no payment of interest shall be required with respect to any advances made to it out of the federal unemployment account during any calendar year. (Thus repeals the requirement for higher state taxes.)
(Sec. 105) Amends the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2008 (SAA of 2008) to repeal the requirement (nonreduction rule) that makes a federal-state agreement inapplicable for a state upon a determination by the Secretary that the method governing the computation of regular compensation under state law has been modified to make the average weekly UC benefit paid less than what would have been paid before June 2, 2010.
(Sec. 106) Amends the SSA title IX (Miscellaneous Provisions Relating to Employment Security) to require the Secretary to designate standard data elements for any category of information required for data matching in the federal-state unemployment insurance system.
(Sec. 107) Amends the Internal Revenue Code and SSA title III to require states (which, currently, are merely authorized) to reduce current unemployment benefits to recover prior unemployment benefit overpayments.
Title III: Forward Funding of Remaining Federal Unemployment Compensation Funds - (Sec. 201) Amends the SSA to require the Secretary of the Treasury to makes special transfers, in FY2011-FY2012, from the extended unemployment compensation (EUC) account to each state's account in the Unemployment Trust Fund an amount determined by using a specified formula. Requires states to spend these funds: (1) to pay current federal EUC and emergency unemployment benefits; or (2) for regular unemployment benefits, for repaying federal unemployment loans, or for reemployment services, as specified by a state law passed after enactment of this Act.
(Sec. 202) Repeals requirements under the SAA of 2008 that federal payments to states cover 100% of EUC for a certain period of time.
Amends such Act to require the Secretary of the Treasury to transfer from the general fund of the Treasury to the EUC account any sums the Secretary of Labor estimates to be necessary to make payments to states because of certain amendments made by this Act.
(Sec. 203) Amends the Assistance for Unemployed Workers and Struggling Families Act to accelerate from January 4, 2012, to July 6, 2011, termination of the temporary requirement that federal payments to states cover 100% of EUC.
Amends the Federal-State Extended Unemployment Compensation Act of 1970 (FSEUCA-1970) , as amended by the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 to accelerate similarly from December 31, 2011, to June 30, 2011, termination of the period during which a state may determine its "on" and "off" indicators according to specified temporary substitutions in its formula.
Declares that, in the case of any state law which, as of the date of enactment of this Act, has been amended in conformance with certain amendments to FSEUCA-1970 made by the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 and the Assistance for Unemployed Workers and Struggling Families Act, the acceleration for the termination of the period during which a state may determine its "on" and "off" indicators according to specified temporary substitutions in its formula shall be disregarded for purposes of any state law provision which provides for a state "off" indicator or which otherwise provides for the termination of an extended benefit period because of the cessation of full federal funding of sharable EUC or sharable regular compensation.
(Sec. 204) Designates the budgetary effects of this Act as an emergency requirement and necessary to meet emergency needs pursuant to the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGO) Act of 2010.


S.951 
Latest Title: Hiring Heroes Act of 2011 
Sponsor: Sen Murray, Patty [WA] (introduced 5/11/2011)      Cosponsors (25) 
Related Bills: H.R.1941 
Latest Major Action: 6/8/2011 Senate committee/subcommittee actions. Status: Committee on Veterans' Affairs. Hearings held.



SUMMARY AS OF: 
5/11/2011--Introduced.Hiring Heroes Act of 2011- Amends the Wounded Warriors Act to extend until January 1, 2015, the authority of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) to provide the same rehabilitation and vocational benefits to members of the Armed Forces with severe injuries or illnesses as are provided to veterans.
Expands the authority of the VA Secretary to make payments to employers to provide on-job training to veterans to include veterans who have not been rehabilitated to the point of employability.
Entitles certain veterans with service-connected disabilities who have exhausted their rights to unemployment benefits to participation in an additional VA rehabilitation program. Limits the duration of such a program to 24 months. Makes the 12-year period of eligibility for a VA rehabilitation program inapplicable under such an additional program.
Instructs the VA Secretary to follow-up on the employment status of veterans who participate in a VA rehabilitation program.
Requires (current law encourages) participation by eligible members in the Transitional Assistance Program (TAP) of the Department of Defense (DOD). Requires (under current law, authorizes) the provision of preseparation counseling to members whose discharge or release is anticipated.
Instructs the Secretary of Labor to follow-up on the employment status of members who complete their participation in the TAP.
Directs the VA Secretary to award grants to up to three nonprofit organizations under a collaborative veterans' training, mentoring, and placement program for eligible veterans seeking employment.
Requires participants in the TAP to receive individualized assessments of civilian positions for which they may be qualified based on a joint DOD, VA, and Department of Labor study of the equivalencies between military skills and civilian employment requirements.
Authorizes the appointment of an honorably discharged member of the uniformed services to a position in the civil service, without regard to specified civil service examination, certification, and appointment provisions, if otherwise qualified.
Requires executive agencies to establish programs to provide employment assistance to members who are being separated from active duty.
Directs the Secretary of Labor to carry out an outreach program to provide employment assistance to certain veterans who have been receiving assistance under the Unemployment Compensation for Ex-servicemembers program.
Authorizes a pilot program to assess the feasibility of providing work experience to certain members of the Armed Forces who are on terminal leave.
Requires (under current law, authorizes) a VA demonstration project on the credentialing and licensing of veterans.



H.R.1941
Latest Title: Hiring Heroes Act of 2011
Sponsor: Rep Bishop, Sanford D., Jr. [GA-2] (introduced 5/23/2011)      Cosponsors (53)
Related Bills: S.951
Latest Major Action: 5/23/2011 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, and in addition to the Committees on Armed Services, and Oversight and Government Reform, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.


SUMMARY AS OF:
5/23/2011--Introduced.
Hiring Heroes Act of 2011- Amends the Wounded Warriors Act to extend until January 1, 2015, the authority of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) to provide the same rehabilitation and vocational benefits to members of the Armed Forces with severe injuries or illnesses as are provided to veterans.
Expands the authority of the VA Secretary to make payments to employers to provide on-job training to veterans to include veterans who have not been rehabilitated to the point of employability.
Entitles certain veterans with service-connected disabilities who have exhausted their rights to unemployment benefits to participation in an additional VA rehabilitation program. Limits the duration of such a program to 24 months. Makes the 12-year period of eligibility for a VA rehabilitation program inapplicable under such an additional program.
Instructs the VA Secretary to follow-up on the employment status of veterans who participate in a VA rehabilitation program.
Requires (current law encourages) participation by eligible members in the Transitional Assistance Program (TAP) of the Department of Defense (DOD). Requires (under current law, authorizes) the provision of preseparation counseling to members whose discharge or release is anticipated.
Instructs the Secretary of Labor to follow-up on the employment status of members who complete their participation in the TAP.
Directs the VA Secretary to award grants to up to three nonprofit organizations under a collaborative veterans' training, mentoring, and placement program for eligible veterans seeking employment.
Requires participants in the TAP to receive individualized assessments of civilian positions for which they may be qualified based on a joint DOD, VA, and Department of Labor study of the equivalencies between military skills and civilian employment requirements.
Authorizes the appointment of an honorably discharged member of the uniformed services to a position in the civil service, without regard to specified civil service examination, certification, and appointment provisions, if otherwise qualified.
Requires executive agencies to establish programs to provide employment assistance to members who are being separated from active duty.
Directs the Secretary of Labor to carry out an outreach program to provide employment assistance to certain veterans who have been receiving assistance under the Unemployment Compensation for Ex-servicemembers program.
Authorizes a pilot program to assess the feasibility of providing work experience to certain members of the Armed Forces who are on terminal leave.
Requires (under current law, authorizes) a VA demonstration project on the credentialing and licensing of veterans.

H.R.1113 
Latest Title: Fair Employment Act of 2011 
Sponsor: Rep Johnson, Henry C. "Hank," Jr. [GA-4] (introduced 3/16/2011)      Cosponsors (48) 
Latest Major Action: 4/4/2011 Referred to House subcommittee. Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions.


SUMMARY AS OF: 
3/16/2011--Introduced.Fair Employment Act of 2011 - Amends title VII (Equal Employment Opportunities) of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to add unemployment status to the categories of prohibited discrimination.
Defines "unemployment status" as being unemployed, having actively looked for employment during the then most recent four-week period, and currently being available for employment.


H.R.1663 
Latest Title: To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to temporarily provide the work opportunity tax credit for small businesses hiring unemployed individuals. 
Sponsor: Rep West, Allen B. [FL-22] (introduced 4/15/2011)      Cosponsors (13) 
Latest Major Action: 4/15/2011 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.


SUMMARY AS OF: 
4/15/2011--Introduced.Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow certain small businesses with gross receipts in the preceding taxable year not exceeding $20 million a work opportunity tax credit for hiring individuals who have been receiving state unemployment compensation for not less than 4 weeks in the 1-year period ending on the hiring date. Increases the amount of wages eligible for such credit from $6,000 to $12,000 for the hiring of individuals in a high unemployment zone (a county that has an unemployment rate exceeding the greater of 4% or the national unemployment rate). Terminates such credit after December 31, 2013.


H.R.2120 
Latest Title: To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to include individuals who have exhausted all rights to emergency unemployment compensation under title IV of the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2008 as a targeted group for purposes of the work opportunity tax credit. 
Sponsor: Rep Jackson Lee, Sheila [TX-18] (introduced 6/3/2011)      Cosponsors (None) 
Latest Major Action: 6/3/2011 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.


SUMMARY AS OF: 
6/3/2011--Introduced.Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow employers a work opportunity tax credit for hiring a 99er (defined by this Act as an individual who has exhausted all rights to emergency unemployment compensation under the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2008 during the period beginning on December 1, 2007, and ending on the individual's hiring date). Reduces the amount of such credit (40% to 25%) for employees who remain employed for 120 hours, but less than 400 hours, and in the second year of employment.




H.R.2262 
Latest Title: Unemployment Assistance Act of 2011 
Sponsor: Rep Paul, Ron [TX-14] (introduced 6/21/2011)      Cosponsors (None) 
Latest Major Action: 6/21/2011 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.



H.R.992 
Latest Title: Building American Jobs Act of 2011 
Sponsor: Rep Levin, Sander M. [MI-12] (introduced 3/10/2011)      Cosponsors (18) 
Related Bills: H.R.11H.R.736H.R.747 
Latest Major Action: 3/10/2011 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.


SUMMARY AS OF: 
3/10/2011--Introduced.Building American Jobs Act of 2011 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code, with respect to the Build America Bond program, to: (1) extend until December 31, 2012, the authority to issue such bonds and the authority for payments to issuers of such bonds; (2) reduce the percentage rate of payments to issuers in 2011 and 2012; (3) allow refundings of currently issued bonds; and (4) allow the use of Build America bonds to fund capital expenditures for levees and flood control projects.
Extends through 2011 the authority to issue recovery zone economic development bonds. Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to allocate 2011 national limitations on such bonds based upon state unemployment statistics.
Exempts private activity bonds for sewage and water supply facilities from the state volume caps applicable to such bonds. Allows Indian tribal governments to issue tax-exempt private activity bonds to provide water or sewage facilities. 
Extends through 2011: (1) the exemption from alternative minimum tax (AMT) treatment of interest on certain tax-exempt bonds, (2) the tax exemption allowed for interest on bonds guaranteed by a federal home loan bank, and (3) small issuer rules for the allocation of tax-exempt interest expense by financial institutions.
Allows a full offset against the AMT for new market tax credit amounts.
Allows taxpayers to elect payments in lieu of low-income housing tax credits in 2011 for low-income buildings financed by tax-exempt bonds.

Governors Summit on Job Creation and Economic Growth

Jun 20, 2011

U.S. Chamber of Commerce
State governors and business leaders spoke about different approaches for encouraging job creation and economic growth. They also focused on the general state of the U.S. economy and steps taken by the states to deal with budget deficits and high unemployment. Following their remarks thy engaged in a roundtable discussion.

Afghanistan and Pakistan

Jun 23, 2011

Senate Committee Foreign Relations
Secretary of State Clinton testified on U.S. goals and progress in Afghanistan and Pakistan. She said the U.S. is in the preliminary stages of diplomatic outreach to the Taliban in an effort to find a political solution to the war in Afghanistan, saying reconciliation is "not a pleasant business, but a necessary one." She spoke in full support of President Obama's plan to bring home 33,000 troops by September 2012 and admitted to a 
vigorous debate inside the White House over the timing of that withdrawal.

Bachmann Announces Presidential Bid



Kicks off campaign in Waterloo, Iowa


Photo Gallery
Washington, DC
Monday, June 27, 2011



Michele Bachmann makes it official today: she is seeking the Republican nomination for President.  The third-term Minnesota member of Congress made her announcement in Waterloo, Iowa.
Noting that is where she was born and raised, Bachmann told the crowd, “Everything I needed to know I learned in Iowa.”
Bachmann said she is a fiscal policy conservative, foreign policy conservative, social conservative, and member of the Tea Party.
Bachmann rose to prominence with the rise of the Tea Party. Unlike some members of the Republican party unsure of how to handle the conservative movement, she embraced it and promised to uphold their values as a member of Congress.
She told the crowd of supporters:  “We cannot continue to kick the can of our problems down the road, because they are problems of today and not tomorrow…. We can't afford four more years of Barack Obama.”
Bachmann heads to New Hampshire next and will then travel to numerous towns in South Carolina – both key early primary states.
Bachmann joins a Republican field that includes former Governors Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty, Jon Huntsman, Buddy Roemer, and Gary Johnson, along with former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, Rep. Ron Paul, former Sen. Rick Santorum, and former Godfather's Pizza CEO Herman Cain.


Michele Bachmann Presidential Campaign Announcement

Jun 27, 2011

Bachmann Presidential Campaign
Representative Michele Bachmann (MN) announced her bid for the Republican presidential nomination in her birthplace of Waterloo, Iowa, in front of the town's Snowden House.