{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.crapo.senate.gov/media/newsreleases/crapo-wyden-introduce-bipartisan-bill-to-improve-unemployment-insurance", "Crapo, Wyden Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Improve Unemployment Insurance", "2024-07-10", "2024", "2024-07", "Republican", "Senate", "ID", "Mike Crapo", "C000880", "www.crapo.senate.gov", "crapo", "https://www.crapo.senate.gov/media/newsreleases", "scraper", "Washington, D.C.--U.S. Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Chair Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) and 10 Senate co-sponsors introduced bipartisan legislation that would make key improvements to the nation\u2019s unemployment insurance system. The legislation, titled the Unemployment Insurance Integrity and Accessibility Act, would focus on program administration and integrity to combat fraud and improve access to benefits for eligible workers.\n\n\u201cThe Covid-19 pandemic showed that unemployment insurance systems were too often unable to keep up with the needs of American workers and too vulnerable to fraud,\u201d said Crapo and Wyden. \u201cThis bipartisan bill will go a long way to making the UI system more accessible to workers who need it and protecting taxpayer dollars by recouping and preventing fraud.\u201d\n\nThe bill is co-sponsored by Senators John Barrasso (R-Wyoming), James Lankford (R-Oklahoma), Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina), Todd Young (R-Indiana), Michael Bennet (D-Colorado), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Ben Cardin (D-Maryland), Gary Peters (D-Michigan) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island).\n\nA section-by-section outline of the legislation is available here and bill text is available here. A summary is below:\n\nThe Unemployment Insurance Integrity and Accessibility Act\n\nThe COVID-19 pandemic revealed that the Unemployment Insurance (UI) program was both difficult for workers to access and vulnerable to fraud. The Unemployment Insurance Integrity and Accessibility Act would prevent future UI fraud and help ensure those who defrauded the system during the pandemic are brought to justice. It would also provide relief for claimants who were overpaid and cannot afford repayment or face other hardships, and take steps to make UI systems more accessible to eligible workers.\n\nUnemployment Insurance Fraud and Overpayment Recovery\n\nExtends the federal statute of limitations for pandemic unemployment insurance fraud to 10 years (from 5 years under current law).\n\nAllows states to waive overpayments of pandemic unemployment insurance that have not been recovered as of date of enactment in non-fraud cases where repayment would be contrary to equity and good conscience. States are required to waive these non-fraud overpayments if no overpayment is established by December 31, 2025.\n\nAllows states to retain 5 percent of recovered overpayments of unemployment compensation and 5 percent of employer unemployment taxes collected as part of a state investigation. States may retain up to 25 percent of overpayment recoveries of fraudulent pandemic unemployment overpayments. Allows states to invest retained funds in improving unemployment insurance administration.\n\nUnemployment Insurance Program Integrity\n\nRequires states to crossmatch unemployment compensation claims against the National Directory of New Hires (NDNH) to prevent claimants from collecting UI if they are working.\n\nRequires states to utilize systems such as the State Information Data Exchange (SIDES) to allow electronic transmission of accurate claim information between employers and states.\n\nRequires states to use crossmatching systems such as the Integrity Data Hub (IDH) to identify potentially fraudulent unemployment claims.\n\nRequires states to crossmatch unemployment compensation claims against the Social Security Administration\u2019s prisoner database to prevent fraud.\n\nRequires the Secretary of Labor to issue regulations to ensure proper implementation of crossmatching requirements.\n\nUnemployment Insurance Administration and Technology\n\nImplements new access and technology requirements for online claim filing systems and in-person alternatives.\n\nRequires states to provide guidance to employers to facilitate their eligible workers\u2019 access to benefits.\n\nProvides for oversight of federal investments into the administration of UI programs.\n\nA web version of this release is here.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-07T21:24:45Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.crapo.senate.gov/media/newsreleases/crapo-wyden-introduce-bipartisan-bill-to-improve-unemployment-insurance"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.588204875588417, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}