{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://norton.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/norton-introduces-incentive-based-bill-to-encourage-businesses-to-hire", "Norton Introduces Incentive-Based Bill to Encourage Businesses to Hire Long-Term Unemployed", "2016-02-23", "2016", "2016-02", "Democrat", "House", "DC", "Eleanor Norton", "N000147", "norton.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON, D.C.\u2014Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today introduced a bill that would help address the ongoing crisis of long-term unemployment.\u00a0 Norton's bill would give employers a $5,000 tax credit against their payroll tax liability for each new net person hired who has been unemployed for 27 weeks or longer.\u00a0 Although the overall unemployment rate has dropped dramatically since the trough of the Great Recession, the long-term unemployment rate has remained stubbornly high.\u00a0 According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of long-term unemployed in January 2016 was 2.1 million, which accounted for 26.9 percent of the total unemployed population.\u00a0 Norton said it is troubling that the number of long-term unemployed Americans has remained unchanged since June 2015.\n\u201cAs our economy continues to improve after the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, long-term unemployed Americans are not sharing in the recovery,\u201d Norton said.\u00a0 \u201cAll too often, long-term unemployment itself is held against these job seekers as they are passed over by employers, trapping otherwise highly-qualified, experienced candidates in a vicious cycle,\u201d Norton said.\u00a0 \u201cAs our economy turns around, we must ensure that our long-term unemployed do not become permanently unemployed.\u00a0 My bill would provide a boost to the economy and to Americans who just need an opportunity to get back into the workforce.\u201d\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "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": ["http://norton.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/norton-introduces-incentive-based-bill-to-encourage-businesses-to-hire"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8537131361663342, "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"}