OPPORTUNITY SOCIETY KNOCKING:

House OKs reemployment account plan (JIM ABRAMS, 6/03/04, Associated Press)

The House on Thursday approved a program, strongly backed by President Bush, that would give eligible unemployed workers up to $3,000 to use for job training and other services that help them get back to work.

The bill creating a pilot program for personal reemployment accounts passed 213-203 over the opposition of Democrats, who said it did little to address larger unemployment questions and pressed instead for an extension of unemployment benefits. The legislation faces an uncertain future in the Senate.

Bush has promoted the personal reemployment account idea over the past several years and his budget proposal for fiscal year 2005 included $50 million for the program.

"Personal re-employment accounts are an important reform in federal job training, because workers decide how to use the funds to maximize their likelihood of securing a job," Bush said in a statement. The White House said the accounts embody one of the administration's guiding principles: that wherever possible, resources and decision-making belong directly in the hands of individuals.

To be eligible, a person must be receiving unemployment compensation and be identified by the state as likely to exhaust his or her benefits.

States or local areas would determine the level of the account, up to $3,000, that people could use for job training, child care, transportation, relocation or other means that would help them find a job.

Those who become re-employed within 13 weeks can keep the balance of the account as a cash reemployment bonus.

Even better will be accounts that you and your employers pay into over the years that you then draw down instead of getting unemployment benefits.

Posted by Orrin Judd at June 3, 2004 11:03 PM