NASWA Letter to Congress to Fix Reemployment Services and Eligibility Assessments (RESEA) Program

The National Association of State Workforce Agencies, the nonpartisan association of the 50 workforce agencies of U.S. states and three territories, issued a letter to congressional U.S. House Ways and Means Committee leadership calling for a minor statutory fix to the Reemployment Services and Eligibility Assessments (RESEA) program.

The fix needed would ensure all unemployment insurance (UI) claimants could receive RESEA services and assessments, not just those most likely to exhaust their benefits.

Full text of the letter is below:

March 8, 2019

The Honorable Richard Neal
Chairman, House Ways and Means Committee
Washington, D.C. 20515

The Honorable Kevin Brady
Ranking Member, House Ways and Means Committee
Washington, D.C. 20515

The Honorable Danny Davis
Chairman, House Ways and Means Committee
Subcommittee on Worker and Family Support
Washington, D.C. 20515

The Honorable Jackie Walorski
Ranking Member, House Ways and Means Committee
Subcommittee on Worker and Family Support

Dear Chairmen Neal and Davis, and Ranking Members Brady and Walorski:

We are writing on behalf of the National Association of State Workforce Agencies (NASWA) to express our appreciation of your bipartisan effort to authorize the Reemployment Services and Eligibility Assessments (RESEA) program as part of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 (P. L.115-245).

Until the passage of the Act, federal RESEA had been limited to a widely-successful pilot grant program. Today, States around the nation now have the ability to accelerate unemployment insurance (UI) claimants' transition back to employment faster than non-participants, which is particularly important in an economy desperately in need of skilled workers.

To enhance these efforts, we encourage a minor statutory fix to the Act that reflects your intent to ensure any UI claimant, not just those most likely to exhaust their benefits, are eligible for RESEA services and assessments. The current language in Section 306 of Act needs to be modified to ensure this intent is actualized and while the Appropriations Committee made such a modification in their FYI9 Labor-HHS Appropriations bill, a permanent fix would provide clarity and stability for states actively focused on helping claimants return to work expeditiously.

NASWA is the national organization representing all 50 state workforce agencies, D.C. and U.S. territories. These agencies deliver training, employment, career, and business services, in addition to administering the unemployment insurance, veteran reemployment, and labor market.

Sincerely,

Jon Pierpont
Board President,
National Association of State Workforce Agencies
Executive Director,
Utah Department of Workforce Services

Scott B. Sanders
Executive Director,
National Association of State Workforce Agencies