The CLOSE Act is currently in the early stages of the legislative process. It was introduced in the Senate and sent to the Committee on Finance for review. No further actions are scheduled at this time, and the bill is waiting for the committee to decide on its next steps.
Legislative Progress
Senate
House
President
Law
Unlikely to pass
Bills that take back money from social programs often face strong opposition from the opposing party, making it hard to pass without a large majority.
Key Points
Husted and Cassidy introduced a bill to end several unemployment programs created during the COVID-19 pandemic. It stops payments for self-employed workers and those who were receiving extra weekly benefits.
The government would take back any money that was set aside for these programs but has not been spent yet. This process returns the unused funds to the federal treasury to help reduce government spending.
While many of these benefits have already stopped, this law makes the shutdown official across the entire country. It prevents states from starting these specific programs again in the future.
States will still get money to pay for the administrative costs of closing these programs. This helps local offices finish their paperwork without losing money from their own budgets.
All changes would start 30 days after the bill becomes law. This gives state agencies a month to prepare for the final end of these federal funding accounts.
Impact Analysis
Govbase has not yet run an impact analysis on this legislation.
Milestones
2 milestones2 actions
Feb 2, 2026Senate
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
Sent to a congressional committee for expert review. The committee decides whether this bill moves forward.
Feb 2, 2026
Introduced in Senate
The bill was officially filed and given a number. It now enters the legislative queue.
Votes
No votes have been recorded for this legislation yet.
News
No related news coverage found for this legislation yet.
