CLOSE Act

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.