Renacci, Carney discuss bipartisan job creation efforts

Reps. Jim Renacci (R-Ohio) and John Carney (D-Del.) outlined bipartisan efforts to tackle pressing challenges, including job creation, during a breakfast discussion hosted by the Ripon Society on Tuesday morning.

“Together, (Carney and I) have been able to form a bipartisan working group,” Renacci said. “And we hope to continue to grow this group on the idea that as long as we have a common goal, we should be able to work together to get something accomplished.”

Renacci and Carney recently introduced the Flexibility to Promote Reemployment Act. The measure would amend the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012, which grants the Department of Labor waiver authority within the unemployment insurance program.

Renacci, an entrepreneur who owned his own accounting firm, told Ripon Society members that his private-sector experience led him to work on the bill. People on long-term, 99-week unemployment opted to continue receiving unemployment benefits, Renacci said, rather than accepting a job offer.

“And I thought this was a little bit ridiculous,” Renacci said. “We should be using these dollars to train people instead.”

The Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012’s waiver system was designed to afford states the flexibility to test “demonstration programs” that help people reenter the workforce. Only one state applied for a waiver, however.

The Flexibility to Promote Reemployment Act would clarify the waiver system’s application criteria, provide more transparency in the termination of demonstration programs and shift evaluation responsibility from states to the DoL in an effort to make it more efficient for states to use.

“It’s a very pragmatic way to help small businesses bring employees back and give them on-the-job training as opposed to getting the check and just sitting at home,” Carney said.