U.S. Rep. French Hill (R-AR) on July 29 reintroduced legislation to help individuals receiving disability insurance benefits obtain rehabilitative services and return to the workforce.
Rep. Hill sponsored the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) Return to Work Act, H.R. 4823, with original cosponsor U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-MI). U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) on July 30 sponsored the companion bill, S. 2575, in the U.S. Senate.
“Since arriving in Congress, Sen. Cotton and I advocated for improving this program to keep it solvent for those who truly need the benefits and to incentivize a return to work for those who don’t,” Rep. Hill said. “Each American and Arkansan has the capacity for contributing productively to the community and the economy, and our bill jumpstarts that.”
Specifically, the bill would require the Social Security Administration (SSA) to establish new disability classifications for determining a beneficiary’s likelihood of medically improving. If the SSDI beneficiary has a possibility of medically improving, the bill would require the SSA to conduct a review to determine the beneficiary’s need to continue receiving SSDI benefits, according to a bill summary provided by Rep. Hill’s office.
Additionally, the bill would require the SSA to advertise the Ticket to Work Program to SSDI beneficiaries at the time they are awarded benefits and then every six months, the summary says, and would amend the Work Opportunity Tax Credit — a federal tax credit available to employers for hiring individuals meeting certain criteria — to include qualified SSDI beneficiaries.
Rep. Hill and Sen. Cotton previously introduced the SSDI Return to Work Act in 2016, 2017, and 2019.