YourVoice.Now Summary
Your MoneyTransparency & AccountabilityMore laid-off workers could use jobless pay to start a business — the cap on slots doubles to 10%.
Your Money
Today a state may only offer this if it decides you are likely to use up your regular unemployment benefits. The bill would delete that test, so any worker who qualifies for unemployment could ask to join.
States may now enroll no more than 5% of the people drawing regular unemployment. The bill would lift that ceiling to 10%, so about twice as many people could take part at once.
Right now you must take entrepreneurial training, business counseling, and technical help. The bill would add a second route: a business plan and market study your state approves. The Labor Department would also publish a model list of activities that count.
Participants would have to tell a state agency, at least once a week, that they are working full time on the business. Weekly check-ins would become a condition of staying in the program.
Transparency & Accountability
The Labor Department would have to take public notice and comment before it writes the rules for this program. The White House budget office would then have to approve them.
More about this bill
More laid-off workers could collect unemployment pay while starting a business instead of job hunting. States already run these programs, but two limits keep them small. Only workers judged likely to use up their benefits may join. States may also enroll no more than 5% of the people drawing regular unemployment. The bill would erase the first limit. It would also raise the cap to 10%. You would still have to show you are working on the business. Training and counseling would count, as they do now. A business plan and market study approved by your state would also count. You would have to check in with a state agency at least once a week. The changes would start two years after the bill becomes law. States could update their own laws sooner.
Congressional Summary
Congress's official summary of this bill still describes an earlier version of the text, so we have left it out here. You can read it on Congress.gov.
Legislative Subjects
Details
- Congress
- 119th
- Chamber
- House
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Passed House
- Action Date
- 2026-04-27
- Date Added
- 2026-04-24
- Source
- Congress.gov →
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