U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.) has introduced a new bill that's meant to make it easier for unemployed workers to go back to school.
Davis said currently unemployed workers risk losing their unemployment benefits if they go to a university or community college to retrain for a new career.
To help close the loophole, Davis said the new bill, called the Opportunity KNOCKS Act, would expand the definition of what constitutes a training program.
"It's common sense to me that when one loses their job, if they want to go back and get the training they need, if they want to pay for it themselves, even,” Davis Said. “They ought to be able to so without losing the unemployment benefits that they've worked so hard for and they deserve at that point in their life more than ever."
Davis said he’ll now get to work pushing the bill through the House.
The bipartisan plan is co-sponsored by Democratic Representatives Ami Bera and Jerry McNerney of California.
The bill would not funnel extra money toward people enrolling in retraining programs, rather, it would only allow them to hang on to their unemployment benefits while doing so, Davis said.
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