Ranking Member Cassidy Introduces Pathways to Paychecks Act, Increasing Job Opportunities for Americans

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, introduced the Pathways to Paychecks Act, which empowers states to better connect Americans seeking job opportunities with employers. 

The Wagner-Peyser Employment Service (ES) program facilitates connections between job seekers and employers. In 2020, the Trump administration released a rule giving states flexibility to staff job centers providing ES services in order to better serve Americans seeking employment.

Last month, the Biden administration issued a final rule that eliminates states’ flexibility to administer Employment Services with local government staff or contractors. The new rule will create staffing shortages making it harder to provide ES services, harm workers seeking jobs, and deny states the flexibility to respond to changing workforce needs. States that began using modified staffing models under the previous rule will lose their progress, and other states considering it no longer have that option.

The Pathways to Paychecks Act overturns this Biden policy and allows states the flexibility to choose the staff to most effectively connect Americans with job opportunities.

“When Americans were struggling to find work during the pandemic, Republicans gave states flexibility to address that need. The Biden administration’s new rule removes this flexibility, taking away potential opportunities from those looking for a better job,” said Dr. Cassidy. “The Pathways to Paychecks Act reverses this harmful Biden policy and allows Americans every opportunity to find a better-paying, more fulfilling job.”

“The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) and the publicly-funded workforce ecosystem it authorizes was designed to empower state and local workforce systems to flexibly respond to the workforce needs of their communities and the wider labor market. Rather than imposing a one-size-fits-all approach to this issue, the Pathways to Paychecks Act recognizes and builds upon this foundational tenet in WIOA by enabling state and local workforce systems to use staffing models that align with the needs of their communities. This legislation would make the employment service more resilient during times of volatility and uncertainty in labor markets, and will allow state and local workforce stakeholders to better serve all individuals facing barriers to employment,” said Bradford C. Turner-Little, CEO, National Association of Workforce Boards (NAWB).

The legislation is supported by the U.S. Conference of Mayors and Louisiana Workforce Commission.

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