REVIEWS ARE IN: SKILLS RENEWAL ACT IS A WIN

WASHINGTON – Last week, U.S. Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) and three Senate colleagues introduced the bipartisan Skills Renewal Act, which will create a flexible skills training credit in the amount of $4,000 per person that may be applied to cover the cost of a wide range of training programs that build skills expected to be in high demand by employers in the coming months. The credit will be made available to any worker who has lost their job as a result of the pandemic in 2020 and the credit may be applied to cover training expenses incurred through the end of 2021.

Senator Scott joined Fox and Friends’ hosts to discuss how this legislation will is a great opportunity for unemployed Americans seeking work in the gig economy.

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 Here’s what they are saying:

“This credit would be valuable in offsetting some of the cost of learning those new skills and seeing that online learning is included is a nice bonus, especially when we aren’t sure how long social distancing and stay-at-home orders will continue.… With bipartisan support, this proposal has a much higher likelihood of becoming law, or included in another bill that may have direct assistance, but it remains to be seen what is included when the bill text is finally released.” -seen in Forbes

“Four senators hope to boost workforce training for people left unemployed by the coronavirus crisis. Two Democrats and two Republicans have introduced a bill  to create a $4,000 refundable tax credit that people who lost their jobs due to the crisis can use to offset costs of training programs before the end of next year. Two Democrats and two Republicans have introduced a bill  to create a $4,000 refundable tax credit that people who lost their jobs due to the crisis can use to offset costs of training programs before the end of next year.” -seen in CNBC

“The bill is one of many attempts congressional legislators have made recently to address the spike in unemployment caused by the pandemic. As of last week, nearly 40 million Americans had filed for unemployment since COVID-19 began spreading across the U.S., and many economic experts have predicted the country’s unemployment numbers will continue to rise into the summer.” -seen in Newsweek

“Unemployment Insurance provides important short-term financial relief to people who have lost work through no fault of their own. The Skills Renewal Act offers a crucial next step, providing financial support for unemployed and furloughed workers to access high-quality training opportunities to upgrade their existing skills and transition to sectors of the labor market where opportunities are expanding,” said Alastair Fitzpayne, Executive Director, Aspen Institute Future of Work Initiative.

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