The Iowa House and Senate have yet to reach an agreement on legislation proposing cuts to unemployment benefits, as each chamber passed their own bill on March 23rd.

Both bills would cut the maximum time Iowans can receive unemployment benefits from 26 to 16 weeks and require claimants to accept a lower-paying job more quickly. A sticking point is whether there should be a one-week waiting period before receiving benefits, which was excluded from the House’s version. Their bill passed on a vote of 58-37 with two Republicans joining all Democrats in voting against, and in the Senate it passed 30-20, with two Republicans also joining all Democrats in opposition. District 39 State Senator Kevin Kinney (D) of Oxford says he prefers the House version, “So many of these people that are seasonal workers that are working construction, they’re going to be required to go out and take a job. An employer is going to have to train them for a couple weeks, then they’re going to go back to their construction job. If we would have cut it some, okay, but not to the degree that we did.”

Kinney mentioned the one-week waiting period would also hinder those workers whose last day of work is on a Monday and would then have to wait another whole week to receive benefits. The proposals require Iowans receiving unemployment benefits to take a job that pays 60% of their previous wages if the job offer comes after the eighth week of unemployment. Current law requires people to take a job paying at least 65% of their previous wages after the 18th week of receiving unemployment benefits.