Legislation· Apr 2026Sponsored by Mike Carey (R)
New Opportunities for Business Ownership and Self-Sufficiency Act
Doubles the share of unemployed workers who can get self-employment assistance instead of regular jobless benefits.
Tradeoff
Expands access to self-employment programs for people starting businesses, with states having two years to adjust their rules. No budget impact cited.
What's in it
Negligible federal cost or savings over 2026-2036; changes between -$500,000 and $500,000 are too small to estimate.
The federal cost to implement this rule change is negligible (less than $500,000 in net spending); the policy's real effect is on state unemployment trust funds and on claimants' ability to access self-employment assistance, which draws from existing unemployment insurance revenue streams rather than new federal .
Passed the House by on April 27, 2026 — sitting in the Senate.
House
Introduced
(Dec 4, 2025)
House
Committee on Ways and Means(Dec 4, 2025)
House
The Committee on Ways and Means voted to send it to the floor
Reported 41 - 0(Jan 14, 2026)
Committee report H. Rept. 119-509.
House
Passage of the bill
Passed by (Apr 27, 2026)
No individual votes were recorded.
Senate
Received from the House
on Finance(Apr 28, 2026)
- Greg Landsman (D-OH)
- Max L. Miller (R-OH)
- Rudy Yakym (R-IN)
- Randy Feenstra (R-IA)
- Nathaniel Moran (R-TX)
- Eugene Simon Vindman (D-VA)