1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Emergency Benefits for Independent Workers Program Act . 2. Findings Congress finds the following: (1) Many independent workers and workers in alternative work arrangements, constituting a sizable percentage of the workforce in the United States, do not have access to benefits and protections typically provided through traditional full-time employment. (2) Workers in alternative work arrangements include independent contractors, domestic workers, temporary workers, the self-employed, and others in contingent work arrangements. (3) According to a 2017 survey by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, workers in alternative work arrangements as their primary form of occupation constitute 10.1 percent of the labor force, roughly 16,000,000 Americans. (4) In response to the global pandemic caused by the coronavirus, Congress created the temporary Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program under title II of division A of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act ( Public Law 116–136 ) to provide access to unemployment insurance to previously ineligible workers, such as gig workers, freelancers, and the self-employed. (5) The people of the United States should not need an Act of Congress to have access to essential benefits and protections during the next economic downturn. 3. Definitions In this Act: (1) Coronavirus The term coronavirus has the meaning given the term in section 506 of the Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2020 ( Public Law 116–123 ). (2) Eligible work The term eligible work means any work performed for pay that is not in connection with traditional full-time employment. (3) Eligible worker The term eligible worker means— (A) any worker who is not a permanent full-time employee of the parent entity hiring the worker for the eligible work, including any independent contractor, contract worker, self-employed individual, freelance worker, or temporary worker