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Pearce Votes To Approve 40-Hour Work Week For Mandatory Employer Health Insurance

Rep. Steve Pearce (R) New Mexico

  The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Save American Workers Act of 2015 with a bipartisan vote of 252-172.  The bill repeals the 30-hour definition of full-time employee in the so-called Affordable Care Act (ACA) and restores the common sense 40-hour definition.  In voting for the measure, Congressman Steve Pearce issued the following statement:

“I support this bill and am pleased that it helps small businesses squeezed by the employer coverage mandate in Obamacare.  Yet I regret that the House is taking up this measure before it pursues the more critical task of repealing and replacing Obamacare.

"New Mexicans want and deserve real health care reform that provides affordability and choice – not Obamcare's job-killing mandates that stifle small businesses. That said, under this short term correction, more people can work full time and business can hire more employees, which is a small but significant step toward meaningful reform," said Pearce.

Obamacare’s employer mandate requires firms with more than 50 full-time employees to give them health insurance. But because the ACA defines "full time" as 30 hours or more, employers are keeping employees below that threshold to avoid the mandate entirely.

H.R. 30 helps small businesses stuck between the skyrocketing cost of health care insurance and the burdensome regulations, compliance costs and taxes imposed by Obamacare.