President Barack Obama March 23 signed into law the Affordable Health Care for America Act, following passage of the bill by the U.S. House of Representatives two days earlier. The Senate also began 20 hours of general debate the same day on the “Health Care Education Reconciliation Act of 2010” (H.R. 4872) – also known as the reconciliation package - which would make changes to the bill already signed into law. Under reconciliation rules, Senators can offer an unlimited number of amendments and voting on those will begin March 24, including a vote on motion by Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) to strike the employer mandate and send the bill back to the Senate Finance Committee.
ABC March 24 offered its
support for the Enzi motion in a letter, writing that while federal mandates would be objectionable at any time, with the unemployment rate at 9.7 percent across all industries, imposing the mandate now indicates “a fundamental failure to understand the needs of small businesses and our economy.” ABC also pointed out that the Congressional Budget Office said the mandates were likely to reduce employment.
Due in part to the negative effect increased taxes and sweeping mandates contained in the health care bill would have on employment, especially in the construction industry, ABC President and CEO Kirk Pickerel
condemned the bill saying, “the only thing historic about the health care reform bill is the record level of taxes and federal government mandates placed on America’s construction industry.”
Now ABC is
speaking out against the Health Care Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (H.R. 4872), which also raises taxes while failing to address the rising costs of health care.
ABC acknowledged that H.R. 4872 omits the Merkely Amendment language contained in the existing law, which specifically singled out the construction industry by altering the small business exemption so that it applies to only those firms with 5 employees or less – compared to the 50 employee threshold for other industries. However, ABC also noted that fixing something that shouldn’t have been included in the first place does not deserve praise.
“Congress should not be congratulated for its equitable treatment of an industry currently experiencing upwards of 27 percent unemployment,” the letter stated. “In the worst economy in decades, it is unfathomable that anyone could think this sort of vast financial imposition on employers is either prudent or viable.”
For more information, contact Kristen Swearingen at ABC,
swearingen@abc.org.