Taking a swing at President
Obama's biggest policy achievement, the Affordable Care Act, is at the top of
the agenda for the new Republican Congressional majority.
On
Thursday, the House will debate, and likely pass, a bill that would make a
change in Obamacare. It would raise the law's definition of full-time work from
30 hours to 40 hours a week, reducing the number of workers to whom employers
would have to offer health insurance.
The bill before the House
Thursday already passed there
during the last Congress. Republicans touted it as a way to prevent employers
from capping workers' hours.
"By
redefining a full-time employee as someone who works 30 or more hours a week,
the Affordable Care Act has caused workers' hours to be reduced in vital
industries across the nation," said Susan Brooks, R-Ind., when she argued
for the change in Obamacare last year.
The argument is that by
requiring companies to offer health insurance coverage to employees working 30
or more hours, the ACA creates an incentive for managers toreduce workers' hours to
below 30 per week. That way, employers could avoid providing coverage or paying
a fine.
