Date: 2014-04-02
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I rise in strong opposition to H.R. 2575. the socalled "Save American Workers Act of 2014." which represents the 52nd attempt by House Republicans to impede the Affordable Care Act and deny Americans the security that comes from having access to affordable. highquality health care. I oppose this bill because its effect would be to deny employer provided health insurance to hard working employees who work more than 30 hours but less than 40 hours per week. If this bill were to become law in its current form. the health security of 10.2 percent of the workforce. or approximately 19.8 million workers. would be placed at risk. I offered two amendments to H.R. 2575 that would prevent this travesty but regrettably neither was made in order by the Rules Committee. Jackson Lee Amendment #1 would have improved this bad bill by amending the bills 40 hour work week definition to include the employees average commuting time in the computation of hours worked for purposes of determining "fulltime employment." Commuting time has become a major issue for those who work hourly wage jobs because their workday is much longer. According to the Bureau of the Census nearly 8.1% of American workers commute 60 minutes or longer. In 2011. almost 600.000 fulltime workers had "megacommutes" of at least 90 minutes and travel 50 miles or more from their homes. The daily average oneway travel to work for employees nationally is 25.5 minutes. and 1 out of 4 workers cross county lines to reach their jobs. Jackson Lee Amendment #2 would have amended the bill by delaying the effective date of the bill until the first month after there has been two consecutive quarters in which the national unemployment rate is below 5 percent. which would indicate the nation has reached a full employment economy. Our nation has taken a momentous step in creating a mindset that health insurance is a personal responsibility with the enactment of the Affordable Care Act. The law did not automatically enroll all citizens into the program because it was specifically designed to be an optin process. This week all over the nation. over 4 millions of Americans took the first step toward taking control of their lives by purchasing their first personal or family health insurance policy. Over the course of the signup process for the Affordable Care Act tens of thousands of visitors each day shopped the website and over 7.1 million people were added to private insurance roles as customers or have enrolled into Medicaid. Despite problems with the initial rollout of the online health insurance registration process. people were patient and persistent about getting coverage for themselves and their families. I have held many events in my District to inform and connect people with Navigators and Community Health Centers to support the message that it was time to get health insurance for yourself and your family. Why with 60 legislative days remaining in the Second Session of the 113th Congress before the end of the 2014 fiscal year. we are still seeing attempts to end the Affordable Care Act is a mystery to the American public who are voting with their own healthcare dollars for Obamacare. H.R. 2575 proposes to amend the Internal Revenue Code by redefining a full time employee for purposes of providing health insurance to only those workers who work a 40hour workweek. Mr. Speaker. few hourly workers in lowwage jobs work a 40hour work week. These employees often rely on government assistance. which amounts to a hidden tax break to employers. Low wageworkers often rely upon public housing assistance. SNAP. WIC or Medicaid to make ends meet. Health insurance should not be used as a status symbol. but a basic right for people who live in the worlds most prosperous nation. I know that many predicted that the Affordable Care Act would cause havoc on the nations health care system. but it is not the ACA that is causing havocit is a small vocal minority within the majority part that is causing headaches and heartaches to doctors and their patients. I ask that my colleagues to join me in protecting workers by voting down this rule and the underlying bill. The material previously referred to by Ms. SLAUGHTER is as follows: