House Resolution 30, Save American Workers Act of 2015, was passed in the United States House of Representatives on Thursday by a margin of 252-172.
The main purpose of the bill is to change the definition of “full-time employment” from 30 to 40 hours a week, as defined by the ?Affordable Care Act.
In the Affordable Care Act, certain provisions mandate that full-time employees be provided health insurance by their employers. In response, some employers have cut workers’ hours to just below the 30-hour definition of “full-time ?employment.”
The mandate to provide health insurance for employees is only enforced for businesses that have 50 or more employees, meaning that smaller businesses are not required to provide health insurance, even to their full-time employees.
Republican Rep. Todd Young from Indiana’s 9th District sponsored the bill and introduced the resolution into the House of Representatives on Jan. 6 along with Democrat Rep. Dan Lipinski from Illinois’ 3rd District.
“When the employer mandate became effective on Jan. 1, up to 2.6 million Americans were at-risk for seeing lost hours and wages at work,” Young said in a press release. “Repealing this provision and restoring the traditional understanding of a 40-hour work week is necessary to protect their paychecks.”
Other than Young, the representatives from Indiana that voted in favor of the resolution include Rep. Jackie Walorski (IN-2), Rep. Marlin Stuzman (IN-3), Rep. Todd Rokita (IN-4), Rep. Susan Brooks (IN-5), Rep. Luke Messer (IN-6) and Rep. Larry Bucshon (IN-8).
Reps. Peter Visclosky (IN-1) and Andre Carson (IN-7) voted against the resolution.
Along with Reps. Young and Lipinski, the bill had 150 co-sponsors within Congress and 305 ?organizational supporters.
The Congressional Budget Office issued a cost estimate report Jan. 7 after the resolution was introduced to Congress. The report details the various ways in which H.R. 30 would have a financial effect on the federal government.
The CBO is a nonpartisan federal agency that provides independent analysis of budgetary and ?economic issues to ?Congress.
If H.R. 30 was enacted, the CBO and the Joint Committee on Taxation estimate that in the years after 2015, roughly one million fewer people would enroll in employment-based coverage and between 500,000 and one million more people would obtain coverage through a healthcare insurance exchange, according to the report.
Indiana Sen. Joe Donnelly applauded the passage of the resolution in the House of Representatives.
“I’m encouraged by the House’s swift and bipartisan passage of this crucial legislation to restore the hours of many part-time workers across the nation,” Donnelly said. “This isn’t about undermining the Affordable Care Act — it’s about ?strengthening it.”
Donnelly, along with ?fellow Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), has drafted a companion bill to H.R. 30 called the Forty Hours is Full Time Act of 2015.
The bill was first introduced in June 2013, but they announced its reintroduction to the Senate on Wednesday.
The White House issued a statement Wednesday in response to the House bill’s introduction.
“The Administration strongly opposes House passage of H.R. 30 because it would significantly increase the deficit, reduce the number of Americans with employer-based health insurance coverage and create incentives for employers to shift their employees to part-time work,” the statement said,
“If the President were presented with H.R. 30, he would veto it.”
The resolution will now be discussed in the Senate, and if passed, it will be sent to President Obama to either veto, which is expected, or sign into law.
