Providing for Consideration of H.R. 2575, Save American Workers Act of 2014

Floor Speech

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Mr. Speaker, I appreciate my friend from Texas for yielding.

I rise in strong support of the rule and on, also, the underlying bill, the Save American Workers Act.

Four years after ObamaCare's passage, this law's implementation is a patchwork of delays stitched together with miles of bureaucratic red tape. Unfortunately, the arbitrary delays and the exemptions this administration has granted help only a small segment of workers and businesses. Part-time workers have been among those most deeply affected by ObamaCare, yet this administration has shown little interest in providing the relief to these folks that is extended to unions and favored business entities.

It was said just a moment ago that this is the 52nd time that we are doing something like this, but I will say this: I will stand on the side of history that says for 52 times it will stand to stand against something that is wrong. I will stand in this well 52 more times when it is wrong and hurting the American people. Right is right, and this bill is wrong.

The underlying bill seeks to help moms and dads, businesses understand what we have always known. ObamaCare's 30-hour definition of full-time employee demonstrates how little the authors of the bill know about running a business. The vast majority of American employers and employees have understood full time as being 40 hours a week for nearly a century. It is time to replace ObamaCare's definition of full-time employee with one that makes sense and will help American workers meet their financial goals.

As an original cosponsor of the Save American Workers Act, I stand with all those in Georgia's Ninth District whose livelihood has been impacted by ObamaCare's definition of a full-time employee. These include employees of the City of Gainesville, which is limiting workers' hours to avoid ObamaCare's employer mandate. Reduced hours make a tremendous impact on the household budgets of the men and women serving the people of Gainesville. While many of these folks have had the option of working additional hours to make ends meet in the past, they must now seek employment elsewhere or find a second job.

Mr. Speaker, this is a situation that is not unique.

We have heard similar stories from both the private and public sector told in this Chamber. It is time for this administration and its allies to stop writing off these realities as lies or untruths being circulated for political purposes.

Those who still stand by ObamaCare need to spend some time face-to-face with the workers whose hours have been cut because of this law. It is time for them to look in the eyes of a mom and dad who won't have as much time with their children this year because they will have to take on yet another job to make ends meet.

I hope my fair-minded colleagues on both sides of the aisle will come together to support this commonsense legislation and provide some relief to the folks who deserve it most--America's working men and women.

The gentlewoman from New York is right; it is about our votes, not our speeches. The American people can look to the Republican majority and they can see whom we stand with. We stand with the people who have been hurt, who are suffering, who are having to work extra jobs. It is about those moms and dads. It is not about the exemptions and special privileges given to friends of this administration on the delays and a whim and a notice.

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