Save American Workers Act of 2015

Floor Speech

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Mrs. DINGELL. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to H.R. 30, the so-
called Save American Workers Act. I continue to have high hopes for
bipartisanship and working across the aisle, but am very disappointed
that the Republican majority brought up another partisan bill to
undermine the Affordable Care Act, just when this landmark law is
finally delivering for Americans. In fact, we just saw real evidence of
the success of the law--the uninsured rate dropped to 12.9 percent in
the fourth quarter of 2014, down from 17.1 percent in 2013.

The Affordable Care Act is not perfect, but H.R. 30 is not the way to
fix it. While it might seem like common sense idea to raise the
threshold for ACA employer coverage to 40 hours a week from 30 hours a
week, this misguided legislation would give employers a greater
incentive to cut workers hours. Experts at UC Berkeley estimate that
this policy would result in 6.5 million workers being vulnerable to
cuts in their work hours. Furthermore, this legislation would increase
the deficit by $45.7 billion. We need to build off the successes of the
Affordable Care Act, not roll them back.

I hope the 114th Congress can come back soon to consider real reforms
to our health care system that increases access to care, reduces costs,
and decreases the deficit. H.R. 30 does none of those things, so I urge
my colleagues to join me in opposing it.

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