Hatch, Alexander Announce Legislation to Repeal Employer Mandate

Statement

Today, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) introduced the American Job Protection Act, a bill to repeal Obamacare's job-killing employer mandate. Under the President's health law, businesses with 50 or more equivalent employees are required to offer health insurance of minimum value or pay a penalty between $2,000 and $3,000 for each employee working 30 hours or more a week. The Chairmen were joined by 26 senators in cosponsoring the bill.

"Obamacare's burdensome employer mandate continues to hinder job-creation and growth, and the best action Washington can take is to repeal it entirely," said Hatch. "By doing away with the mandate, job-creators will be able to grow their businesses without the added concern of reaching an arbitrary and punitive threshold. Repealing this job-killing mandate will put American small businesses back in a position to hire again. That means more jobs for the American people and more growth for the American economy."

"The havoc Obamacare's misguided employer mandate is wreaking in American workplaces was every bit as predictable as it was preventable, as Republicans warned over and over that an employer mandate would do exactly what it's doing: businesses that employ many of our lowest-income workers are cutting jobs and many other businesses are reducing the number of hours their employees work to avoid the mandate's high cost," said Alexander. Until we have a Republican president and can repeal Obamacare, the responsible thing to do is repeal the employer mandate--one of several steps we can take to repair the damage Obamacare has done."

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