Rep. Davis: House Approves Hire More Heroes Act, 13 Other Jobs Bills

Press Release

U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.) today announced that the House has passed his legislation, the Hire More Heroes Act, to incentivize small businesses to hire veterans as a part of a broad, bipartisan jobs package called the Jobs for America Act. The legislation was approved by a vote of 253-163.

"The Hire More Heroes Act is a commonsense piece of legislation that will help our veterans find work and assist small businesses in hiring qualified, well-trained employees while providing much-needed relief from Obamacare," said Davis. "So I'm pleased that the House once again passed the Hire More Heroes Act, along with a number of other jobs bills, in another attempt to have the Senate join us in putting Americans back to work."

The Hire More Heroes Act incentivizes small businesses to hire veterans by exempting veterans who already receive health insurance through the Department of Veterans Affairs or reservists covered under TRICARE from being counted towards the number of employees required by the employer mandate under the Affordable Care Act. The employer mandate is a requirement that all businesses with more than 50 full-time employees provide health insurance to their employees or pay a fee.

Currently, there are 8 million veterans receiving health care through the VA system, and every service member returning from Iraq and Afghanistan has the option of signing up for health care through the VA.

Although national unemployment rates continue to decrease, unemployment among veterans remains high, with the current rate at 6.9 percent for women and 6.5 percent for men, higher than the national average. Veterans who have served since 9/11 are facing a much higher unemployment rate of 9 percent.

The Hire More Heroes Act was originally approved by the House on March 11, 2014 by a vote of 406-1.

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