Bill To Define Full-Time Work Week As 40 Hours Passes House

April 04--A revision to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, authored by the Ninth District Rep. Todd Young, R-Ind., is on its way to the U.S. Senate floor after passing the House of Representatives in a 248-179 vote.

The Save American Workers Act -- a bill that would raise the definition of the full-time work week from 30 hours to 40 hours for the purposes of the employer mandate in the ACA -- garnered 210 co-sponsors since it was first introduced last summer, and it was pushed to the forefront of the House in the early part of this year.

The bill passed out of the Committee on Ways and Means in February, and a few weeks later, Rep. Dan Lipinski, D-Ill., merged his Democrat-supported Forty Hours is Full Time Act with Young's, giving it its first bipartisan support.

Democratic Reps. John Barrow, D-Ga., Jim Matheson, D-Utah, Mike McIntyre, D-N.C., Collin C. Peterson, D-Minn., Nick J. Rahall, D-W.V., and Kurt Schrader, D-Ore., also signed on as co-sponsors of the bill.

The ACA requires employers with at least 50 full-time employees to provide health insurance to those who average at least 30 hours per week or risk a fine. The mandate was supposed to begin next year, but has been pushed back to 2016.

This, in theory, could close the gap for those who do not already qualify for employer health insurance. Young and supporters of his bill argued that this does not happen, however, and instead, workers are having their hours reduced to get around the mandate.

"Millions of hardworking Americans across this country are working less," said Rep. Renee Ellmers, R-N.C., noting that substitute teachers in her district have had hours cut. "The facts speak for themselves."

Citing a report by the Congressional Budget Office, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rogers, R-Wash., said that nearly 2 million workers are at risk of having their hours cut because of the 30-hour rule.

However, citing the same report, Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., D-N.J., noted that the number of people receiving employment-based coverage would be reduced by 1 million.

"Throughout this debate, Republicans have been claiming they are a champion for the American people, but that's not the case," Pallone said.

Democrats also took shots at the claims that the 30-hour rule "forces" businesses to reduce hours or cut workers. The repeated rhetoric is meant to confuse people and undermine the ACA, under the guise of being beneficial to the lowest income workers, said Jim McDermott, D-Wash.

"There's nothing in the law that says that people have to shorten the work week," McDermott said "It is not Obamacare that decides the number of hours people work."

"I don't think that badly of owners of businesses myself," he continued.

Still, the bill has received support from retailers and associations, including the National Association of Home Builders, the Retail Industry Leaders Association and the Small Business Coalition for Affordable Healthcare.

"Raising the threshold of full-time under the ACA means that retailers will have the flexibility to continue to offer coverage at the current level, whether, for example, the level is 32, 35 or 37 hours. Retailers have voluntarily offered coverage for decades, and they want to be able to continue to offer this coverage to their employees and their families," said Christine Pollack, vice president of government affairs at the Retail Industry Leaders Association, in a statement.

An attempt to recommit the legislation back to committee failed, and the bill passed.

It now moves to the Senate, where there's a companion bill introduced by U.S. Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Joe Donnelly, D-Ind.

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