Lots of you asked me during our last few FBQA meeting what would be the first things we passed on Obamacare. I mentioned a restoration of the 40-hour work week and a repeal of the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) . We took care of that first one this week. As you may recall, when Obamacare passed in 2010, it treated “full-time” workers as anyone who worked 30 hours or more. And, employers were thus obligated to provide them with health care. The result -- which a lot of us anticipated -- was that a lot of employers moved people from working 35-45 hours a week down to 29. (Clemson University, as I recall, did exactly that with a lot of its student workers.) That hurt a lot of folks, who either had to make do with fewer hours or go find a second job. We got 12 Democrats to join us -- which is not enough to overcome a Presidential veto if it comes to that -- but still, better than I expected. The bill will go over to the Senate now, but unlike in years past, we actually expect them to take it up.
Posted on: Fri, 09 Jan 2015 21:24:01 +0000