“The Republican-led House of Representatives took the first swipe at weakening Obamacare Thursday, when it voted 252-to-172 to raise the definition of a full-time workweek to 40 hours.
According to MSN, only 12 Democrats joined Republicans in backing the measure, which will allow businesses to offer health insurance to fewer workers by raising the minimum hours worked at which employers are required to provide insurance for workers.
Congressional aides and lobbyists said the 40-hour workweek bill was chosen as the initial assault on the health care law by Republican leaders because they believe they can attract enough support from House and Senate Democrats to pressure the president into signing it.
President Obama, however, has already said that he would veto the bill if it passed.
The “40-hour fix,†which the Inquistr reported has been a goal of Republican leaders for quite some time, has drawn fire from many unions.
The AFL-CIO, in fact, supports lowering the minimum hours required for a full-time workweek to 20 in an attempt to protect full-time workers from seeing their hours reduced.
“There has been frustration with the 30-hour threshold and with people losing hours,†said AFL-CIO health care lobbyist Tom Leibfried. “What labor would like is a stronger set of employer responsibility requirements.â€
Under the current health care law, businesses with more than 50 full-time employees are required to provide health insurance benefits to those who work 30 or more hours a week. Republicans claim that the current law is…”
Originally posted by Inquisitr. Full article at http://www.inquisitr.com/1740681/40-hour-full-time-workweek-bill-passes-as-congress-starts-war-against-obamacare/
