[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 22 (Wednesday, February 5, 2014)]
[House]
[Page H1597]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             AFFORDABLE CARE ACT WILL SLOW ECONOMIC GROWTH

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania (Mr. Thompson) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, yesterday the nonpartisan 
Congressional Budget Office, CBO, issued a report stating the 
Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as ObamaCare, will slow economic 
growth over the next decade substantially more than previously 
predicted. According to yesterday's report, the Affordable Care Act 
could lead to 2 million fewer workers in the workforce between now and 
2017, which is nearly three times as high as CBO's earlier predictions. 
What is even worse, this number is supposed to rise in later years to 
the equivalent of 2.5 million jobs by 2024.
  According to The Hill newspaper:

       The agency, CBO, also said employer penalties in the law 
     would decrease wages, and part-year workers would be slower 
     to return to the workforce because they would seek to retain 
     ObamaCare insurance subsidies.

  We cannot afford more blows to jobs. We cannot afford more blows to 
the American workforce. We cannot afford more blows to our economy. We 
as policymakers should be focused on breaking down barriers to 
employment in order to increase wages.
  Mr. Speaker, the administration better get better at explaining this 
law to the American people or start working with this body to repeal 
and fix it. The American people deserve better. The American people 
deserve jobs.

                          ____________________