[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 40 (Tuesday, March 11, 2014)]
[House]
[Pages H2276-H2278]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      HIRE MORE HEROES ACT OF 2013

  Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass 
the bill (H.R. 3474) to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to 
allow employers to exempt employees with health coverage under TRICARE 
or the Veterans Administration from being taken into account for 
purposes of the employer mandate under the Patient Protection and 
Affordable Care Act.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 3474

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Hire More Heroes Act of 
     2013''.

     SEC. 2. EMPLOYEES WITH HEALTH COVERAGE UNDER TRICARE OR THE 
                   VETERANS ADMINISTRATION MAY BE EXEMPTED FROM 
                   EMPLOYER MANDATE UNDER PATIENT PROTECTION AND 
                   AFFORDABLE CARE ACT.

       (a) In General.--Section 4980H(c)(2) of the Internal 
     Revenue Code is amended by adding at the end the following:
       ``(F) Exemption for health coverage under tricare or the 
     veterans administration.--Solely for purposes of determining 
     whether an employer is an applicable large employer under 
     this paragraph for any month, an employer may elect not to 
     take into account for a month as an employee any individual 
     who, for such month, has medical coverage under--
       ``(i) chapter 55 of title 10, United States Code, including 
     coverage under the TRICARE program, or
       ``(ii) under a health care program under chapter 17 or 18 
     of title 38, United States Code, as determined by the 
     Secretary of Veterans Affairs, in coordination with the 
     Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Secretary.''.
       (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) 
     shall apply to months beginning after December 31, 2013.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Brady) and the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Levin) each will 
control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Texas.


                             General Leave

  Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all 
Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their 
remarks and to include extraneous material on the subject of the bill 
under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Texas?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 3474, the Hire More 
Heroes Act, introduced by Representative Rodney Davis of Illinois.
  The Hire More Heroes Act will help ease the burden on small 
businesses while incentivizing them to hire veterans who have found 
themselves out of work as they return home from overseas.
  President Obama has repeatedly said:

       If you've got good ideas, bring them to me--let's go.

  Well, Mr. President, here is a really good idea. So let's go.
  Our veterans have sacrificed for our country, and as they return home 
they deserve opportunities and they deserve a job.
  One thing I routinely hear from my communities back home is that 
entrepreneurs want to invest in America and they want to grow their 
businesses. Well, here is an opportunity to do both.
  Too often, we use the term that something is a win-win. Well, I can 
think of no better term. This is a win for businesses who need workers 
with outstanding skills and ethics, and a win for veterans who just 
want a job.
  The Hire More Heroes Act allows businesses that hire a veteran 
enrolled in TRICARE or through the VA to not count that veteran towards 
the 50-employee threshold for triggering the ACA employee mandate. The 
50-employee threshold has been a big disincentive for small businesses 
to grow. If they have more than 50 workers, they fall under that 
mandate, and their costs go up.

                              {time}  1700

  So firms with 45, 46, 47 workers are very reluctant to grow any 
bigger, but if they hire a veteran, under this legislation, that won't 
count for purposes of determining if they have enough workers to 
trigger the mandate. If that isn't an incentive to hire more veterans, 
I don't know what it is.
  These are veterans who already have health care. They just want and 
deserve a job. I urge my colleagues to support this commonsense bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  This bill, as has been discussed, encourages veteran employment and 
the growth of midsize businesses.
  For post-9/11 veterans, the unemployment rate has continued to 
decline. However, the rate of unemployment is still higher than the 
national average.

[[Page H2277]]

  For February 2014, the unemployment rate for veterans from this 
period was 9.2 percent higher than the national average of 5.3.
  I am so happy that the Republicans, at this moment, are trying to 
help the ACA work for veterans, for businesses, and for all Americans. 
I hope we will join in supporting this bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman 
from Illinois (Mr. Rodney Davis), the author of this bill, whose family 
is a small business-owning family, whose bill came from his own 
Veterans' Advisory Committee.
  Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my 
colleague from the great State of Texas for being here tonight to talk 
about this important piece of legislation, bipartisan piece of 
legislation.
  The Hire More Heroes Act is a jobs bill. It is a jobs bill that will 
not only encourage the hiring of veterans but also one that will allow 
us businesses to expand and grow our economy without being penalized.
  H.R. 3474 would exempt veterans who have health insurance through the 
VA or the DOD from being counted toward the 50-employee limit under 
ObamaCare's employer mandate.
  Today, an estimated 8.9 million veterans receive health coverage 
through the VA, yet they will still be counted as an employee in need 
of health coverage under the employer mandate.
  This is a commonsense bill simply saying that a veteran who already 
has coverage through TRICARE or the VA cannot be counted twice. You are 
either someone in need of health insurance or you are not.
  I introduced the Hire More Heroes Act last year in response to an 
issue raised at one of my veterans advisory board meeting by Brad 
Lavite, the superintendent of the Madison County Veterans' Assistance 
Commission. That commission does great work by providing services to 
approximately 35,000 veterans in southwestern Illinois, including 
helping those veterans find employment.
  Although veterans returning from combat have 5 years to sign up for 
TRICARE, they are returning to an economy full of hiring freezes, 
layoffs, and unemployment rates above 9 percent. The unemployment rate 
for post-9/11 veterans jumped from 7.9 percent in January to 9.2 
percent in February. Our veterans deserve more.
  We know that our military members receive some of the best training 
in the world, and we should do everything we can to encourage 
businesses to take advantage of those skills by hiring those veterans.
  A recently released study by the National Small Business Association 
found that 91 percent of small businesses saw increases in their health 
care costs, and two-thirds of their members said it was the reason they 
have held off new hiring of employees.
  It is not a secret that we need to address the true drivers of our 
skyrocketing health care costs. Families see this every day when they 
pay their monthly premiums or get a medical bill in the mail.
  Placing more and more unnecessary regulations on our small businesses 
does nothing to address this and only exacerbates the problem by 
forcing businesses to make up for these costs by cutting hours or 
preventing pay increases.
  Forcing employers to offer health insurance is a much more 
complicated issue than I think some in Washington thought it was going 
to be.
  With the administration delaying the employer mandate yet again, I 
think we need to start seriously looking at the issue surrounding the 
employer mandate, and it starts today with passing H.R. 3474, the Hire 
More Heroes Act, and the other health care reform bills on the floor 
today.
  I want to thank Brad Lavite again, and all of the workers and 
volunteers at the Madison County Veterans' Assistance Commission for 
their assistance they provide to veterans, and encourage my colleagues 
to vote for this commonsense bill to help veterans find work and assist 
small businesses in hiring qualified, well-trained employees, while 
providing much-needed relief from ObamaCare.

  Mr. Speaker, I also want to thank the cosponsors, the bipartisan 
cosponsors of this commonsense piece of legislation, especially a 
couple today that are with us on the floor, my good friend, the 
gentlewoman from Hawaii (Ms. Gabbard), a veteran herself, and my good 
friend, the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Barr).
  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. Speaker, it is a special privilege to yield as much 
time as she shall consume to the gentlewoman from Hawaii (Ms. Gabbard), 
a veteran who I think is going to relate her own experience.
  Ms. GABBARD. Mr. Speaker, I am rising today in strong support of the 
Hire More Heroes Act introduced by my friend, the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Rodney Davis).
  When he first came to me with this idea, it was a no-brainer that I 
would want to support this effort because of the key constituencies 
that it serves.
  I think that everyone would agree that the intent or the goal of the 
Affordable Care Act is to make sure that all people have access to 
affordable health care. That is a large piece of legislation. It needs 
some work. It needs some fixing, and this legislation seeks to do that.
  First of all, the Affordable Care Act requires employers with 50 of 
more full-time employees to provide health insurance, or to pay a per-
employee fine. This measure does a very important thing that would 
encourage these small business owners to do two things: to grow, as 
well as to hire more veterans by exempting those who receive insurance, 
either from the VA, or those reservists, like I was--I was covered 
under TRICARE for a long period of time after my deployments. It would 
make it so these employers would not have to count these veterans 
towards that 50 total.
  Secondly, this bill serves veterans. We are facing an unfortunate and 
unacceptable huge number of unemployed veterans, many people who are 
young and who are capable and coming back from conflicts overseas, and 
these are veterans who will serve as a huge asset to businesses of any 
size because they come with a unique amount of training.
  They are highly disciplined. They know what it means to work as a 
member of a team. They know what it means to put the mission first, and 
they are servant leaders at their very best.
  This bill provides an incentive for businesses to hire veterans. This 
is a commonsense improvement to the Affordable Care Act that will 
benefit both of these important groups. I urge my colleagues to support 
H.R. 3474.
  Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I am proud to yield 1 minute to the 
gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Barr), another champion for veterans.
  Mr. BARR. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas, and I rise 
in support today of the Hire More Heroes Act sponsored by my friend and 
colleague from Illinois, Congressman Rodney Davis. I applaud the work 
of Congressman Davis in championing this cause.
  I also would like to compliment my friend and colleague from the 
great State of Hawaii for her service to her country, and also for her 
bipartisan cooperation on this important piece of legislation.
  Unfortunately, too many veterans cannot find work these days as a 
result of flawed Washington policies like ObamaCare that are hindering 
job creation. This legislation will give those who have selflessly 
served our country more employment opportunities by providing American 
small businesses with the ability to hire more veterans.
  Although this administration has delayed the employer mandate, many 
small businesses in my district in central and eastern Kentucky have 
expressed deep concern that ObamaCare would discourage them from hiring 
more workers.
  I want to thank, again, Congressman Davis for introducing this 
commonsense legislation that will help our veterans find work without 
punishing small businesses for hiring these qualified and well-trained 
employees. I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of H.R. 3474, the Hire 
More Heroes Act.
  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
  Mr. Speaker, I will be very brief because I think the bill speaks for 
itself, and those who have spoken on its behalf have spoken so 
eloquently on behalf, especially of the veterans of this country.

[[Page H2278]]

  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, as we close, I yield 30 seconds to 
the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Rodney Davis), the author of this 
bill.
  Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, thank you to my colleague 
from Texas for your support on this bill and for managing it here on 
the floor tonight. It shows today that bipartisanship does happen in 
the U.S. House of Representatives.
  This is a commonsense bill supported by Republicans and Democrats 
alike. This is something that comes out from the grass roots in Madison 
County, Illinois, and now has a chance to become law.
  I am humbled by the support that we have seen for this piece of 
legislation and I, again, urge my colleagues to support the Hire More 
Heroes Act.
  Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Brady) that the House suspend the rules and 
pass the bill, H.R. 3474.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further 
proceedings on this motion will be postponed.

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