[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 139 (Wednesday, September 14, 2016)]
[House]
[Page H5441]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           DOL OVERTIME RULE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Kentucky (Mr. Barr) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BARR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to represent the concerns of 
Kentucky's Sixth Congressional District's business, education, and 
nonprofit leaders who will be negatively impacted by the Department of 
Labor's final rule on overtime pay. These new regulations will have a 
crippling effect on businesses' ability to create jobs and even 
continue operations in our already tough economic climate.
  Today I want to share some stories from my constituents, who are 
among the millions of Americans whose businesses and educational 
institutions and nonprofits will be significantly harmed by the 
Department of Labor's final rule.
  Darshana Patel, a first-generation American who emigrated to Kentucky 
from India, sat in my office with tears in her eyes, voicing concerns 
to me about the impact of the overtime rule on the three hotels that 
she worked hard to build and own.
  As a result of the high cost of the rule, Mrs. Patel's small business 
will be forced to demote a manager who has worked with her for 14 years 
to an hourly position on December 1. She also worries that she will 
have to let go some of her employees. She says she will be forced to 
take these drastic actions because, with this rule, she will have to 
come up with about $25,000 per property--money that she did not budget 
for.
  This hardworking, first-generation American entrepreneur was crying 
because she said she came to this country to achieve the American 
Dream, and the government of the United States is tearing that dream 
apart with overregulation.
  According to the Asian American Hotel Owners Association, more than 
half of hotel managers in the United States start in entry level 
positions. The Department of Labor rule will reduce employment 
opportunities for these workers just starting off and significantly 
limit upward mobility.
  The Department of Labor's overtime rule will also negatively impact 
educational employment opportunities at our colleges and universities. 
The Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities, which includes 
the University of Kentucky, in my district, has stated that the 
overtime rule will likely place upward pressure on tuition and 
adversely impact outreach missions of universities. Because of the 
rule, students who are already facing significant barriers to accessing 
higher education will be further burdened by increased tuition.
  Caroline Ruschell, the executive director of the Kentucky Association 
of Children's Advocacy Centers, also reached out to me about the 
negative impact of the overtime rule on her organization's critical 
work with child victims of sexual abuse.
  To avoid penalties under the overtime rule, many clinics that provide 
vital exams and treatment to sexually abused children will be forced to 
reduce the hours of salaried workers, while supplementing those lost 
hours by overworking other employees. This will result in lower quality 
care and longer wait times for children to receive the critical 
treatment they need after facing such horrific trauma.
  While the Department of Labor bureaucrats claim that the overtime 
rule will improve economic conditions for middle-class employees, this 
onerous regulation on businesses, educational institutions, and 
nonprofits will have the exact opposite effect by reducing job 
opportunities and limiting hours for many workers. Nonprofit and 
universities doing critical work in our communities will be forced to 
reduce the reach of their efforts by these burdensome regulations.
  Mr. Speaker, in 2015, regulations cost us $1.89 trillion in lost 
productivity and growth. At a time when job creation and small business 
growth are critical to our recovering economy, the Department of 
Labor's final regulation will be detrimental for millions of 
hardworking Americans.
  This regulation, like so many other regulations in the avalanche of 
red tape coming out of the Obama administration, hurts the very people 
that they claim that they are trying to protect and that they are 
trying to help.
  Nearly 8 years after the Great Recession, Americans are stuck in the 
slowest and weakest economic recovery of their lifetimes, and the 
reason is simple: this administration is burying the American economy 
in red tape.
  Enough is enough. Leave the American people alone and let them do 
their work.

                          ____________________