[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 5]
[Senate]
[Pages 6601-6602]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              HEALTH CARE

  Mr. COATS. Mr. President, back home in Indiana last week, I heard 
from many Hoosiers who are concerned about the impact of ObamaCare. I 
went back to listen to the people, and almost invariably, no matter 
what subject was on the table, the impact of ObamaCare was what was 
brought up first and discussed the most.
  I particularly focused on those businesses which are in a position to 
expand and hire but are simply not doing so, and the question is, Why? 
The answer was that they are deeply concerned about the implementation 
of the so-called Affordable Care Act, basically saying that it is an 
unaffordable care act.
  They also said they were confused about what it means and what it 
doesn't mean. These regulations are continuing to come out, but many of 
them are delayed, so there is a huge cloud of uncertainty over their 
future. As a consequence, Hoosier employers have to make decisions 
about hiring or not hiring, about expanding or not expanding, about 
buying new equipment or not buying new equipment, about building new 
factories or not building new factories.
  In Indiana, we have positioned ourselves to be a very business-
friendly State. In fact, a major survey came out a couple of days ago 
that said Indiana is among the top five States in the Nation in terms 
of being business-friendly. As a result, we have a lot of inquiries 
from businesses in other States, and essentially what they are saying 
is that they would like to come to our State.
  We have a lot of people in our State who are operating businesses and 
would like to hire more employees, but they are frozen because of this 
health care bill, and all of the regulations, penalties, taxes, and 
uncertainty that surround what is going to play out is leaving them in 
limbo. We are treading water. We can't make decisions. The word of the 
year is ``uncertainty''--uncertainty about what Washington is going to 
do, uncertainty about the impact of what Washington has already decided 
to do. The No. 1 topic that beats all the rest is the impact of the 
Affordable Care Act--the ObamaCare act--which is now starting to impact 
various businesses across the State.
  These concerns have been expressed both by business owners and by 
employees working in a wide range of occupations. Their concern has 
been confirmed by data released by the Labor Department last week. The 
recent report revealed retailers appear to be cutting working hours at 
a rate unheard of over the last 30 years.
  We saw some positive news come out of the jobs report last week. 
Unemployment is coming down slightly. Of course, it doesn't begin to 
address the issue or consider those who have literally dropped out of 
the workplace or have literally given up trying to find a job because 
they simply aren't there. But now we face another problem. More and 
more Americans are being pushed into part-time work, which isn't enough 
to provide for a family. Last month, nearly 280,000 Americans 
involuntarily entered part-time employment. Weekly take-home pay 
continues to decline and, of course, the number of hours employees are 
working continues to shrink.
  Why is this change occurring? Investor's Business Daily reported that 
``all evidence points to the coming launch of ObamaCare as the reason 
for this decline in the average retail workweek.''
  Beginning next year, as we know, job creators will face fines of 
$2,000 and, in some instances, up to $3,000 for every full-time worker 
who receives subsidized coverage in the exchanges created by ObamaCare 
if qualifying coverage isn't available in the employee's workplace, or 
if that employer is no longer able to afford the cost of government-
mandated health plans. These are small businesses. We are not talking 
about Fortune 500 companies. We are not talking about those firms that 
can hire a back room full of lawyers and accountants to figure out how 
this health care plan is going to impact them and what it is going to 
cost. We are talking about the service industry, we are talking about 
the retail shops--those that employ anywhere from 30 to 40 to 60 to 70 
to 90 or whatever. A lot of them are trying to stay under the 50 
level--the exclusion for small businesses--50 and under. So a lot of 
them are stuck at 45, 48, and they are not going to hire to go above 
that and they are looking for ways to move employees to part-time 
employment so they are not burdened with these fines.
  Many Hoosier employers have told me they would like to expand and 
hire more full-time workers, but they simply cannot afford to do so 
given the fines, taxes, and regulations that will hit when the 
ObamaCare act is implemented starting in 2014.
  The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has said 71 percent of small businesses 
say this health care plan makes it harder to hire more employees. I 
heard from a small business owner in Indiana who runs an employment 
management service. He told me small businesses such as his have 
decided to use a combination of cuts to keep many of their employees 
under 30 hours a week to avoid penalties, while pushing full-time 
workers well over 45 hours a week. Well, that is fine for the full-time 
workers who are getting some overtime pay, but it is denying job 
opportunities for new hires because employers are put in this position 
by the mandates of the health care act. It is not just limited to the 
private sector. I recently heard from a State representative in Indiana 
who is concerned about how this law is going to affect school districts 
in his area. He says some schools are being forced to move nonteacher 
personnel to part-time status, affecting food service providers, 
teacher's aides, bus drivers, substitute teachers, maintenance 
personnel, as well as nonteacher coaches. People from all walks of life 
have a dark cloud of uncertainty over their future plans to run a 
business, to hire employees, and to do what

[[Page 6602]]

is necessary to expand their business, and that is so desperately 
needed, given we are now entering the fifth year of underemployment in 
this country. So that incentive to employ part-time workers means fewer 
hours, lower wages, less economic growth, less production, and it means 
middle-class Americans will continue to pay the price of Washington's 
ineptness.
  One of our colleagues here said it best about the implementation of 
the health care law: ``I just see a huge train wreck coming down.'' I 
think it is becoming clear that we all see a huge train wreck coming 
down. If both sides of the aisle here understand this is a train wreck, 
then let's do something about it now before it hits. Let's stop the 
train from crashing before its full impact on the economy takes effect.
  Americans want health care reform that is an improvement but not a 
burden. We need to replace ObamaCare with commonsense health care 
reforms that will lower costs without penalizing American workers and 
job creators. If we don't act--if we don't stop this train wreck from 
happening--we will continue to see a struggling economy with anemic 
growth and the American people will continue to pay the high price.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Arizona.

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