[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 5]
[Senate]
[Pages 6504-6506]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              HEALTH CARE

  Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I come to the floor because the American 
people have just received more horrible news about our economy.
  The Commerce Department reported this morning that our economy grew 
at the smallest rate in 3 years. The exact number is 0.1 percent--much 
worse than expected. To be specific, investment in business equipment 
declined, residential home construction declined, U.S. exports fell 
sharply, and companies increased inventories at a much slower rate.
  I wish to read what some of the economists have said about this. Dan 
North, a chief economist, said:

       We've been living in sub-3 percent land, and people have 
     gotten used to that as the new normal. But it's not. It's 
     anemic.

  To make matters worse, the Financial Times this morning is reporting 
that China is poised this year to pass the United States as the world's 
leading economic power.
  The American people deserve better than this and they shouldn't have 
to accept that anemic growth as the new normal. They deserve growth, 
good jobs, and better opportunities. That is not what they are finding 
from the Obama economy. Instead, the President continues to push an 
agenda that makes it harder for Americans to find good jobs and to 
bring home bigger paychecks. So I wish to speak about how the health 
care law specifically is slowing growth and how it is making American 
paychecks smaller.
  I met earlier today with business leaders from Wyoming. They are here 
from Casper, Cheyenne, and Jackson, and I have heard input from them 
regarding how the health care law has impacted their businesses, how it 
has

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impacted our State of Wyoming, and how it has impacted our economy not 
just in Wyoming but nationwide.
  It is interesting to watch the White House and the President 
specifically spike the ball, claiming that 8 million people signed up 
for health insurance through the government exchanges. At the same 
time, President Obama has declared that the national debate about his 
health care law is over. The meaning of the number is highly 
questionable, and the administration's victory lap is premature. In 
fact, the ObamaCare debate is far from over.
  So I come to the floor to speak about additional side effects of the 
Obama health care law. I will continue to do this week after week 
because the side effects on the American people and the American 
economy and on health care in this country continue to be very 
damaging.
  I will speak about smaller paychecks as one of the ObamaCare side 
effects, to point out that the debate is not over for the millions of 
Americans who are experiencing the negative side effects of the 
President's health care law voted on by Democrats and not by 
Republicans. One of the worst of these side effects is the smaller 
paychecks many families are experiencing specifically because of the 
mandates of the health care law. It is happening all around the 
country.
  Let me tell my colleagues what is happening as reported by the New 
Hampshire Union Leader. This is just one example. The article was 
talking about small businesses that have found that paperwork and costs 
related to the law are threatening the economic platforms on which 
their companies are built. It quoted a man who runs a ski area saying 
the law could mean he has to open later in the season and close earlier 
in the season. That is because people on his payroll for 120 
consecutive days or longer have to be offered health insurance under 
the Democrats' health care law.
  Mother Nature might say there is plenty of snow, the skiers and snow 
boarders are ready to go, the resort wants to open, restaurants are 
ready to serve people, hotels are ready to host people, but ObamaCare 
says the resort can't open without facing enormous costs for 
Washington-mandated insurance. It is hurting people working at the ski 
resorts. It is hurting people in businesses in those communities.
  Who pays for the negative side effects? It is the seasonal workers 
who will now be limited to fewer than 120 days of work at ski 
facilities such as this one in New Hampshire. They will work fewer days 
with smaller paychecks because of the health care law. The New 
Hampshire Union Leader summed it up this way: ``As snowboarders say: 
bummer.''
  It is not just seasonal workers who are being hurt. This column also 
talks about the ski resorts in Colorado being hurt.
  In North Carolina, State government agencies are starting to get very 
worried about how to deal with the health care law's mandates. The law 
says employers--including State and local governments--have to cover 
people who work 30 hours a week or more. That is whom the law considers 
full-time workers. When I talk to business leaders from Wyoming, most 
people think of full-time work as 40 hours. Not President Obama. He is 
a 30-hour man.
  According to a story from WTVD in Raleigh, State agencies are looking 
at cutting the hours of part-time workers to keep them under that 30-
hour limit.
  The North Carolina Agriculture Department has about 250 part-time 
employees who are now working more than 30 hours. They have 250 workers 
in the North Carolina Agriculture Department, and those 250 people are 
working more than 30 hours, but they are part time. The North Carolina 
Department of Transportation has almost 600 people in the same 
situation. So North Carolina is going to have to look very closely at 
what to do with those people, and that can mean smaller paychecks.
  Local governments are having to make these same decisions because of 
the health care law. WITN, another station in Greenville, NC, did a 
story last month about how schools are cutting the hours substitute 
teachers can work--the same 30-hour Obama workweek limit again. The 
health care law wasn't about substitute teachers, but they are the ones 
feeling the negative side effects and they are the ones seeing smaller 
paychecks.
  The story quoted a teacher in Pitt County, NC, who said she got a 
letter from the school district there telling her she wouldn't be able 
to work as much. Substitute teachers are now limited to 3 days a week. 
Why? Because of the expensive mandates of ObamaCare.
  She told the TV station, ``I'm willing and able to work, and now 
they're telling me I can only work for so long.''
  This teacher is one of 200 in her North Carolina school district who 
are going to be limited to 21 hours a week, and she is wondering how 
she is going to make ends meet with 21 hours a week. That is a side 
effect of the health care law that means smaller paychecks for 
substitute teachers.
  President Obama says the debate is over. Is it over for teachers in 
North Carolina who are seeing their time cut to under 30 hours a week? 
Is it over in ski resort communities in New Hampshire and in Colorado?
  Look what is going on in Iowa. An article just last week in the 
Ottumwa Courier said that a local school district was cutting the hours 
on all paraeducators from 37 hours per week to 29 hours. Those extra 
hours may not mean much to Democrats on the floor of the Senate or the 
House Members who voted for this health care law, but they are a real 
big deal for a lot of families struggling in the Obama economy.
  In Colorado, the Aspen Daily News reported last month that adjunct 
professors at Colorado Mountain College are going to have the same 
limit of 29 hours a week. This school has 112 full-time faculty, but it 
has 600 part-time professors. Some of them just want to teach a class 
here or there to make extra money, but some of them are trying to 
string together enough hours to support themselves, to support their 
families, and they are getting hammered by the President's health care 
law that every Democrat in this body voted for.
  It is happening all over the country. We have heard stories today 
about New Hampshire, North Carolina, Colorado. Here is a final example. 
A borough in Alaska announced earlier this year that it was putting a 
cap on the hours of firefighters and emergency medical technicians.
  According to one technician, some stations are limiting people to 
just 24 hours a week. So we see teachers, firefighters, professors, 
seasonal workers all hurt by the side effects of the Obama health care 
law, and they are all getting hit with smaller paychecks--nothing they 
have asked for. They want to work. They are ready to work. They are 
willing to work.
  We have a weak economy, an anemic economy, and the President and 
Democrats do not seem to care. They do not seem to care. They think the 
debate is over. President Obama says the debate is over.
  He says Democrats who voted for this should forcefully defend it and 
be proud. How can the President forcefully defend these smaller 
paychecks? How can the President be proud of these smaller paychecks 
because of his law and what he had Democrats vote for--in North 
Carolina; Alaska, where you hear these stories; New Hampshire; one 
after another after another; Colorado.
  Well, it is not over for Americans, who are continuing to get hit in 
their wallets, people in New Hampshire, North Carolina, Iowa, Colorado, 
Alaska, all over the rest of the country. It is not over for 
Republicans, who will continue to stand for those Americans and keep 
pushing for commonsense reforms that will actually help people get the 
care and what they wanted all along, which was better access to 
quality, affordable health care.
  I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.

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  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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