Floor Statements

As the attention of the American people turned to celebrating the July Fourth holiday, the Obama administration quietly announced through a blog post on the Treasury Department’s website it would delay enforcement of a vital part of the president’s health care law – the employer mandate.

The reason for the delay? According to administration officials, the federal bureaucracy needs more time to get it right. Let’s be honest: No amount of time or bureaucratic tinkering will ease the pain ObamaCare is inflicting on workplaces across the country.

The employer mandate will destroy jobs, whether it’s implemented a year from now or 10 years from now. In fact, jobs are already being lost and employees’ work-hours are being cut because of the law.

That’s the difficult reality facing workers and job creators from my home state of Minnesota and across the country; it’s part of the reason we are stuck in a jobs crisis with roughly 12 million Americans searching for full-time work. Even union leaders are beginning to realize how the health care law they supported is hurting workers.

The delay of the employer mandate is the latest confirmation of the fatally flawed nature of ObamaCare and the need to dismantle it. That is why I support the proposal to delay the employer mandate for one year, as well as a bill the House will also consider today to delay enforcement of the individual mandate.

In less than a year, individuals who fail to purchase government approved health insurance will be forced to pay higher taxes. It isn’t right to deny American families the same relief available to American businesses.

The American people didn’t ask for this government takeover of health care and they don’t want it. Let’s give every family and business the reprieve from ObamaCare they deserve.

# # #