By Cong. Pete OlsonTexas Insider Report: WASHINGTON, DC – As President Obama touts the success of his signature health law known as Obamacare, Texans and Americans across the country are beginning to feel the real world impacts of this law. According to a Hoover Institution study, 2.6 million Americans – primarily low-income earners, young people, and those without a college degree – are at risk of losing needed income because employers are forced to cut their hours as a result of this new 30-hour rule.
A critical provision in Obamacare defines, for the first time, full-time employment as 30 hours or more, a big change from the traditional 40-hour work week.
Many small businesses and part time employees across our region have expressed concerns about the effect this change will have on weekly income and ability to pay bills.
Last week in the House, we acted to help American workers who have been hit hard by reduced hours at work thanks to this provision. We passed a bipartisan bill that I helped draft, H.R. 2575, the Save American Workers Act, which would repeal the Obamacare 30-hour definition of full-time employment and restore the traditional 40-hour work week.
I urge the Senate to pass this bill to help struggling families, single parents and young Americans who need to work.
Click here to read my recent op/ed on H.R. 2575 that ran in the Houston Community News.
Veterans Update:
As a proud former Navy pilot, it was shocking to read reports that Veterans Affairs employees were intentionally destroying veterans’ medical records in order to reduce the backlog of veteran claims and receive a performance award.
As of December 2013, almost 400,000 veterans were still trapped in the VA backlog, and the backlog in Houston is one of the worst. Many have been waiting years for their claims to be processed. This is shameful. Our veterans deserve better.
I wrote a letter to VA Secretary Eric Shinseki demanding answers on this tragedy and will provide an update when the VA responds.
While the VA has failed to process claims in a timely manner, senior executives have continued to receive bonuses. We recently learned that in 2011, the VA paid senior executives almost $3 million in bonuses. No one responsible for the proper care of our nation’s veterans deserves a bonus for this shameless treatment and inexcusable backlog.
That’s why I joined with several of my colleagues to urge the House to block funds for bonuses for VA executives. I will continue to work to ensure we keep our promises to our veterans.
