House Majority Leader Eric Cantor
Faced with the threat of having to provide workers with health coverage if they work 30 or more hours a week, some companies have cut workers' hours below 30. House Republicans have an answer to this problem, though, and they plan to vote on it Thursday. No, not finding ways to prevent companies from cutting hours—raising the threshold for mandatory employer-provided coverage to 40 hours a week. It's
a terrible proposal, of course:
The Congressional Budget Office projected, however, that the proposal would lead to 500,000 more uninsured Americans and raise the federal deficit by nearly $74 billion over the next 10 years. The White House has already pledged to veto the bill if it somehow made it through the Senate and to President Barack Obama's desk, but that's besides the point.
But Republicans have to keep chasing
some appearance of having done something to the Affordable Care Act, to justify their own obsession and look semi-effective. And, of course, Republicans aren't worried about increasing the number of uninsured Americans; in fact, that's more of a dream for them.