Bill offered that would soften health law's employer mandate

Jun 21 2013

The measure is designed to address a part of the health overhaul that requires employers to offer coverage to employees who work more than 30 hours per week.

The Hill: Bipartisan Bill Would Soften ObamaCare Mandate
A pair of centrist senators introduced a bill Wednesday to soften the employer mandate in President Obama's healthcare law. The healthcare law requires employers to offer coverage to employees who work more than 30 hours per week. Some employers have said they will reduce workers' hours to avoid the mandate (Baker, 6/19).

The Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire: Sen. Donnelly Backs Key Change In Health-Care Law
Sen. Joe Donnelly of Indiana today becomes the first Democrat who voted for the health-care law to back changes to its requirement that companies offer coverage to employees working 30 hours a week or more or pay a penalty. Mr. Donnelly's staff said the senator plans to announce Wednesday afternoon that he is signing on as a co-author to a bill initially introduced by Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine in April that seeks to change the rule to apply only to workers clocking 40 hours a week or more. The rule kicks in next year (Radnofsky, 6/19).

In other news from Capitol Hill --

USA Today: GOP House Campaign Chief Says Abortion Ban Is No Blunder
The chief of the GOP's congressional campaign committee dismissed the idea that House passage of an abortion ban this week was a political blunder opening the door to a fresh series of Democratic charges that the Republicans were waging a "war on women" (Page, 6/20).