House to attack O-Care’s 30-hour workweek

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) says the House will soon consider legislation aimed at eliminating incentives in ObamaCare that lead people to work just 30 hours a week.

In an op-ed published Thursday on National Review Online, Cantor said ObamaCare’s definition of full-time work as working just 30 hours a week is an incentive for people to work less and should be repealed.

{mosads}”We will confront head-on the policies of the Obama administration that punish work, such as the 29-hour-work-week provision in ObamaCare that is cutting hourly workers’​ wages by as much 25 percent,” he wrote.

Under the healthcare law, companies are required to offer health plans to workers if they have 50 or more full-time employees. “Full-time” is defined under the law as anyone working 30 or more hours a week.

Republicans have said this creates an incentive for companies to only let people work 29 hours a week or less, in order to have fewer than 50 full time workers.

Earlier this month, the House Ways and Means Committee marked up legislation that repeals ObamaCare’s definition of full-time work. The Save American Workers (SAW) Act, H.R. 2575, was approved by the committee in a 23-14 vote — no Democrats supported the bill, but committee passage could set it up for floor consideration in the coming weeks.

“This law is hurting Americans’ ability to find a job and earn a good paycheck, making it harder for Americans to afford their homes, pay tuition, or simply have enough money for groceries,” Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) said of ObamaCare on Feb. 4. “Repealing the 30-hour rule is a necessary step to get Americans working again, and the two parties must come together to ensure that we remove this barrier to job growth and wage increases.”

Cantor, who has been charged with putting together a GOP alternative to the healthcare law that leaders have said will get a vote this year, also reiterated Republican plans to propose an alternative to ObamaCare that focus on “patient-centered care, while reducing costs through increased competition, improving outcomes, and expanding choices and coverage.”

He also called for Senate passage of a House bill to reform federal job training programs, and another bill to increase school choice.