Senate Finance to consider veterans bill

The Senate Finance Committee will consider its first piece of legislation of the new Congress on Wednesday, marking up a bipartisan measure to incentivize the hiring of veterans and tweak ObamaCare.

{mosads}The House passed the Hire More Heroes Act roughly three weeks ago by a 412-0 vote, in its first vote dealing with President Obama’s healthcare law this year.

Under the measure, companies could exempt veterans who get healthcare through the Veterans Administration when trying to figure out if they’re subject to ObamaCare’s employer mandate. Backers of the bill say such a move would allow companies to hire more workers.

The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the measure would add $858 million to the federal debt over a decade, by reducing the tax burden of companies that no longer meet the threshold of 50 or more full-time employees needed to trigger the employer mandate.

The Senate didn’t take up the measure in the previous Congress, when it also passed the House overwhelmingly.