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Fairness for American Families Act

Floor Speech

Date: July 17, 2013
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Health Insurance

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Mr. TURNER. Mr. Speaker, the administration recently announced that the Obamacare employer mandate, requiring businesses to provide their workers with health insurance, will be delayed until 2015. This decision is proof that even this administration acknowledges that the Obamacare law has adverse affects on American families and small businesses.

At a time when the economy is still struggling to recover, we should be focused on reducing taxes on hardworking Americans and providing incentives for businesses to grow and create jobs. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that the employer mandate will raise taxes on American businesses by $117 billion. In addition, the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) estimates that the employer mandate will result in 125,000 to 249,000 lost jobs as a result of higher insurance costs.

Unfortunately, the administration is still moving forward with the implementation of the individual mandate in 2014, which will have negative effects on the American people. The average individual premium is expected to increase somewhere between 20 and 30 percent in 2014. CBO also estimates that the individual mandate will increase taxes on American families by $55 billion.

Mr. Speaker, I support passage of H.R. 2667, the Authority for Mandate Delay Act, and H.R. 2668, the Fairness for American Families Act. At the same time, we must permanently repeal these burdensome mandates. That is why I authored H.R. 582, the Healthcare Tax Relief and Mandate Repeal Act, with 97 of my colleagues, to repeal the Obamacare individual and employer mandates, providing relief for American families and businesses.

Mr. Speaker, now is not the time to impose extra burdens on American families and businesses when our economy is struggling to get back on track. I strongly support repeal of the individual and employer mandates and I am committed to working with my colleagues to carefully and thoughtfully implement real healthcare reform.

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