Last week, Rep. Henry Waxman demanded that AT&T, Verizon, Caterpillar, and Deere & Co. justify their claims about the “costs the companies plan to book related to the new health-care law.” According to Business Week, “Dallas-based AT&T said in a regulatory filing yesterday it would record $1 billion of costs, the most of any U.S. company so far. AT&T previously received a tax-free benefit from the government to subsidize health-care costs for retirees. Under the new bill, AT&T will no longer be able to deduct that subsidy.”
In advance of the grilling, Rep. John Boehner released a statement slamming Waxman:
Congressional Democrats such as Chairman Waxman profess shock and surprise at hearing American employers announce that they will have no choice but to make painful changes to comply with it. The new health care law is a job-killer, and we are already seeing the negative impact it is having on our economy.
Instead of interrogating America’s private sector job creators, Congress should be listening to them, heeding their warnings about the effects of this deeply flawed new law, and replacing it with reforms that will help them get back to creating jobs.”
Full text after the jump.
Boehner: Congress Should Heed Employers’ Warnings Rather Than Interrogating Them About Effects of Job-Killing Health Care Law
House Republicans Discuss Economic Consequences of New Law with Constituents While Congressional Democrats Stay Fixated on Imposing Job-Killing Takeover of Health Care
WASHINGTON, D.C. – House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) issued the following statement on upcoming hearings called by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), chairman of the Energy & Commerce Committee, to intimidate employers who are warning that the job-killing new health care law will increase their costs and hamper job creation:
“Throughout the past year, American employers have warned that the health care policies being promoted by President Obama and his Democratic allies in Washington will hurt our economy and make it more difficult to create jobs. Yet now that those policies have become law over the objections of the American people, Congressional Democrats such as Chairman Waxman profess shock and surprise at hearing American employers announce that they will have no choice but to make painful changes to comply with it. The new health care law is a job-killer, and we are already seeing the negative impact it is having on our economy. Just as important, the law’s new cost increases and mandates are forcing employers to consider dropping health coverage for their employees and retirees altogether, which would force even more Americans into the unsustainable Medicare and Medicaid system. Instead of interrogating America’s private sector job creators, Congress should be listening to them, heeding their warnings about the effects of this deeply flawed new law, and replacing it with reforms that will help them get back to creating jobs.”
In a
memo sent to House Republicans last Friday, Leader Boehner urged Republicans to focus on the economy as they discuss the new health care law with their constituents during the congressional district work period. In the memo, entitled “Where are the Jobs? Not in President Obama’s Health Care Law,” Boehner echoed more than 100 economists who have warned that President Obama’s massive new law will hurt the economy and make job creation more difficult at a time of nearly double-digit unemployment.
NOTE: In the days after President Obama signed the new health care law, America’s employers began warning shareholders and employees about higher health care costs that would result. AT&T announced it would bear $1 billion in higher costs, Deere & Co., $150 million; Caterpillar, $100 million; AK Steel, $31 million; 3M, $90 million; and Valero Energy, up to $20 million. Similar announcements are expected in the coming days and weeks.
