Paul Ryan

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time other than to close. May I inquire of the gentleman from Connecticut?

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. I yield to the gentleman from Connecticut.

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I am here bringing forward Mr. Barletta's bill, and it is really simple. One of the cornerstones of our civil society--one of the great pieces of the American story--is volunteerism but, in particular, volunteerism among our first responders. So many of us represent congressional districts that thrive on and exist on and preserve their safety on volunteer firefighters and first responders. Unfortunately, in the Affordable Care Act, there is a huge glitch. Under ObamaCare, volunteer firefighters and first responders are counted in many ways as if they were full-time equivalent employees, and therefore, volunteer fire departments are getting hit with enormous fines, mandates, and taxes. It shouldn't be that way. It is causing a huge paperwork burden, not to mention a fiscal drain on the budgets of these small fire departments and emergency responding agencies in our communities and in rural areas all across America. This legislation fixes this. I want to thank Congressman Barletta for introducing this because he clearly understands as a former mayor and as someone who represents Pennsylvania, which I know has a lot of volunteer firefighters just like we do in rural Wisconsin, that these are the lifeblood of our communities. The last thing that they need to do when they are so concerned about preserving public safety and health is to worry about all of these ObamaCare mandates. Mr. Barletta's bill preserves the freedom to operate for our 780,000 public service volunteer firefighters. It removes this mandate and exempts them from this onerous mandate, so they can continue providing the public service that they have been right now. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Barletta), the author of this legislation.

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 30 seconds to say that I appreciate the kind words from the gentleman from Connecticut. This is bipartisan. It is wonderful when we can work together and find common ground to get things done and find common ground where the completion of a pass is the completion of a pass, it is a rule.

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, I would like to yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Kelly), a member of the Ways and Means Committee.

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, the first firm step on the ladder of opportunity is a full-time job, and for too many Americans, this first step is moving out of reach thanks to ObamaCare. Right now, the law says that every large employer must give health insurance to its full-time employees. Here is the catch: it defines full time as 30 hours or more. So guess what is happening--businesses are cutting workers' hours. They are keeping them below 30 hours to avoid the penalty. It is commonly known as the ObamaCare 29ers. And what is more, community colleges are laying off their professors and they are cutting their hours, so they have to cut their class offerings as well. In other words, the law is making it much harder to learn new skills and to find a better paying job. I can't think of a worse way to support working families: taking opportunities away from them, cutting paychecks, cutting hours. Who are the people who are most at risk with this 30-hour rule? Well, by and large, it is young people in low-paying jobs--probably their first jobs. One study said that over half of them have, at most, a high school degree. These are the people who are just getting started in life, who need those extra hours, who want to move up the ladder of economic opportunity. ObamaCare is holding these people down. That is why we are here today. This bill changes the law's definition of full time to 40 hours a week. That is the way most people define full time. That is the way it has been done for decades in other parts of law. That way, businesses will no longer fear letting their employees work a full workweek. That way, people can get the experience they need. That way, we can get people working again and build a healthy economy. Mr. Speaker, it is really clear. There are so many parts of this law that are holding back the country, that are raising health care costs, that are putting us further behind and deeper in the hole on fiscal responsibility. But this rule is costing people jobs; this rule is knocking people out of full-time work. It is no wonder that CBO is telling us the equivalent of over 2 million people will not work because of this law. I urge adoption of this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 19, I call up the bill (H.R. 30) to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to repeal the 30-hour threshold for classification as a full-time employee for purposes of the employer mandate in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and replace it with 40 hours, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, I would like to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Roskam), a senior member of the Ways and Means Committee.

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. McCarthy), the distinguished House majority leader.

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Curbelo).

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Byrne).

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 15 seconds simply to say that the gentleman's criticism basically makes our point. The average workweek is 34.6 hours. So if you go to 30 hours, you are cutting people's hours. If you go to 39, you are not. We don't want to cut people's hours. We don't want people to work less. We want people to work more. With that, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Young), a distinguished member of the Ways and Means Committee, the author of this legislation.

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from Kansas (Ms. Jenkins), a distinguished member of the Committee on Ways and Means.

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, I don't know what to say. Paychecks. Guess what. It is happening across America today. Even before the employer mandate kicked in, businesses across America are cutting workers' hours down to 29. That doesn't help a paycheck. So think about what is going on in America today and look at what has already been happening, and this is before this costly employer mandate even took place. It is happening in every congressional district. We heard about cafeteria workers, firefighters, teachers, community colleges, retailers, restaurateurs, all of them being forced to cut the hours of their employees down to part-time work. If you want to help a person's paycheck, give them the opportunity to have a full-time job. That is what this does. It is really kind of amazing. I hear a lot of talk about the CBO and the Joint Committee on Taxation and the costs and the costs of this bill. Here is the bulk of the costs. What we are saying is don't impose these costly, punitive mandate taxes on hardworking taxpayers. So by removing these mandate taxes, yes, I suppose it costs the government some money. It puts that money back into the paychecks and back into the pockets of the hardworking taxpayers who give us the money in the first place. It says to businesses: Go ahead and hire, add hours, and increase wages. That is the so-called cost of this legislation. Mr. Speaker, we want more people working. We want the people who are in 30- to 40-hour jobs, hourly wages, high school educations, just getting started in life, we want them to keep climbing that ladder of life. This law puts a huge roadblock in front of people working. What this motion to recommit does is it is just designed to kill the bill. With respect to the veterans issue, we solved that yesterday with our Hire More Heroes Act, which we passed in a big, bipartisan vote. So make no mistake. This recommit is nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt to simply kill this bill. Look, if you want to impose this mandate, if you want to knock people into part-time work, and if you love ObamaCare, then vote against the bill. But if you want more jobs, if you want more hours, if you want more people working, if you want more people having better opportunities, and if you want to give some relief on these mandate taxes, then vote for this bill. This bill is the right way to go. And I have just got to tell you that, at the end of the day, we haven't even seen the full force of this punitive move because the employer mandate is just beginning to kick in. All of these things have happened in anticipation of this new mandate. We haven't even seen the worst of it yet. That is why we should pass this now and prevent this from happening and getting worse before this mandate kicks in. With that, Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, I withdraw my reservation of the point of order.

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, I would like to yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Holding), a new member of the Ways and Means Committee.

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks on H.R. 30, the Save American Workers Act of 2015.

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, let me inquire about the distribution of time, the time remaining.

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, I claim the time in opposition.

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Paulsen), a member of the Committee on Ways and Means.

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, let me inquire as to the time distributions.

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Tennessee, Dr. Roe.

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, I have 13 minutes remaining, and the gentleman has 11 minutes remaining. Is that where we are right now?

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, at this time, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Perry).